Castaway on the Moon is a powerful film that is able to give hope to the viewers who need it. By turning Mr. Kim’s hopeless situation into an optimistic experience, the director tries to tell the audience that hope can be found very close to you indeed – in such an insignificant object as a corn seed. It is hope itself that is important, not the object through which you can pave your way to hope.
Mr. Kim in the beginning is a desperate man; he doesn’t have a job, has become a credit card delinquent, and even is abandoned by his lover. He finds no hope in his life and tries to escape it by drowning himself in the Han River. However, this event ironically provides him with a new place of living and a hope of a brand new life. When Mr. Kim comes across the Jjapagetti soup powder, he is suddenly struck with the desire to eat Jjapagetti (or even Jjajangmyun). All he has at his possession is the soup powder, but with great determination to eat Jjapagetti, Mr. Kim finds corn seeds in bird poop, grows the seeds himself, and finally makes the noodles needed for his craved Jjapagetti. From Mr. Kim’s discovery of the soup powder until the completion of his masterpiece, one can say that Mr. Kim is the happiest man in the world, filled with magnificent hope that he will be able to make his own Jjapagetti and eat it with great joy. Especially when Mr. Kim found the first stock of corn that bore many corns inside, he saw the tangible realization of his hope and was more joyful than ever. The director of the film wants the viewers to comprehend that even a small being like a corn seed can cause an individual to be hopeful and happy.
I personally understood the real meaning of hope after watching Castaway on the Moon. I am not exactly an optimist; I tend to look for the worst-case scenarios and prepare so that they will not happen, rather than hopefully looking forward to the best-case scenarios and desire that they in fact occur. Mr. Kim initially was a person like me, who expects the worst-case scenarios, and in this case, the worst-case scenario did really happen: his lover left him and he was penniless. However, when the deserted island provided Mr. Kim with a hope of a new, exciting life, he became an optimist who learned to gradually walk towards the best-case scenario goal with hope in his hands – in this case finally being able to eat Jjapagetti. I also realized that I should be hopeful for the best from now on rather than preparing for the worst, because after all you do only live once.
Castaway on the Moon as a whole is a very interesting film where the two main characters' love story is being depicted in a very different and refreshing context. The film also highlighted the importance of hope and perseverance through the character of Kim Seung Gun. He was introduced from the beginning of the film as being suicidal and was already on the verge of jumping off the bridge into the Han River. However, he later turned into a castaway as he didn't manage to end his life and instead had to live on Bamseom all alone and with no means of survival materials. Even when he was shown to be on the verge of drowning, there were many flashbacks of his life, which also emphasized the point that he's a castaway and also the reason for him to be suicidal.
The turning point was when he suddenly felt that there was hope for him in continuing to live on after he tasted some Salvia flowers which were very sweet. He realised that hi 'life suddenly got easier' and once again found the will to continue living on. Thus, he slowly found means to stay alive on this island and in the process giving hope to the viewers. As the film unfolds, he slowly gets used to life as a castaway, which once again strengthens the notion that even in adverse situations, humans can always find a way to live as long as we have the will to live on. He has adapted to life away from the city and this life also served as an escape from his life that was full of debts.
The focus of the film then suddenly shifts to the female character, Kim Jung Yeon, who escapes from reality by shutting herself up in her room the entire day and is addicted to the cyberworld. She likes the feeling of being all alone on a world, away from everybody else and seems to like the life of Kim Seung Gun and watches him everyday. That was the start of the relationship between them. She watches him slowly adapting to his life as a castaway and also sees him persevering on regardless of the difficulties he faced. As he exclaimed, 'desire makes people smarter', humans are highly adaptable creatures. In the film, there was also a scene where Kim Jung Yeon sends Kim Seung Gun black bean noodles and he refuses them, which seemed like he wanted to create hope for himself instead of having somebody else give it to him, showing his strong will to live! Towards the end of the film, he was once again thrown into despair as a typhoon robbed him of all his belongings on the island and destroyed all the things that he built. However, he was also soon after found by a group of men who were cleaning the island and brought back to mainland. In a way, it was once again a turn for the better even though he refused, saying that he wanted to wait for the replies from Kim Jung Yeon. However, at the end, everything turned out well and he finally knew who was writing to him, giving the film a happy ending. Therefore, in this film the theme of hope is depicted in a few scenes and is shown repetitively to viewers to make viewers understand that hope is life and that we should never give up hope just like Kim Seung Gun.
Like Danny, I would agree that the overarching theme of this movie concerns hope. We witness Kim Seunggeun's complete loss of hope which leads him to jump off the bridge in the first place, and consequently watch him as he builds it back up again as he lives on the deserted island. The movie even distinguishes between different kinds of hope: there is the hope to live and be happy, the hope for friendship and human contact, but also the hope for more, which Seunggeun fears and because of which he rejects Jungyeon's offer of Jjajangmyeon. In Jungyeon's parallel story we also see the hope for acceptance, and her own hope for companionship. That Seunggeun mentions the Ugly Duckling is just one example of how the film reminds us that these characters hope to fit in somewhere, one day.
For me the first instance in which I thought: "oh, this movie is about hope" was during the "Hanging/Saliva Flowers" scene. Though he has just tried to hang himself, diarrhea forces Seunggeun to delay, and it is while in the very vulnerable position of relieving himself that he espies these beautiful red flowers that pop out against the green forest brush. The tasting of the first flower takes the forefront, with the camera focusing simply on Seunggeun's mouth. But it's enough for the viewer to realize what a change the taste of the Saliva flower has on Seunggeun - not withstanding that during the next take Seunggeun begins furiously eating more. With flowers being one of nature's more beautiful creations, and nature often being equated with life, it seems safe to say that these Saliva flowers literally give back and inspire life (and hence hope) into Seunggeun. This scene signaled the change in Seunggeun's attitude towards survival on this island, for it is after this scene that Seunggeun decides that if he really wants to die, he can just do it some other time.
Castaway on the Moon is a film that is amazing and worth watching. The director has helped to create a new definition of hope to everyone through scenes of Mr Kim’s situation from wishing to die by jumping into the river and transiting to the desire of to survive by shouting for help and finding of means to survive on an isolated island. The storyline has provided the viewers the possibility of hope existing everywhere and is determined by how much you are willing to find and work for it.
