By The movie, Castaway On The Moon, I didn’t have high expectations of when I saw it added to the ever growing list of Korean movies to be streamed on Netflix. The movie was a bit weird, but it ultimately ended up exceeding my expectations and was quite a good movie to watch. This 2009 movie is a romance-comedy-drama that was directed by Lee Hae-Jun. The film is about a man named, Kim Seung-keun (Jung Jae-young) who is heavily in debt and his girlfriend ended up dumping him. In despair he decides to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge that crosses the Han River in Seoul. However, after plunging into the river Seung-keun wakes up on the small uninhabited Bamseom Island in the middle of the river. The Korean government has left this island untouched so it can be used as a habitat for migratory birds. Seung-keun at first tries to escape the island, but since he can’t swim and no one can see him or comes to the island he is trapped. Eventually Seung-keun decides life on the island isn’t so bad and begins to learn to catch fish, birds, and eggs to eat. He even figures out how to start a garden on the island. How he learns to use uniquely Korean items that have washed up on the island is quite funny to watch as well. All in all he makes a comfortable though lonely life for himself on the island.
While Seung-keun is surviving on the island a young mentally unstable woman, Kim Jung-Yeon (Jung Ryeo-Won) spends her time horded in her room in her Mom’s apartment overlooking the Han River. She spends her days on the Internet and at night likes to take pictures of the Moon. One night while looking through her camera lens she notices HELP! written in the sand of Bamseom Island. From then on Jung-yeon begins to follow Seung-keun’s life on the island from the view of her camera lens. Eventually Jung-yeon begins to communicate with Seung-keun by throwing wine bottles with simple messages off of the bridge at night. Seung-keun responds to her messages by writing in the sand for her to see. Their relationship over the rest of the movie expands to where she eventually has a deliveryman deliver Jajangmyeon to Seung-keun. This part of the movie was really hilarious. The rest of the movie continues to develop the strange relationship between the two and you will have to see the movie yourself to determine if Seung-keun is rescued and whether he ever meets Jung-yeon.
Overall the movie is very funny and I was surprised I hadn’t heard of this movie before. This movie at a glance may seem like a Korean copy of Tom Hanks’ Castaway movie but I can assure you this one is much better and is more than just a castaway movie. How he makes a life for himself on the island is an important part of the movie but his odd relationship with Jung-yeon is what I think makes this movie much better than Tom Hanks’ Castaway. Since there is no special effects or fast paced action the entire movie is depended on how engaging the two lonely and troubled characters are to viewers. Fortunately this movie doesn’t need any special effects to make up for poor acting because Jung Jae-young I think is definitely Tom Hanks’ equal at playing the castaway role and Jung Ryeo-won is very skilled at playing a mentally disturbed person. These two together is too much for even Tom Hanks to beat out. So if you are looking for a good movie to watch that the whole family can enjoy then definitely check out Castaway On The Moon.
For those who are interested in seeing more about this film here is the trailer for Castaway On The Moon:
She hasn’t seen...
4:54 pm on January 21st, 2012 1
Yes, I saw this a couple of years ago and quite enjoyed it. Everytime I see those swan paddle boats I think of the film and laugh…
10:11 pm on January 21st, 2012 2
“I can assure you this one is much better…than just a castaway movie.” Does that mean you think it’s better than “Castaway?” Was the Bamseom Island scenery anything like the Fiji Island scenery? How much weight did Jung Jae-young lose for the role? Did Jung Ryeo-Won play a better role than Helen Hunt? How about the splash landing into the Han river compared to the crash landing into the ocean? The 2000 Castaway was a box office hit($233 million), how about the Korean version of Castaway? Yes, it does sound funny(spoof) but what do you expect after Castaway? We’ve seen spoof movies before such as Blazzing Saddles, Airplane, Naked Gun, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. I say Korea ought to spoof its own movies, or maybe that would too difficult.
11:26 pm on January 21st, 2012 3
#2
I assume tbonetylr has NOT watched ‘Castaway On The Moon’?
SPOILER ALERT. Do not read if you haven’t watched ‘Castaway On The Moon’ yet.
YOU can’t say Castaway is better than ‘Castaway On The Moon’ just because Hanks lost so much weight or it has better scenery or a great footage of an airliner crash. If you talk about the 2 movies in that language, sure maybe ‘Castaway’ may be better. But if you want to talk about how the movie gets to you, ‘Castaway On The Moon’ is better movie for sure. IMO, ‘Castaway On The Moon’ was just as good as Castaway and considering how little $ was spent on it and how human it was, I’d say ‘Castaway On The Moon’ is better.
As I was watching ‘Castaway On The Moon’ I thought it was starting out funny but silly. Funny thing is I also found myself comparing this Korean movie to Castaway as I finished watching on Netflix. And guess what I thought? I thought the comparison between the 2 movies accurately reflected how things are done in US and S Korea.
Castaway = US = extravagant use of resource (transporting dozens of crew/equipment to a place in the middle of Pacific)
Castaway On The Moon = S Korea = really shoestring budget for a movie compared to Hollywood (transporting crew/equipment to an island in the MIDDLE of a river running through Seoul)
In the end I find ‘Castaway On The Moon’ to be a better movie of the 2 because it is more funny (the delivery boy on the swan boat), more touching (a woman so hurt by the world that she holes up in a closet to sleep, NEVER going out to the world), and more satisfying (the main male character almost misses the woman at the end BUT because of the biannual air raid exercise he’s able to catch her).
It’s a great date movie for sure too.
2:52 am on January 22nd, 2012 4
TBone, the movies really can’t be compared.
GIKorea, thanks for the review. My wife and I watched it tonight and found it enjoyable.
5:23 am on January 22nd, 2012 5
Watched this a few years ago; I enjoyed it and thought it was quite funny…the food delivery scene was hilarious.
8:45 am on January 22nd, 2012 6
Watched it tonight. Enjoyable flick. I’d give it a solid three stars (out of five).
9:14 am on January 22nd, 2012 7
I also saw this a couple of years ago. Delivery guy is hilarious. I’d easily recommend this film to anyone, and having seen castaway, it’s a tough call. It’s really one man’s story..however this movie is two people’s stories and how they mix together.
12:13 pm on January 22nd, 2012 8
[...] ROK Drop - GI Korea reviews the Korean film Castaway on the Moon (김씨 표류기). [...]
1:33 am on January 23rd, 2012 9
Great review. You have redeemed yourself for the poor rating you gave “Thirst”.
Castaway on The Moon takes a big dump on Castaway.