The film is directed by newcomer JEONG Jae-eun. The movie stars BAE Doo-na (the Ring Virus) as Tae-hee, LEE Yo-won (Attack the Gas Station) as Hae-joo, newcomer OK Ji-young as Ji-young, and twins LEE Eun-sil and LEE Eun-ju (Asako in Ruby Shoes) as Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo. All five of the girls are relative newcomers, but they all played their parts with great confidence. I was especially impressed with BAE Doo-na and OK Ji-young. Their charactersÕ relationship, seemingly formed out of necessity and circumstance, grew stronger through shared thoughts and misfortune.

In the film, Ji-young discovers a stray cat and soon takes it into her care. At Hae-jooÕs birthday party, Ji-young gives the cat to her as a gift. Not even a week after, Hae-joo, a busy corporate girl who is doing the best to survive in a less than satisfactory position, gives the cat back to Ji-young. Throughout the course of the film, the cat eventually makes her way through the hands of all five characters; each giving her up when changes in their lives force them to do so. The cat is used not to move the plot forward, but to externalize the movement of struggle in the lives of the girls. The girls left with the cat in the very end, the twins Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo, are the only ones whose lives require changes that are already present in their lives. Their ending up with the cat symbolizes their confidence with their position in the world. To the others, the cat remains a part of the world that they are leaving behind.

The movie itself works extremely well. The five girls are all very realistically portrayed, all trying to find their place in a world that is different than they had hoped it would be. Both Tae-hee and Ji-young live in less than satisfactory conditions, and the viewer observes these two trying to make the best of what they have. Nothing is dwelled on forever in this film. Director JEONG Jae-eun instead uses simple observation of events in the present lives of the two to frame the charactersÕ past existence and give them a reason to leave their lives and move into the world. Sometimes this can be through tragedy, or sometimes by choice, but the justification to pack up and leave is always given.

I especially liked the music, done by M&F. It was almost German sounding, and fit the mood of the film perfectly. Although most of the music was diegetic (or coming from a source on screen, like a radio), the non-diegetic M&F music was used during turning points in the characterÕs lives, or to frame their existence in the world.

Some may consider Take Care of My Cat a chick flick, and with no less than five main female stars and a very confident female director, this could easily have turned into another Sex in the City, focusing on nothing but men and sex. It doesnÕt, however, and instead loses itself in the complexities of everyday life, and the struggle between oneÕs dreams and the reality one must face on a daily basis. The films ending, while abrupt and a little too open, shows that one must take chances in life instead of remaining where one has been told is the right place to be.

Overall, this is a great film. It may not be a film for everybody, but I found it to be very beautiful to watch. The directing is superb, with great framing and pacing. The acting is also very good, and seemed very natural. I highly recommend it. It also looks like it will be getting a US theatrical release as well, so be sure to check it out. The Korean DVD set is also worth it, and includes two short films by the director.

"Take care of my cat"(TCMC) is another brilliant low-budgetted movie in Korea. It highlights most popular culture among Korean teenaged girls - cellular message transfer -, and purposedly evades most talked issue - sex. Several meaningful messages are transferred and shared among characters by visual way of cellular messages, and a young pussycat is also moved from one to another. The possession of cat signifies the change of woman's position in Korean society.

Once it belongs to Ji-young, a poor and bereaved girl who defies every condition of what she is and has. She gave the cat to her best friend Hye-ju, a negotiative and self-confident but ambitious OL. Hye-ju accepts it for a while, but returns to Ji-young. Ji-young is later sentenced legal detention due to collapse of her house and abrupt death of her grandparents. The cat is now sent to Tae-hi who is very heartful, inquisitive and day-dreaming family business helper. She suffers from the oppression of masculine-oriented family, and hopes to go far away to seek for her own life. Finally, Tae-hi picks up Ji-young out of detention house and trips with her to somewhere in Australia. The already half-grown cat is sent to twin sisters, Eun-jo and Bi-ryu, who are both care-free and have no interest in complex matters.

All characters have their own problems, and these problems neither can be shared nor cured by friendship itself. The destiny of pussycat is shifting from the place of defiance and silence of Ji-young, to negotiation and assimilation of Hye-ju, to curiosity and reservedness of Tae-hi, finally to indifference and ignorance of twin sisters. This route is a epitome of the trajectory of woman's attitude toward Korean major society. As the cat grows, its position also changes according to the growth of woman's recognition of the real world in Korea.

TCMC is quite a remarkable allegory of modern Korean society, and well-directed integration of short episodes that dialectically dissolves into a optimal but unsatisfactory finale. A must see for serious story watchers with open mind, but a bust for simple movie-goers.