In this film, it showed the scene of Mr Kim jumping down into the river as it showed scenes of flashback of him being a young child and was scolded by his father for not being able to swim. Furthermore, he also lost his girlfriend and lost his job. Despite so, he actually survived and arrived on an isolated island. The island had become a chance for him to continue to survive. While he was walking around the island, he actually discovered flower petals and mushrooms and realized that hunger can also be dependent on small little things around us. Furthermore, he tried to catch fish from the river but he failed. Hope appeared again where there were bloated fishes floating around the island. Another significant sight was the scene where he found a packet of Jjajangmyun powder and started craving for it. He then thought of using bird poop which has the possibility of containing seeds to grow corn and make noodles out of it. With the help of surroundings, he managed to cook a decent bowl of Jjajangmyun. Another hope was that a lady actually spotted him by chance and he found a friend that he can talk to through letters.
By watching this film, I have definitely learned a lot more about what hope can really mean. I learnt a lot from Mr Kim that we should not always wait for things to happen. We should actually take a step forward and find out what are the possible solutions rather than losing hope and constantly thinking negatively about the things that happened around you. I realized that every one of us can actually live a meaningful and exciting life through the life that Mr Kim experience on the island. It depends on how you actually use your hands and legs to discover the small little things around you and how you could view the objects and surroundings around differently. After watching, I have definitely set a new goal in life which is to live life with hopes.
Castaway on the Moon is one of the interesting films that show what true meaning of hope is. The story of the Castaway on the Moon is simple and easy to understand. Main character Kim Seung Gun is one of the general social outcasts. He even jumped to his death from the bridge of Han River but he survived in the uninhabited island in the middle of Seoul. At first he tries to get out of the island but he is faced with indifferences and decided to stay in the island. From that moment he finally gets his ‘own house’ and ‘own time’ that he wanted badly and become really happy. I think he is drifted from the society and became feeling free from social restriction after arrive at island and finally found full of happiness of his life. The Women character Kim Jung Yeon is Hikicomori who cuts herself of from the society. She is usually mute and won’t speak to anyone. However, after she found out Kim, she is encouraged by Kim’s positive behavior in the island through the camera. Finally she comes out from her own world to communicate with Kim which represents the first step of the Neil Armstrong on the moon.
As the title describe straightly, two main characters are socially castaways who wants to get out of the society and stay in the calm and independent place. However it is impossible to stay out of the society so, two characters have to develop their uninhabited island to become their foothold to start their new life in the same society. In the film, I could learn hope is not given but it is the thing that I have to gain by myself as Seung Gun waited for corn for long period of time without giving up. Each scene of the Castaway on the Moon represents how main characters reach their hope and how they reconstruct their past lives inside of their own uninhabited island. Therefore, the film wanted to teach views that hope can change people’s life and mind and is really important in our lives to dedicate to reach our own hope like two main characters did.
The movie screened today, Castaway on the Moon, is an interesting film that gives moral about “Hope”. In this movie, there are two main characters, Mr. Kim and Kim, Jung Yeon. They both turned away from their normal lives because they have lost hope. As film progresses, the two protagonists who had nothing but dismay becomes sparks of hope for each other. After watching this film, I learned that a person with even a little bit of hope can live on to matter for other who might need help. If even a dismayed one can plant a hope into other who is in despair, how can one treat his/her life easily? Mr. Kim who has large credit card debt and lost his girlfriend, tried to kill himself twice in the film. The reason is that he thought he had no purpose of living. Yet, he fails both times and finds a reason to live when he finds Jjapaghetti powder. When Kim, Jung Yeon has three types of black bean noodle delivered to Bam Island for Mr. Kim, he refuses to take them because to grow corn and make it himself is goal of his life. If he takes delivered black bean noodle, he would lose his goal of living again. From this, audience can learn that he found out how to crawl out of dismay and try to achieve his goal.
The female protagonist, Kim, Jung Yeon, is appeared to be a type of anthrophobia. She finds Mr. Kim when she was taking pictures during civil defense training because that’s the only time she opens her windows. To her, Mr. Kim himself is a purpose of living. She finds him freakish, dirty, and alien. Since the day she saw him, audience can notice changes in her daily life. She must’ve seen the spark that ignited in Mr. Kim’s mind. There are several scenes that emphasize change from “help” to “hello”. This shows beginning of optimism by embracing the despair one held. The funny pictures of Mr. Kim were put up at the center of her dark wall that was filled with pictures of “unlonely” moon. I think this scene was symbolic representation of hope, in this case, Mr, Kim, sprouting in dark and lonely mind of Kim, Jung Yeon. It is put up as if it started from dead center and other pictures of Mr. Kim are gradually put up. The space left on the wall is shown as if it indicates that there are many more pictures to be put up. Even though at the end of the movie, both of them face another obstacle in their life, Jung Yeon runs to Mr. Kim vigorously to stop him from killing himself. Also, by doing such, she finally overcame her fear and faced it. The final scene is which they are holding hand together which shows that they will support each other to survive rough world. This movie showed several forms of hope both literally and figuratively. It gave audience a true meaning of hope and what it can do to people.
Lee Hae-Jun’s Castaway on the Moon most certainly creates constant laughter among its audience. Through the protagonist’s comical characteristics – blue underwear outfit, devastated facial expressions, and extremity of consuming bird feces, the movie definitely conveys humor.
From a personal viewpoint however, the appeal to pathos should have been driven through a more sincere and solemn sensation. The severity of the tragic situation, in which the suicidal protagonist Kim becomes stranded on an island, does not seem to be reflected as well upon. Rather, everything appears to be silly and thus makes it harder for the audience to capture how serious the problem is. For instance Kim’s urge to make fire is made a joke out of, since he purposely disregards using the lighter that is available to him and tries manually instead. Another scene that seems absurd is when Kim takes his underwear off and yells across the river to see if he can receive help. His irritation could certainly have been illustrated through other means that better portray his urgency for help. Luckily, the comical aspects are not as irrationally depicted in scenes where the female character is present. Yet her behavior does illustrate a form of humor – high comedy. While her ‘lonely’ environment may seem odd to the average person she explicitly states, “When there’s no one, you can’t feel lonely.” Her play on words thus allow the audience to imply that she appreciates being by herself. Further, her ever-effective approaches toward sending bottled messages to the stranded man is unlikely to take place in reality. But that process itself is the comical aspect on her part. She takes initiative to engage in wearing a motorcycle helmet or hiding behind an umbrella to avoid the eyes of the public, and Lee Hae-Jun’s dynamic shot types assist her comic behavior. This is particularly evident when Lee incorporates a point-of-view shot and the audience is faced with a helmet vision. The female character’s intensive situation is easily felt yet it is ironic and humorous in the sense that one has to go through so much tension to simply through a bottled message into the river.
