CASTAWAY ON THE MOON 김씨 표류기

I was "coerced" by my brother into watching this one because it starred his favourite Korean actress, Jung Rye Won. And I actually watched it because of Jung Rye Won because I wanted to see what the hype is all about. 

Surprisingly, I like this movie a lot although I wasn't impressed by her. The movie in fact, is pretty meaningful. I must say that Korean movies are actually pretty good. When we mention Korean dramas, our minds drift to the soft melodies of Winter Sonata, two lovers in the middle of the snow, hugging each other or crying. That's the stereotype. But when it comes to movies, I find that Korean directors are in fact very creative.

Previously, my friend recommended everyone an award-winning film "Old Boy". I think the theme of the movie is very interesting, the storyline is so brilliant and I'm impressed with the director's creativity with the movie. The cinematography is also impressive. Personally, I'm disgusted with the theme in "Old Boy" but I can't help but applaud the director's work because although I was feeling weird about the theme, I genuinely think it is creative and original and different and that is the kind of movie I love.

"Castaway on the Moon" doesn't share the same brilliant/clever storyline but I love how the director conveys the message of the movie. The story is simple. A man decided to commit suicide by jumping down the Han River. He has given up on life - he's in debt, he's lost his girlfriend and basically, everything is wrong with his life.

I love the opening. We hear a man on the phone stating that the lead actor had borrowed a few thousand dollars; and then after adding the interest, the amount of money owed is hundreds of thousand. 

After stating that the operator goes: "Sir, are you clear?"

Lead actor: "Yes. You've made me all the more clear now."; 'clear' as in his decision to jump but not the amount of the debt. 

But he survived and landed himself on this island, in the middle of the city. Which leads us to the first lesson advocated in the movie, proper planning. If you really plan to kill yourself, you need to find a good location. For example, don't jump from that particular bridge in Korea, or you might end up in that island as a castaway.

Meanwhile, the movie features also a girl whose life revolves only around her room. She doesn't go out because of the scar on her face. She does everything according to a strange routine - she hypnotizes herself to sleep, waking up only to 'work' in front of the computer (she has a fake webpage where she becomes someone else), she gets fresh air from the fan, stuff like that. And her interest? Taking pictures of the moon. She likes to be alone, like on the moon, with zero-gravity.

The movie is about how these two unconventional individuals meet. Male Kim was stranded on the island without anyone knowing except the Female Kim (yes, both leads are somehow by the name of Kim). 

The Female Kim, who constantly locks herself in the room (like my brother) has never stepped out of here room to interact with people for three years. She has been using her telescope to take photographs of the moon. One day, she saw Male Kim, whom she thought is an Alien. Now, people, I'd like to draw your attention here to the disadvantage of facing only four walls instead of getting some sunlight and communication with real humans. Your brains will somehow malfunction and you'll misunderstand real human beings as Aliens, like our Miss Kim here. So she figures out ways to communicate with the Alien.

Female Kim blasting off to the moon. She throws the bottles containing messages into the sea for Male Kim.

Male Kim's response

A few meaningful themes:

When living like we're dying, we are happier.

Male Kim felt frustrated when he first landed on the island. He tried to find his way out of the island, but then decides that he is better off building a life there since there's nothing to lose. He doesn't mind eating the wild mushrooms since if he dies, he wants to die anyway. So, when we don't care about dying or anything in life, we are problem free and happy.

Very applicable in life, don't you think? Sometimes we overburden ourselves in life because we overthink things. If we just let go, and not worry about consequences we are definitely going to less stressed up and a whole lot cheerier.

Simplicity is happiness

Male Kim grew to love his life they on the island. He lives the simple life where he grew his own crops, builds his own 'nest', hunt his own food...

Sometimes having NOTHING means HAVING EVERYTHING.

The ending was touching. Kim cried, begging for people to not cast him out from the island. The island is his everything. Ironically, he has NOTHING in the city, when to us, we feel that our everything is in the city. Different perspective, different needs. I guess sometimes we think we have it all here in the city. But maybe we have nothing at all and we just don't know it. 

I remember this personal experience. It was during my National Service training and I overhead two of my Malay friends chatting. One was a Shah Alam guy and one a pure Kelantan kampong boy. The Kelantan boy talks about his adventures rafting on rivers, fishing and playing by the countryside. The Shah Alam boy was listening in awe. I, too, was listening. 

