Customer Reviews

Take Care of My Cat

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I happened to stumble upon "Take Care of My Cat" while searching for movies about cats. This title sounded intriguing so I decided to buy the DVD. I am very happy that I did!

An adorable stray kitten named Tee-Tee is the cat referred to in the title. Tee-Tee serves as a common thread that weaves through the lives of five spirited, attractive young Korean women, former classmates, who remain friends through young adulthood.

Tae-Hee is the sensitive, understanding anchor of this group of friends. She still lives with her parents even though she can barely tolerate her chauvinistic father. Ji-Young is a budding textile artist who resides with her elderly, impoverished grandparents since her own parents died. Hae-Joo is an endearingly self-centered, ambitious office worker who wants to climb the corporate ladder. Unfortunately, she lacks the college degree that will enable her to do so. As such, she is relinquished to the position of a glorified runner. Bi-Ryu and Ohn-Jo are good-natured twin sisters who look so much alike that even their closest friends mistake one for the other.

"Take Care of My Cat" is the kind of movie that Hollywood is no longer willing or able to produce. It is an unhurried, delicately observed slice of life about ordinary people living each day as best they can. It's about the momentary joys and sudden catastrophes life can deliver and the way in which our friendships fortify us.

"Take Care of My Cat" tells its story with grace, honesty, and good doses of humor and wisdom. It's a lovely, bittersweet movie that deserves a large audience.

TAKE CARE OF MY CAT is a subtle, quiet coming-of-age tale set in urban South Korea; I've seen it twice and have enjoyed both times. After graduating secondary school each of these five friends embark on their own journey to get a job and establish themselves in young adulthood; unfortunately some are more successful than others. As time progresses a few of them are determined to remain in touch but become disillusioned when their friendships become strained. Armed with cellular phones and rapid text-messaging skills they frequently keep track of each other.

What I enjoyed most about this film was its ability to adequately display how the bonds of friendship during childhood are often tested after monumental events such as graduation. I found this depiction of the transition of adolescence into adulthood to be both realistic and honest. There are many quiet scenes of the girls walking along the industrial landscape of the port city of Inchon, South Korea that I found interesting and intriguing. To sum it up, TAKE CARE OF MY CAT is a film worth watching. Recommended.

Five schoolgirls, identical outfits and identical jet black hair, posing for each other's pictures, swearing eternal friendship...a few years later, and the bonds are not so tight as class and social difference threaten feelings, family structures, even livelihoods. Jae-eun Jeong's first feature is one of the most remarkable debuts I've ever seen, a seemingly low-key yet cinematically brilliant and powerfully energetic slice of life story that communicates the dramas at the edge of adulthood, the struggles to succeed in the hustle of the big city or at the margins of society.

At the beginning of the film, the girls are still fairly tight, despite one of them -- proud capitalist-to-be Hye-ju moving to Seoul early in the film, while the rest live in the semi-suburban Incheon, some distance to the west of the capital. They are in constant cell-phone contact, by voice and texting, and this allows the director lots of fun with the visual trope of lettering appearing in various places on the screen when a character is texting another...at first this seemed merely playful to me, but it's clear that she has an agenda involving communication breakdown, despite the instantaneous nature of modern technology; the central character of Tae-hie, direction-less herself but working harder than any of the others to keep them from drifting, actually uses an old-fashioned typewriter while transcribing writing for a man with cerebral palsy -- an indication, perhaps, that she is more aware of both the past and the pitfalls of today. The third major character, Ji-young, lives in poverty and loneliness with her aging grandparents, and it is largely her growing isolation from Hye-ju, her former best friend, that sets what plot there is here in motion. The last two girls are twins Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo and are a bit less well-developed, but not surprisingly so as their devotion to each other helps keep them from needing the others as much.

The film is full of charm and wit, and a growing sense of pathos as the world of adulthood really comes crashing in on a couple of the characters, and the director and her brilliant cinematographer Yeong-hwan Choi make stunning use of windows, mirrors, glasses and the urban landscapes of both the big modern city center and its grimy decaying outreaches to depict the fragmented personalities and souls of a group of girls bouncing back and forth between liberation and servitude -- often self-imposed -- and never really quite aware of what it's all for. The low key, electronically-based score is wistful and romantic, beautiful and perfectly complimentary without ever really dominating the mood.

I first watched the excellently transferred Kino DVD in the fall of 2007 and was so powerfully moved - and entertained - that I watched it again the next night, something that I virtually never do; and then I purchased it and have watched it a couple more times since. Easily one of my favorite films of the decade, and a film that surely would get more critical acclaim were it about American boys instead of Korean girls. The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras, and there are Asian editions that are supposedly a bit better, but this disc is probably your best bet if you're in North America. It's not cheap, but believe me it's worth it.

I was very impressed by this upon first viewing, a couple years ago, and boy does it hold up with the passage of time. This was Jeong's debut and it will be very interesting to see where her career heads in the future.