Perhaps due to the dislike of ‘funny’ movie genres, Castaway on the Moon was not too impressive. However, it was easy to appreciate the setting of the Han River because of its familiarity.
The opening scene of Castaway on the Moon presents a picture of a man named Kim alone, rejected by society, and most importantly, devoid of hope. His failures in life are accented further when he cannot commit suicide and through a unique series of flashbacks during his attempt at swimming. As he tries to adjust to his situation on the island, he begins to realize he enjoys the isolation of the island where he is all alone, and avoids people who come near the island. The theme of hope echoes throughout the story, and it begins with the discovery of a packet of jjajangmyun. His craving for the noodles gives him the drive for hope he needed in his normal life, but soon his plea for help he had written on the sand would be answered.
Kim Jung-Yeon is a social outcast who refuses to leave her room, but maintains a very heavy online presence through pretending to be other people. She is alone, just like Kim is, and they are both rejected by society. She views other people as aliens, and when Seoul is emptied during a drill, she is ecstatic due to it being devoid of humans, but she spots Kim's writing of 'Help.' This sparks the beginning of their correspondence, and she finally decides to leave her house in order to communicate with him. The actions she does reveal that Kim needs to achieve hope for himself, and he sees the jjajangmyun and the island as his only reasons to live. However, his hope changes to a hope of finding her, and she changes too, even breaking her strict rules of isolation. When Kim loses his island and is back in the city, he realizes his hope is lost and there is nothing to do but to commit suicide. Jung Yeon refuses to let it happen, and this change in both of them causes them to finally meet.
The movie as a whole was a great experience of hope and redemption, as well as a touching account of two lonely people in a society that rejects them finding each other. The movie exceeded my expectations, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Daniel Rhee Castaway on the Moon The movie starts out in a Shakespearean setting where a man attempts to escape his fate by committing suicide. The opening shot only sees the character talking on his cell phone, but the camera slowly zooms out, giving us a little bit of background to the character and why he has such a pale expression. As the camera uses the mise-en-scene technique and shoots at many angles that vary along with shots, we recognize that the main character is standing on the side of a bridge. A passing bus, however, prevents us from seeing the character jump, which in my opinion inhibited the audience from feeling the scare or shock value for that matter. The protagonist realizes that he failed in his attempt at suicide so decides to go up the 63 Building, but soon finds out that he is deserted on an island. We see the panic that the character faces because the camera shots shake and change quickly, just like the character's thoughts and emotions, which gave a feel for how afraid the character actually was. Initially he wanted to die, but now is scared to because he is stranded on an island, a moment which made the scene all the more ironic. I really enjoyed this segment of the movie because it not only made me realize that this movie was strikingly similar to the American film, Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, but it also made me realize the irony that the island is in the center of such a densely populated city. The Han River splits Seoul in half and the island is in the center of the river. The irony of a man being stranded in the most populated city in South Korea demonstrated that it does not take geographical distance to isolate someone. The isolation is also evident when the movie introduces a new girl character who has not left her room for three years. Irony played a major factor in this film. The girl is introduced as a recluse and informs the audience that she has become an online socialite who has physically removed herself from society. Symmetrically, the male character is forced into isolation because of his desire to commit suicide but ultimately ends up stranded on an island, in which he can easily leave via learning to swim or making a signal such as a large fire. Through all the irony though, what trumps this theme is hope. Both characters exude this feeling of hopelessness in their lives, but find a way of hope back into life. The male character finds his hope in his craving for a black noodle dish, while the girl finds hope through fascination in this "mysterious" character who lives on the island. But after he was able to make the noodles, his hope changed from the craving to wanting to meet his "international" pen-pal. The constant struggle of communication created this one dimensional relationship ultimately led to one thing: a desire to meet each other. Once each obstacle was overcome, new hope was found, which eventually led up to the scene where the protagonist finally met the girl.
‘Castaway on the Moon’ gives people to get hope in difficulty situation through Mr. Kim’s eccentric life. Mr. Kim is struggling for his life who makes a suicide bid by leaping in to the Han River, but he dramatically discovers that is lying on a small island. He decides to make the best of his situation as a castaway and builds a new life for himself. The other part of the story, Jung-yoen who hasn’t left her room in three years. She fears the world outside of her room and she makes her own world in her room. She only makes contact with the external world via the Internet her camera lens. When she opens her window during one of the two days Seoul is completely deserted, she can the sign that our castaway has written on the sand “hello.” She starts intrigued into this strange little man’s world. Soon overcome by a pressing urge to communicate, she sends him a message in a bottle. By they are communicating through their own connections, Mr. Kim discovers Jjapagetti powder, and he desires to eat Jjapagetti. After Mr. Kim decides to produces the noodles himself, he finds happiness, with hopes of making the noodles. The film tries to show the viewers to realize that people do not forget their hope. Women also affected by his new world in the deserted island, she tried to leave her apartment. The film director gives example of Mr. Kim’s suffered to possess the noodles but he finally get them.
This film gives me big impact of my personal life. After watching Castaway on the Moon, I could understand that satisfy one’s desires bring huge happiness and energies to survive in difficulties. When Mr. Kim rejects the Jjapagetti delivery, this shows that he can achieve the hopes without any other help. I was very impressed this part because he suffered because he pushed out high-level’s influenced. His emotional darkness concealed by his comical mood. Also the relationship between Mr. Kim and women, the communication is silly and ridiculous, but the messages are purposeful. The island ensures that their shared messages are simultaneously metaphorical, a tangible romantic discovery.
"Castaway on the Moon" portrays the lack of meaning and hope in our lives today with the use of comic relief. To start, the protagonists' locations and the distant communication between them are significant to the development of the characters and also provide some laughter for the audience. Even when the male protagonist is stranded on an island, he is strategically located in a place where the 63 building and other famous Korean buildings are located, reminding him that it is not possible to escape his past troubled and meaningless life in Seoul--as he is later forced to return to the city. On a related note, the female protagonist is also in her "stranded island"--her room; the lack of light and color in her room show the trapped state she is experiencing. Although she would like to live in her little world, she still cannot escape the outside city knocking on her door--her family trying to communicate with her and fake, demanding citizens who occupy the city 24/7 except during two days. The two protagonists live similar lives in which they want to escape the superficial world. The use of the camera frame in looking at the male protagonist's daily life without sound not only provides a comical perspective, but shows the communication and connection between the two characters that do not need many words or sounds to be included.