Then I heard the Kelantan boy say, "Best tinggal kat kampong. Seronok tau berakit..." (It's fun living in the village. It's very fun rafting) Then he went on describing his rafting experience. That's when I turn back and smiled at him. I mean, as a city girl and like my Shah Alam friend, the city boy, we've never experienced all these minor things. How can we say we have EVERYTHING? No, we definitely do not have the privilege to experience that kind of happiness derived from the simplest things.

No one is really useless; you could be an inspiration to someone else and you do not know it

Male Kim sees himself as useless and a failure and in fact, many other people would perceive him that way too. That's probably why he decided to end his own life. But female Kim saw Male Kim from a different perspective - another side of him that most people don't see, and perhaps, he himself doesn't know off until he was stranded on the island. 

Female Kim, who is a loner, who doesn't face the world, had changed her attitude towards interaction with people. Because of Male Kim, she forces herself to get out into the world, something that she has not done in many years. She lacked self-esteem and confidence but Male Kim, although technically has no relation with Female Kim, has indirectly changed and inspired Female Kim. So you see, sometimes, we might see ourselves as useless, but there could be somebody out there secretly admiring you without you knowing it.

I truly believe that everyone is here for a reason, though sometimes we doubt our existence. Like sometimes, I still have no idea why I'm here. I guess there are times when we are so down that we just can't see our own values and that's when we have others' to open our eyes. For me I really think that all my friends are valuables. Everyone of them are an inspiration to me and some of them just do not know their worth to me.

Everyone is special and has talents, we just might not know it

The movie also highlights that people have hidden talents and potential that they don't know of and all they have to do is think and work on it, and they will achieve excellence. Male Kim had achieved so much on the island although in the city, he has no accomplishments and he felt useless. The people around him also made him feel useless. Sometimes, when there is so much negativity around you, you tend to think negatively. If everyone tells you how you suck all the time, you tend to believe that too.

But being on the island made Male Kim realize his own abilities and the strength he has to keep fighting to stay alive. Because of that 'desire', he thought about stuff and got creative. Through perseverance he built his home, a shelter and he grew his own crops and made his own Black Bean Noodles. He made noodles from the corn flour he made himself. Ain't that cool?

The duck 'nestles' me

During the climax, he fought hard to keep the duck (a metaphor of the island, which was his home) from the storm.

He then lost grip of the 'home'. This scene of the duck indicates that he is going to lose his home soon. And sure enough, he was found and was forced to evacuate the island. There was also a scene in the movie closing up on the duck's face before Male Kim had lost his hold on the duck. It's like the duck is telling him that everything will be fine and that you do not need me anymore. The duck is like the mother who now feel is time to let the duckling go out there and be independent.

The most most touching part of the movie that moved me to tears was the scene where Male Kim eats his own hand made Black Bean noodles. The director takes his time when focusing on the scene, showing the emotions of Male Kim for a quite some time just to stir that particular emotion into us. 

If one had felt the happiness of accomplishing something that makes you, yourself proud, you'd know exactly how great that feeling is, and how that feeling of pride and happiness could actually water your eyes. For me, I won't cry if I'm happy but I'm touched when I see people achieve something after putting in so much hard work. I felt that way about Male Kim, and during my lecturer's last speech to us in UK, talking about how everyone has accomplish a lot in the three months and that we should all be proud of ourselves, I was also teary.

How to make black bean noodles, Kim's style:

Talk to your duck for inspiration

Scrap bird poo off your duck to get seeds & start planting

Savour the meal. This is the most touching scene in the movie. Excellent emotional delivery by the actor. Can't believe that one can tear up when eating.

Some of the director's techniques of presenting the story is also interesting. For example, the flashback of Male Kim's life was done in this swimming pool scene. The scene shows Male Kim drowning in the sea, then we see Male Kim's head, he's flapping in the middle of the swimming pool, being criticized by his father who is by the pool side. Then Male Kim sunk in the waters again, then he manage to put his head up. And he was struggling in the swimming pool again. This time, his girlfriend is by the pool, again short-changing him. This parts highlights his past life, the reason why he wants to kill himself in the first place and maybe this part highlights how the waters will wash away the past.

The way the characters were brought together is also very interesting. I mean, okay, maybe it is a bit ridiculous for such thing to happen, but hell, this world is full of crap anyway right? Overall, really a great movie. I really like the lead actor. He's really hilarious and comical. Initially I felt that he was too old for the role, so it felt weird but later I think he is perfect for the role.

TC-My Rating: