New Restoration

“A timeless snapshot … Poignant, never sappy, and effortlessly cool, Take Care of My Cat offers a multi-faceted look at women’s lives … An essential film.”

Ariel Esteban Cayer, Fantasia Festival 2023

An unusually subtle and lived-in portrait of young women and their aspirations, Take Care of My Cat was ahead of its time—a cult classic that is now finally receiving its due. High school is over; without its structure, even close friendships fray or enter a realm of ambiguity. Jeong Jaeeun’s debut feature examines these shifts from multiple vantage points. There’s Incheon, the port city that’s a cultural dead end compared to Seoul; the broader social group, where gossip and tender phone calls alike travel through the novel tech of cell phones; and three representative friends. Haejoo is thanklessly (and barely) employed at a brokerage firm, while Jiyoung lives with her grandparents on the city’s outskirts. Taehee (Bae Doona) is the only one who risks mediating across these emerging class divisions. Cat was produced with commercial ambitions but was slow to find an audience, perhaps owing to its absence of sugary uplift; more recently it has earned comparison to Edward Yang.

In Korean, Mandarin, and English with English subtitles

“Breezily realist … Jeong examines the secret lives of 20-year-olds with a low-key seriousness lacking in most North American coming-of-age films.”

Mark Peranson, Village Voice

“Take Care of My Cat pays exquisite attention to the wistful transitory elements of young adulthood.”

Dan Schindel, MUBI Notebook
Media