Also, close-ups of the main characters' faces show their significance in the plot and capture their emotions. Whenever the male protagonist is crying or having realizations, his face is zoomed to take up a majority of the screen, showing his vulnerability and letting viewers sympathize with him. Anxiety and helplessness of the female protagonist are portrayed during the scene when she finds hateful comments about her fake internet blog; shots that gradually get shorter and change quicker between the scrolling of the mouse and twitching fingers, the comments online, and her worsening expression.
Last, objects and climate help further present the symbolism present in the film. Jjajjangmyun and corn undoubtedly signify the hope present in both protagonists' lives as well as the lack of hope present in outsiders' lives. These objects prove to be somewhat silly to observers and other less important characters in the film; these days, people are so immersed in impressing others and finding a place in society that they lose the hope that makes them happy--when was the last time we pursued something that made us happy and truly satisfied? The violent storm towards the end serves as a realization for the protagonists; hardships and obstacles exist but hope still perseveres and drives people towards true happiness.
Castaway on the Moon does not only focus on grabbing audiences’ attention with humorous lines and actions but also centers around the theme of hope of which the main character develops and upholds throughout the movie. The beginning of the movie is quite dramatic as the main character attempts to commit suicide as a result of his company’s bankruptcy. The scene changes from the jumping of Han River to his presence at the island and the director incorporates alternative usage of close-shot and long-shots to show the view of the barren island and the character’s emotions simultaneously. The sound of the birds chirping also adds to the peaceful and isolated atmosphere of the island. The director nicely combines the setting and the sound to give the audiences the impression of a deserted island with nothing but sand, trees, and a body of water nearby. In the cases where he cries or laughs hardly, close shots are used to show detailed facial expressions and at times where the writings on the sand such as “hello” have to be visible or when he is dancing or moving around vigorously, long shots are used in order for audiences to see the full detail. Symbolic objects also had longer takes in order to hint that they are significant throughout the movie.
The plot of the summary is tight, straightforward and nicely connected. However, I felt that it could have been better if the transition from the island to the female character’s room was made smoother. At times, I felt that the shift was too abrupt and unexplained. Also, the movie neither thoroughly delves into the woman’s life nor clearly explains the cause of her behavior. Hence, even though I do understand what partly caused her isolated life from the public, I would have had better understanding if there were scenes that explained more about her past life and events.
The movie included various symbolic objects that helped develop the bigger theme of the film. From the Saliva flower to black bean noodles, the objects do help the main character to live up to his dream and hope and his perseverance pushes him to be more creative and studious to survive. The scene where he returns the black bean noodles delivery can be noted as the climax of the movie since that is when the audiences finally realize what the black bean noodles actually mean to the main character. It was not just a food that he craved for. It meant more than that as it was something that he hoped to obtain by himself and something that he lived up to. In a deserted island with nothing else to do, it would have been the only motivation that would have kept his life lively and energetic as there was a goal, something he can look up to in the hope of achieving. The scene where he gets frustrated for all the black bean noodles that he turned down in the past also shows how there are many things in our lives that we just take for granted. Since we can get it or taste it whenever we need to, people usually forget the real value of such items. The movie made me to be once again thankful for everything that I have and can get.
The film, Castaway on the Moon, vividly depicts two outcasts of Korean community and their gradual path to finding happiness and hope in their seemingly forlorn and lackluster lives. The principal characters are illustrated as the pariahs of society; the main male character, Mr. Kim is a credit-card delinquent who is vexed by the age of endless competitions present in Korean culture while the female counterpart, Miss Kim, is a hikikomori, detached from people and locked off in her own cyberspace.
It is important to note that close-ups are utilized admirably to symbolize important objects in the film. One of the important objects is the salvia flower. In the film, Mr. Kim is shown sipping on the flower and remarks that it has a sweet taste. In a sense, the flower stopped or at least postponed his plan to commit suicide. He finds temporary comfort in the sweetness of the flower and halts his plan as he realizes that he can always commit suicide when he wants to; it does not have to be now. Moreover, the word salvia comes from the Latin word salvare, which means ‘to heal’. In a way, the flower is shown in a close-up to foretell Mr. Kim’s journey of healing. That is overcoming his dire situation in society and finding hope in life.
Perhaps the most significant close-up in the film is that of the ‘black bean noodles’, which initiates Mr. and Miss Kim’s journey of healing. When Mr. Kim finds a wrapping of instant black bean noodles with only the condiment, it triggers his desire to make his own noodles. Through this event, Mr. Kim leads a self-sustainable life while finding peace and comfort from learning to do things that were taken for granted in society. For instance, he is overwhelmed with joy when his idea of planting bird waste is blessed with the blossom of corns. In addition, black bean noodles spark off the healing process of Miss Kim, who realizes Mr. Kim’s penchant for the food through meticulous observation and brave, unprecedented act of leaving the house to communicate with Mr. Kim. When the bowls of black bean noodles she sent to Mr. Kim are returned back to her, she realizes that they are ‘hope’. In other words, she believes that Mr. Kim actually sent her hope, and in a sign of affirmation, the chopstick wrapping is shown in a close-up with the words 진짜루 meaning really in English.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that the various close-ups of important objects highlight pivotal messages of the film.
Christine Kim I enjoyed watching the movie Castaway on the Moon. The movie introduction immediately got my attention and the attention sustained until the end. It is a very unique movie that involves little dialogue and only two main characters. According to AsianWIki, this movie is categorized as an adventure and romance movie. I personally do not see Castaway on the Moon as a romantic movie. The interaction between Kim Seung geun and Kim Ji Yeon does show clear friendship, however there is not enough evidence that the two had an attraction for each other. It appears that their curiosity for each other is being mistaken as attraction.
I personally think that the director did a good job of integrating humor and deep themes. Many times, the deep message is subtle or hidden behind the funniness. However, the deep theme and comedy were both equally evident. A big message I got from the movie was that tomorrow can always be a better day and it is never too late to turn things around no matter how bad your situation may seem. From the beginning, Seung geun wanted to end his life. But throughout the movie, his suicide is always delayed and something good happens. For example, if Seung geun died when he jumped off the bridge, he would never made jajjang myun and he never would’ve met Ji Yeon. This encouraging message is complimented with many funny scenes. My favorite funny scene was when the jajjang delivery guy rode the duck boat to the island. The whole scene was very funny. When Seung geun rejects the jajang, it emphasizes the message about hope and hard work.
