Take Care of My Cat

A mixed experience in a film about five young women who were best friends in school, but find themselves drifting apart as they find their own way in the world. For every moment that is authentic (Hae-Joo pretends to sleep rather than face an uncomfortable situation) or genuinely moving (Tae-Hee’s dreams of sailing from Korea) there is one that is rather gimmicky (text messages scrawled across buildings), hamfisted (an unprecedented swelling of tritely cinematic music in a tragic moment) or glaringly nonsensical (Ji-young’s vow of silence). The five characters’ story arcs also vary in terms of depth and direction, and the twins are virtually ignored and undeveloped.

Despite those complaints, considered as a larger whole this is an affecting and truthful film, which effectively captures the mood of a period in life when everything changes and one no longer feels she has a place. No cultural barriers prevent me from identifying with these girls, having lost touch with so many friends who were once so much like me, but life changes one so deeply, so quickly, and this film recognizes that in many of its manifestations: education, distance, class, and the way technology can alienate as much as connect. That last bit is such a pervasive concern in contemporary society that it may be done to death in recent cinema, but aside from what I described as gimmickry above it is largely handled in subtle and identifiable ways. There are a lot of moments that stuck out as awkward to me, but the film’s mood and honesty overwhelm all that; I am left with some calm accession to my own transient place in life, and a helpless understanding of the different courses these characters (and, I suppose, my own lost friends) find themselves following.