Take Care of My Cat

In both Korean and Japanese cinema there are numerous examples of stories featuring school children and adolescents. The transition through adolescence is a favoured theme in Asian cinema, but the results can often be mawkish and sentimental. The first time director of Take Care of My Cat has succeeded in giving a fresh direction to the subject, partly thanks to the beautiful character sketches of the women and the visual inventiveness.Five girlfriends in their early twenties live in the grim harbour city of Incheon. The core of the group consists of the beautiful but vain HaeJu, the artistic JiYeong and TaeHee, a rebel. They have just finished secondary school, but are not quite ready for life as mature women. The girls dream of a life abroad, far from the grey city of Incheon. HaeJu is the only one with a good job: she works for a stockbroker and has a relationship with an older colleague. When she realises her dream and leaves for an apartment in Seoul, the other girls are left behind, stunned. But the departure of HaeJu also has a good side, because without the selfish HaeJu, the friendship between JiYeong and TaeHee is really able to blossom.