Although some viewers may believe after watching Castaway on the Moon (2009) that the film is a love themed movie depicting the first meeting of two potential lovers, there is a more underlying and explicit theme of hope that is portrayed through these characters. Director Hey-jun Lee’s use of characters helps convey two significant messages of hope. The first being that even in the most desperate of situations hope can be found all around us. The second is more implicit but significant nonetheless, our own struggles with hope can inspire others as well.
The first more explicit message of hope is portrayed through Mr. Kim a depressed, middle-aged man whose world has been crumbling down on him. He is a credit card delinquent whose father who has been ashamed of him since he was a child, and his lover has recently left him. With all this weighing down on him, Mr. Kim attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Han River. Unfortunately (or rather very fortunately) he is washed ashore onto a deserted island, this the first time that hope is conveyed to the audience. After surviving his first attempt at suicide, Mr. Kim once again attempts to kill himself, this time by hanging himself. Once again Mr. Kim fails when nature unexpectedly calls and he is forced to answer. This is the first time that the character Mr. Kim experiences hope when he realizes that he has been missing and craving the taste of the stevia flower. This ignites hope in him which is seen in many other scenes following, especially when he decides to farm plants to make noodles.
The second more implicit message is portrayed through the other main character, Jung Yeon Kim. She plays the role of a mentally unstable woman who has never left her apartment for three years. However after witnessing Mr. Kim’s struggle she is inspired so much that she decides to leave what has been comfortable for her in hopes of finding someone like her.
Personally I really enjoyed this movie because of the more subtle themes of hope inspiring others. In addition it is very pleasing to be reassured that even in the darkest times there is hope and that hope is what helps us survive.
'Castaway on the Moon' conveys a message of pursuing hope in an emotionally empty society. Having failed to commit suicide, Mr.Kim accidentally lands on an island located in the Han River. This unusual location for a castaway is intended to convey the sardonic view on the modern society. While Mr.Kim can clearly see those urban structures and facilities, they cannot see him. Technically saying, they are unwilling to see him, as shown by a man on a boat. The society expels him. The delinquent cards, the 63 building, and his phone represent futileness of civilization that we appreciate. Furthermore, the 63 building even symbolizes death or a road to death.
There is, however,a woman named Kim Jung-Yeon who can see Mr.Kim. She's a castaway as well, a castaway on the moon. With a scar on her face, she is afraid to go out of her room. She sees the world through her computer, watches the moon through her camera, and finds Mr.Kim. There is nothing in direct contact with Kim Jung-Yeon, not even her mother. There is always a medium through which she sees the world. The computer and the camera expel her out of society. Through computer, she lies about her identity and through camera, she hides from Mr.Kim. Furthermore, the camera makes her a castaway on the moon, where there is no one.
The movie 'Castaway on the Moon' effectively draws our indifference and aggressiveness toward other people. The director purposefully presents this tragic happening in a humorous way for the message is pursuing hope, which brings happiness. While Kim Jung-Yeon values physical beauty, luxury items, Mr.Kim values money. None of them is an answer to happiness. The black bean noodle is. It is a common food in Korea. The point is that it is delivered to everyone. In other words, it reaches out to people no matter what. When Mr.Kim rejects the black bean noodles delivered to him, the message is that black bean noodle, or hope, cannot be bought. At the same time, hope is not something extravagant, as shown by the messages that Mr.Kim and Kim Jung-Yeon share. The messages were only a sentence long. The black bean noodle too, is just a common food. They simply need truthful minds.
The black bean noodle and the messages eventually bring Mr.Kim and Kim Jung-Yeon together. They are no more constrained to money and physical beauty. The hope binds them together.
The movie 'Castaway on the Moon' is a hopeful, honest, and humorous conveyance of how people should pursue hope.
In Hey-jun Lee's Castaway on the Moon, both a suicidal man and a hikikomori woman struggle to fit into the world. To cope with their fearful world, the suicidal man ends up settling on an island and the hikikomori woman confines herself in her room. Both of these characters realize that having a sweet goal can bring hope and tears of joy. The comedy, drama, and long distant/pen pal romance is demonstrated with many formal elements but I will focus on a symbolic value and cinematography (camera movement). I've noticed how the plants were symbolic in this movie. The attempted suicide fails because the man is scared of death. However, when he sees the Salvia Flower, he tastes it and cries that he can die later. The sweet Salvia Flower ultimately gave the man a reason to live because of the sweet taste that life offers. Plants are symbolic to the man because he finds hope in them. Later on in the film, with the help of bird poop, the man is able to grow his own crops to make his black bean noodles. Here, these plants provide the man with delicious food that he has worked hard for. Plants not only gave this man hope but also gave him physical and emotional satisfaction. Through this man, the hikikomori woman also decides to grow corn on her own -this makes her happy and also brings tears of joy to her mother because she finally got out of her confined space. Plants are everywhere (mise-en-scene); it is a reoccurring symbol of life throughout the movie. The camera's gaze is frequently at these character's eye level, following them and observing the world in their view. This film isn't filled with dialogue but their reaction and eye contact communicates their feelings to the audience. When the man was attempting suicide, the close up on his face shows the fear in his eyes. This type of cinematography is used on the hikikomori woman even more when she is on her mini-homepage and when she is looking through her camera lens as she is spying on the man. With the help of different camera movements, these characters are able to convey their emotions and thoughts -they speak to the audience without having much dialogue.
