The most memorable thing in Hong Sang-soo’s 30th feature film “In Our Day” is one fluffy (and plumpy) cat, which always steals the show whenever it appears on the screen. Probably because the movie is relatively less interesting than Hong’s better works such as “HaHaHa” (2010) or “Right Now, Wrong Then” (2015), my mind often got disinterested in whatever was going on the screen during my viewing, and I could not help but want to see more of that cat instead of really engaged in the story and characters.

That cat belongs to a woman named Jeong-soo (Song Seon-mi), and the first scene establishes her relationship with her friend Sang-won (Kim Min-hee), who has stayed in Jeong-soo’s little residence for a while. As they casually talk with each other, Jeong-soo’s cat enters the screen, and the mood becomes a bit more playful as Sang-woo briefly plays with Jeong-soo’s cat, which does not mind her attention at all as exuding its natural cuteness on the screen.

Meanwhile, the movie also focuses on an aging male poet named Eui-joo (Ki Joo-bong), who is visited by a young female documentary filmmaker named Ji-soo (Park Mi-so). Eui-joo is willing to tell anything in front of Ji-soo’s digital video camera, but her project does not seem to be going that well despite her plucky enthusiasm, and he does not have much to say probably because he is advised to stop drinking and smoking due to his health problem. Considering how often the male characters of Hong’s films drink or smoke, Eui-joo’s ongoing abstinence is a bit amusing to us at first, but Eui-joo seems mostly fine with his abstinence, and that is sadly less fun for us.

Anyway, Eui-joo is later visited by Jae-won (Ha Seong-guk), a guy who has seriously considers trying on acting. I do not know why this guy wants to seek some advice on acting from Eui-joo even though Eui-joo has not acted before, but Eui-joo does have several things to tell in front of Eui-joo and Ji-soo, and the mood becomes a little more humorous as Eui-joo frequently emphasizes on honesty and integrity.

The two different parts of the film are later connected via Ji-soo, who visits Jeong-soo’s residence at some point in the middle of the film. As she talks with Jeong-soo and Sang-won, we observe Sang-won showing a certain odd way of ramen, which is also demonstrated by Eui-joo in front of Ji-soo during one earlier scene in the film. Does Sang-won actually know Eui-joo, even though she does not tell anything about him to Eui-joo? I have no idea in fact, but now I wonder whether these two characters have some personal elements from Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee, who has been personally involved with Hong not long before “On the Beach at Night Alone” (2017) came out.

However, the movie curiously does not attempt to connect its two different parts more without generating much synergy between them. When Jeong-soo’s cat is suddenly gone missing for no apparent reason, the mood becomes a bit suspenseful, but this urgent situation is quickly resolved in an anti-climactic fashion. In case of Eui-joo’s part, the atmosphere becomes a little silly when he eventually decides to try a bit of smoking and drinking along with Ji-soo and Jae-won, but this moment does not lead to any good laugh for us, even when Eui-joo and the other two characters subsequently attempt an absurd drinking game together.

As observing this curiously lackadaisical moment, I found myself wondering whether the movie is actually Hong’s admission on being less artistically motivated than before. After all, he has kept going in his small artistic territory for more than 25 years since his first feature film “The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well” (1996), and he has recently tried to do something different as shown from “The Woman Who Ran” (2020) and “In Front of Your Face” (2021), but then he previously gave “In Water” (2023) early in this year, a literally blurry piece of sh*t which is his worst film in my inconsequential opinion. I might have been too harsh and mean as writing in my review on “In Water” that my anoscopy looks sharper and more detailed besides being in focus as required, but, boy, I definitely do not want to re-evaluate “In Water” at any chance as still wincing from one of the most boring and exasperating movie theater experiences during last several years.

Regardless of whether his artistic energy is actually declining these days, Hong is still capable of drawing good performances from his performers, and the small cast of “In Our Day” is as natural and spontaneous as you can expect from his performers. While Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, and Park Mi-so are particularly effective when their characters happen to occupy the screen together during one long conversation scene, and I wish the movie could utilize more of their effortless interactions on the screen. In case of Ki Joo-bong, who is also one of Hong’s frequent performers, he brings some sense of humor to his weary character, and Ha Seong-guk is also solid as a dude who does not even know well what to ask in front of Ki’s character.

On the whole, “In Our Day” is rather dissatisfying mainly due to its weak narrative, but it has some bright spots including that cute cat, and, above all, Hong will move onto his next film to direct sooner or later. As I told you before, I am not a big fan of his works, but I admire how he has been steady and productive for many years, and I sincerely hope that I will be soon more entertained in the next time.