In this coming-of-age story set in a group of young women in a rather bleak and industrial Inchon, S Korea, Jeong doesn't attempt to duplicate the lushness of Naruse or the extraordinary technique of Ozu, but there's an elegance that recalls both - a real ability to look straight into the many subtle slights these women endure, along with the many moments of joy they create, and discover profundity in the everyday. The basic mechanics of the story seem (at first) simple, and the film seems very ethereal for the first 20 minutes or so, but it does coalesce into something quite memorable - the slow tempo and loping narrative makes it easy to overlook the subtle defiance and independence of spirit (and the quick moments of odd, deadpan humor) to be found underneath it all. In both look and feel, Jeong's work is of a piece with certain other leading figures in the current Asian cinematic new wave, and like the best examples of that new wave, Jeong creates a memorable style of her own.

Sweet but not sappy, occasionally tragic without sliding into gross manipulations - a film of great power. The Kino DVD looks great, no extras however.

-David Alston

This movie is really good. It shows how the South Korean women seemed to struggle to find their own true identity. Its really a beautiful story, and it showed me how friendships can stand the test of time if only you work to keep them together.

I was in a mood for something different for DVD viewing a few nights ago and I realized that within my large (and yet, many unwatched) collection of DVD's was the Korean film "Take care of my cat" aka "Goyangileul Butaghae" in Korea.

The story focuses on the lives of five high school friends who live in an industrial seaside town of Inchon.

The five move on after graduation and they try their best to keep communication with each other.

The beautiful Hae-joo works for a brokerage firm and dreams of having a successful career by working hard and hoping for a chance to move up in ranks. For Hae-joo, she tends to love herself quite a bit and loves to shop.

Ji-young is the total opposite. She's very artistic and wants to study abroad but unlike any of her friends, she lives with her grandparents in the slums of Inchon.

She tends to borrow money from her friends and she and Hae-joo tend to clash with each other because Hae-joo is fashionable and tends to spend money while Ji-young is trying to survive and help her grandparents who live in a shack with a rooftop that is about to come down.

Tae-hee comes from a dedicated large family who seem very together. Unfortunately for Tae-hee, she feels that she doesn't belong. She tends to do many odd jobs such as passing out flyers and helping a poet with cerebral paralysis and tends to be the intermediary between Hae-joo and Ji-young.

The last two are the twins who sell merchandise as street vendors and try to get together when their friends organize a group trip.

If there is one thing in common that the young ladies have with each other, it's their connection to a cel phone.

The sixth cast member is Titi, the cat. The cat is pretty much pawned off to each friend because they can't take care of her but each time one friend has the cat, we get to know more about each individual girl. Also, with communication among the friends starting to break down, the cat is literally the only way certain friends communicate with each other.

"Take care of my cat" is pretty much a straightforward film about life after high school and the lost communication among friends. Also, like many teenagers, wanting to leave the place that you lived in.
The story focuses more on Hae-joo, Ji-young and Tae-hee and the complications they have within their personal lives.

As much as Hae-joo would love her friends to believe that she has a great career at the brokerage firm that she works at. The truth is that without a college education, working hard in her job is not going to gain her any respect from the other employees at the firm.

For Ji-Young, her friends are shocked to see how this happy teenager all of a sudden has become very moody and silent young adult. Not aware of her living circumstances that will eventually lead to tragedy.

For Tae-hee, she's the girl right in the middle. Lives in a good home, a big family that loves each other but she doesn't want any part of that. She looks at herself as the outsider and like many individuals, looks to find her own identity and through her friends, try to understand how the live their lives.

There is no true climax to the film or major developments. The film tries to capture the realism of growing up and does a great job of doing it, thus keeping you interested.

I found the different film settings really interesting and a different take of setting that I'm not accustomed to watching in a Korean film.

All in all, I really enjoyed "Take care of my cat". It's not amazingly great but it's a film that touches the hearts of people who have lived similar situations of having best friends in high school and as you grow older, you lose that communication. This film is different from what's out there and worth checking out.

Nice background music too.

Hauntingly lovely film -- takes us on an adventure with these girls, all trying to find their place or escape from their present fate, while still trying to remain friends.

Walks through the gritty scenery, parties on rooftops while locked out on a freezing night, and a sweet little orphan cat, ties these bonds ever so closely, even while the girls seem to drift apart.

Wish they had NOT shown that very sad cat shelter footage -- but maybe it will inspire someone to help those poor little feline waifs. Still think the world has a long way to go before it realizes the true worth of ALL living beings.

The cat in the movie brings bad luck, and isn't seen much. This is more like SEX AND THE CITY, though without the sex, since it is Korean.

Nice Korean locations, and movie is stylish without being too annoyingly arty. The story could take place anywhere, and it seems like the director was influenced by European and American movies, with a running down a hallway scene that recalls JULES AND JIM, and a plot akin to the Demi Moore movie, NOW AND THEN.

No great shakes, but it's watchable.

It's a warmly felt film about the friendship of five young Korean girls among which Tee-Hee stands out as a poet and adventurer; the vagaries of fate and life, have not yet left deeper imprint on souls of these young girls but they will mature and learn about life which is what you make of it. Pedestrian? Si, es la vida.