Korean Cinema - Summer 2013 Jun Seong Ahn Castaway on the Moon(2009)
This movie, Castaway on the Moon, surely is a great example for the lecture that was given in the first class of this course. After listening to the importance of the camera angle, place, magnification, movement, and so on, the movie seems totally different than I have seen before. This is my second watch of Castaway on the Moon and my first view and this time have a huge difference by comparing my both thoughts. The first time when I viewed this film, I was only concentrating on the story, which is pretty much normal. And then after the first lecture of this course, I kept on focusing on the actors’ viewpoint, location of the camera or frame, and a connection between every part of short scenes. This is a totally new world to my life of enjoyment and it is very shocking because I’ve only entertained on what’s happening in the frame but all of these new viewpoints totally expanded my space of joy. Since I already knew that black bean noodle is the main focus of this film, I wasn’t really diving into the story but tried to understand the location of actors, movement of the camera, and time duration of every scene. I wanted to know why the director of this film, Hae Jun Lee set up and finalized the film like this. To me, his goal seemed like an unrevealed pearl on top of a fire and let it gradually open as time flies. All of the actor, Mr. Kim’s effort finalizes into a single black bean noodle but the director did not want the previous scenes to just fly away into the air, but wanted to wrap those all up and finish in one object, the noodle. What’s also interesting about the movie is that both the actor and actress are being shown as a totally different characters and later merges into one peaceful similar couple. The actor, Mr. Kim, seems like he started as a normal businessman and falls all the way down to losing his credits which almost leads to a suicide. But the story changes this person to become stronger and more individual as he is casually trapped into a desert island. The actress, Ms. Kim, also starts as a normal student but she stays isolated after a forehead burn, which is shown often in this film. After the accident, her life was just staying very individual and protected by her own-made environment. But she gradually changes her mind after witnessing Mr. Kim’s life in a desert island and surprisingly communicating each other. There was a huge gap between these characters but their last intersection is been viewed blessed, which tells about this film that the director plays the viewers by creating rise and fall of this movie and absorbs mostly affirmative comments.
We all wish at times to escape the restraints of our reality. A reality that can be so harsh and unforgiving that some believe that the only way they'll find a release is through leaving life behind. Our unfortunate protagonist, Seung-Keun fell into this category. He can't seem to do anything right. Whether it be finding a job, maintaining a romantic relation, or learning how to swim. He can't even commit suicide right. When he tries, he ends up stranding himself in an island in the middle of urban Seoul. This is an interesting juxtaposition between what our idea of 'escape' is, leaving behind one's present reality, and what appears to be Seung-keun not actually escaping his reality, but finding himself just slightly off center of it. He finds himself in a place where he can constantly see what he's left behind, but finds that even with his past so close in proximity, he can start anew by making the conscious decision to leave the life he once led behind. Once he does so, we see Seung-keun slowly but surely fall into a comically sweet and earnest lifestyle.
However, the whole movie changes once Jung-yoen enters the story. Before her, the movie was leading up to an almost 'Castaway' featuring Tom Hanks-esque storyline, with a protagonist naturally adapting to a new and foreign situation. With Jung-yoen, the theme switches from survival to salvation. Our leading lady, in contrast with pre-island Seung-keun, has grown accustomed to a monotonous lifestyle and seems to have no future plans of leaving it. She seems neither happy nor unhappy in her habit of taking bits and pieces of other peoples' online lives and molding them into a make-believe one of her own. Her hobby of tracking the moon through photo leads her to discover our strange 'alien' Seung-keun on his deserted island. The resulting friendship between our two misfits leads to them saving one another. For Seung-keun, he is stopped on his way to his second suicide attempt by Jung-yoen. And for Jung-yoen, being given the curiosity and courage to step out of the safe confines of her dingy room by Seung-keun.
I absolutely adored this movie. As you said, it was so completely endearing that I will admit I teared up more than once. I agree with many of my classmates that a main theme of the movie is about hope, which is blatantly brought up many times throughout the movie. However, another theme I felt was just as prominent and important was the idea of salvation. Salvation through ones own efforts to combat reality, through striking up human relationships, through making our own meaning in life, and of course, through maintaing hope at all times.
The opening scene of “Castaway on the Moon” implied the burden of living in a modern society where money defines happiness. Even the final phone call Mr. Kim received was from a loan company which only served as a reminder of how truly alone he had become in this materialistic world. Mr. Kim had concluded that death was the only escape from this unfortunate reality but his suicide attempt turned into isolation on an island near civilization. This image of the modern world was continuously in his view while he tried to survive without the credit and cash society has enforced on us and only with the few resources he had on hand. His failures, however, were what continued to cloud his mind with the thought of death and the idea the he would only fail in this situation as well. This representation of failure was shown every time the screen showed the Mr. Kim going under or drowning. Every time he thought that he would be able to achieve something he ends up failing again and drowns in misery.
Bam Island served as a reason for the character to become capable of more than just living through what society expected of him. The inspiration he needed came from a packet of Black Bean Noodle seasoning. The multiple steps of laborious work he endured to make noodles gave him the illusion that if he achieve this goal with what little the island provided then he could survive without the technology and wealth that the modern world says we need. He would finally able be able to stay afloat in his own mind. His own motivation became the foundation for another individual that had confined herself from the rest of the human population by physical means. The idea that some who wanted to be saved turned into an independent person (or that an alien that was able to survive in foreign territory) provoked her to endure the challenges that came along with walking out into real world.
The overall movie reveals that drastic difference yet similarities that the couples has and shows how over time the problems we face are more often a mental obstacle that we can overcome if we have hope.
The ‘Castaway on the moon’ was very interesting and showed the idea of hope well. This whole movie is about a man who trapped himself on a desert island and a woman who locked herself in her room. They are both isolated from the society but they get to communicate each other and share feelings. In ‘Castaway on the Moon’, unique narrations of the two main characters stand out. In the film, there are a lot of narrations of characters than monologue, and more monologue than dialogue of characters. The plot of the story unfolds in a very natural way mostly with the monologue of two main characters with narration of each of them on top of it. Their narrations play a leading role in the story since it develops a storyline of the overall film containing deep messages. Moreover, the narration between the scenes did mingle with the each scene very well even when narration is heard in a sudden monologue. The film might have gone bored without the narrations to watch because two characters never meet or have conversation throughout the movie until the ending of the scene. The structure of the film is well organized even with the narrations and monologues of the characters.
The camera work in “Castaway on the Moon” is also important. The organization of the most of scenes looked simple and plain whereas it provided the message of the movie by repeating shots. For example, it kept showing the character, So-yeon Jang’s trial to get outside to the real world and effort to communicate with Min-hee Hong. This action first begins the real connection of two characters. Thecamera repeats the scene several times in the movie which tells how important that scene acts in the movie. Also, to emphasis the situation that Min-hee Hong is all alone in the desert island, the camera keeps shooting the scene in the air capturing the character and the island together. Additionally, the interesting thing is that the So-yeon Jang in the movie also uses her camera throughout the film to observe the man in the desert island. The camera that So-yeon Jang uses shows Min-hee Hong in the different way to viewers which forms different views at the same time. It did expand the main idea of the movie and analyzed the communications of two main characters based on hope of their lives effectively. ¬¬¬
Cast away on the Moon reminded the fact that hope can be found from near in our lives, which we easily forget and consider ourselves as hopeless.
The main character Mr. Kim has become a jobless, penniless and hopless, and he decided to commit suicide. However, he survived and became a cast away in desert island and this worst situation became a turning point to him. He was satisfying and happy with an abandoned ship as his house and an empty can as his friend. Mr. Kim found a 'Jjapagetti' powder and his desire to have Jjapagetti became his hope. Cooking a Jjapagetti in uninhabited island seems imposible but his hope led him to achieve what he wanted.
This movie conveyed a message that hope is everywhere in ourlives and we can gain them through our effort. It was not only a comic but also an encouraging movie.
Castaway on the Moon is about two people who are left alone, both mentally and physically, in the modern society. Although they are living in a crowded city, they separate themselves by creating their own world. At first, they are satisfied by their isolated state, until one of them is forced back into reality from the personal paradise.
Castaway on the Moon uses a lot of dramatic camera effects to depict the characters' psyche. Since their main conflict is about fitting in the environment, the movie includes a lot of 360 degree turning camera movement. The camera starts from the back of the character's head and shows the surrounding environment, until the camera comes back to the character and reveal their face. Starting from the character's back of the head, the camera places the viewer behind the character as the environment dominates the scene over the silhouette. As the camera moves and covers the scene entirely with the surrounding environment, the viewer can see what the character is seeing. When it comes back to the character, the viewers can finally see the character's facial expression as the character realise that he or she feels out of place.
As the scenery exposes the character's own world, the locked room and the island, the movie uses various effects to further expose the character's psychological world, too. As the man almost drowns in the beginning, his single attempt to run away from the initial isolation becomes a summary of his failures in life. When he comes back to the surface for the first time, he is a child in the swimming pool, failing to learn how to swim. When he comes back the second time, he is back to his suited self who is failing at his job interview, desperately trying to explain about the bankruptcy. When he comes back the third time, his ex-girlfriend casually talks about how she is fed up with him and leaves him. Then the girls in Hawaiian dresses starts to dance and sing about money loaning company. By this point, the viewers can connect to his phone call from the beginning of the movie about the loaned money. As he comes back to reality, he climbs up to the shore and lies down. Now, he seems even more miserable as he remembers his multiple failures, including his current failed attempt to escape from the island.
However, the realistic moments remind us that they haven't found a permanent paradise but a temporal refuge in their attempt to run away from their current plight. The woman's room is a total chaos. Her hair is an oily mess while her clothes are crumpled and dirty. When the man cries, the viewer can see his bead of drool and snot. The moment he eats Salvia flower honey, he is still in crouched excreting position. While he cries in happiness for discovering hope of survival and sorrow from his plight, the salvia flowers and the beautiful plantation of the environment decorates the scene like a frame. Despite his pitiful position, the beautiful plants and the salvia flowers shows his hope in his desperate reality.
Castaway on the Moon depicts a man whose life becomes miserable with tremendous amount of loans but turns around as his hope rises while he is trapped on an island. At the later scenes, the protagonist, Mr. Kim, communicates with a woman who also separated her life with society.
In the film, the story shows several themes that exist in our modern society—failures, hope, and love. The film juxtaposes on the definition of the word happiness and hope. Mr. Kim clearly demonstrates this juxtaposition through his transition from despair to somewhat optimism. As he learns to live in a desert island, he realizes that his life can be refreshed. Not only he finds the island a new place for a new start, but he also finds his love. The way this movie shows the development of Seung-geun and Jung-yeon illustrates hope for both of them. At the beginning, they were both in despair. With no other way to repay for his debt, Seung-geun chooses to commit suicide, and Jung-yeon lives in her own world as she believes that everything can be done through just a few clicks. However, their love develops as they begin to communicate through a wine bottle. The theme of failures and hope is clearly portrayed through the protagonists.
The film’s camera view also played an important role in this film. This movie heavily depends on actor and actress’s acting rather than a dialogue between the characters. With consolidation of acting and the song played behind, the characters are more focused. This shows the feelings that are not conveyed covertly.
Castaway on the Moon, directed by Hey-jun Lee, is a beautiful film that portrays no matter how hard life goes on, people with hope never give up, stand up over and over, and finally achieve their dreams. The original name of this film is "Kimssi pyorugi." There are two Kims in this film, Seong-geun Kim and Jung-yeon Kim. The film starts with a scene of Seong-geun fails to kill himself and drifts on a Bam island in the middle of the Han river. He cries for help such as screaming to the people on a boat and writing a word "Help" on the ground. However, nobody cares him and rather treats him as a mad man. Realizing that there is no difference if he drowns or dies in the island, Seong-geun decides to live there. Against expectation, feeling a sense of freedom, he becomes happier and satisfied with his life. The word, "Help" becomes "Hello." Jung-yeon is another main character and she is a typical hikicomori person. Insulated from the world, she does everything in her room, eating, sleeping, working out and blogging. In cyber world, she packages herself as a rich, pretty and lively girl who is very different from her true self. One day she finds Seong-geun, who is casting away in the island alone, and starts watching him with her gigantic camera. Start from this event, exchanging signs with Seong-geun, she takes courage to go out into the world again.
In the beginning of the film, Seong-geun brings back his memories and reminds why he commits suicide. Seong-geun lost his job when the company went under, his girlfriend left him and the $75,000 loan has morphed into a whopping $209,000 because of missed payments. Jung-yeon has also tasted the bitterness of the cruel realities of life.She was bullied once and as the result, never coming out from her room for more than three years and camouflaging herself with fake information in cyber world, she becomes a social phobia. People do not classify these kinds of people "winners." They would rather categorize them "losers." However, I would like to say they are neither "winners" nor "losers." Everyone has his or her own dream and has own definition of an "ideal life." Only because they do not fit into the standard of a society, people cannot call them "failure." Even though Seong-geun and Jung-yeon fail to get jammed into the society, they still try their best to be happy in their situations and finally achieve what they actually desires. Seong-geun successes on making black bean noodle and Jung-yeon overcomes her sociophobia and meets Seong-geun.
The movie, Castaway on the Moon, shows how people should pursue hope and how hope can be the driving force of life.
Like many people mentioned in their posts, Castaway on the Moon is a great film that discusses the theme of "hope" that warms viewers' minds and thoughts towards the world that became corrupt and cold. However, the main character Mr. Kim realized early in the movie that he will not be able to survive from the society that rejected him and from the situation of so much debt, unemployment, and the breakup with his ex girlfriend. When he tried to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge but fails to die, there on the random island on Han River, he finds the first hope of living a new life outside of the society and the cruel world. Then when he slowly adjusts the life of living with a harmony of wild but pure environment that shows him another hope of peacefulness and happiness. There he finds out that without any money nor artificial stuff from the world, he sees true fun and enjoys the real life of being a human. When he finds out that another main character tries to reach out to him, there he sees the biggest hope to finally wanting to talk to someone, wanting to meet people, and wanting to spend more time with people.
The main girl in the movie, however, has the similar problem with Mr. Kim where she would not get out from her room because she has some sort of wound in her heart as well as on her face that never was fully explained in the movie but clearly showed through out the development of the story; the girl never wanted to communicate with the world that was never warm to her. However, after she finds out about Mr. Kim on the island, which triggered her to have a hope, she starts trying to communicate with Mr. Kim. This eventually breaks down the wall between her and the world that was blocking her to go out to the world. This also causes them to fall in love with each other with out even seeing or knowing each other. When she finally goes outside without caring about people seeing her or interacting with her after Mr. Kim gets kicked out from the island, they both looses hope of seeing each other for second but little bit after, she finds hope again and she tries her best to go see Mr. Kim at the end which also gives another hope to him to not commit suicide.
This film have done an amazing job of slowly building the story and the feelings into the viewers' thoughts that later helps the audience to connect with the characters better. This film definitely warms people's heart and definitely gives out message of having hope is a great tool of finding a new, better life.
On "Castaway on the Moon," the way society rejects Seung-guen is reflected through nature and technology. As a result, he has no where to go but back to his first notion of salvation from his life: suicide. Seung-guen has a rough time being accepted by anyone. He first gets rejected by the water as he survives an attempted suicide. The water does not accept his life and sends him to an island in the Han river. Only his shoe is taken by the water. When he tries to call 911, his plea for help is also rejected, along with his ex-girlfriend. The rejection continues throughout his stay on the island as his body initially rejects the food through diarrhea. One of the more significant rejections that happen to Sueng-guen is the storm that destroys all of his crops. He had managed to build a field of corn but nature simply rejects his work with a storm. Sueng-guen experiences rejection first in the human world but then with the natural world. Neither embraces him which is in contrast with other survival movies such as Robert Zemecki's "Castaway" in which Tom Hank's character is embraced by his island habitat for years. Seung-guen is only present on the island for a few months before he is exiled back to the mainland. The human world rejects him because he is "too old" as told by his bosses and the natural world rejects him as the coast guard that kicks him out says that it is a conservation site. Seung-guen is lost in a life that has no purpose and as a result his only answer to life is building 63.
The movie Castaway on the Moon is on one hand specific to the Korean culture (black bean noodle delivery, telcom phone sales..) yet at the same time it addresses a deeper, universal issue of the want to escape this life for something more.
Although the male lead did not manage to escape the world with his initial failed suicide attempt, he was in a way, successful. He ‘escaped’ to the island. There he is free from being a failure. The island then becomes his home. The home he had always wanted, thus the sarcastic reference to the duck boat as the house he finally owns after saving up for 7 years. The island provides for him, through the flowers and mushrooms with fish and birds ‘dropping’ in. He starts to be hopeful, changing his sign for HELP to HELLO. The plants growing from poop also represents his hope of new life on the island; life that ‘grew’ from his attempt at death. The female lead here is a reflection of his life. He was trapped in failure and debt; she was trapped in her room. She tried to made her mind escape her room by creating fake profiles online, hypnotizing herself to sleep and floating to the moon but its only when she discovered him that she starts to come out of her prison.
The movie itself is interesting and is more than just a simple boy-meets-girl story. It touches on the stresses of society and the thought of leaving everything to run away from life, something everyone has thought about at some point.
Cast away on the Moon is the story of two outcasts who does not see any hopes in their lives. The world they live is completely different from the kind of world they want to live. They are trapped in their own world; Kim in the Bam island and Jung-yeon in her room.They are both afraid of the place outside of their world. Every episodes and the items in the movie convey different meanings depending on two main characters' view. Mr. Kim and Jungyeon have different perspective view, but somewhat similar.
1. Window Jungyeon sees the world through her computer window. Computer window was the place where she hopes to "receive" the interests from other people; however, her window in the room played as the place where she "expresses" the interest to Mr. Kim which she has never experienced before. The person who always turned on her computer window to receive the interests from virtual world now turned to open the actual window to communicate with the real world. To Mr. Kim, window was the common thing he looks at everyday, nothing special. As he realizes that someone is looking at him through window, he also started showing genuine interests and opened his mind as they communicate. In this movie, window served as a string that connected two outcasts and a way of communication.
2. Black bean Noodle Black bean noodle played very important role in this movie. Black bean noodle was a motivator to Mr. Kim; it gave him a sense of "hope" and "possibility." He sees "possibility" when he finds black bean powder. He realizes that if he could make noodle, this "possibility" could turn into "achievement." His healthy motivation changed his view and caused him to have a positive energy and dedication for achievement. She sees As Jung-yeon watches him, she feels that giving black bean noodle to him is the best thing she could do for Mr. Kim. To her, black bean noodle was the best present and interest she could give to him. However, Mr. Kim return black bean noodle that she sent. As she eats black bean noodle that are returned to her, she was able to taste some kind of "hope" that she never felt before. Black bean noodle was "hope" to these two main characters.
At the end of the movie, two characters are able to escape from their own place whether it was voluntarily movement or not. They are afraid to live and adapt in the place outside of theirs. Mr. Kim and Jung-yeon holds their hand in the bus accidentally and this implies that they are encouraging themselves and taking their first step off to the new life.
Jung-yeon also has the last name of "Kim." "Kim" is one of the most common last names in Korea and this implies that "Kim" can be anyone including me, you, and people around us. People often fall into despair and give up like Mr. Kim and Jung-yeon did; however, if they see everything around them as a hope and just shake off all the bad thoughts as two main characters changed, I truly believe that we could live in the world that are full of hope and can take a next step to live in the kind of life we want to acquire.
In “Castaway on the Moon,” the protagonist Kim Seung-geun is first portrayed as a typical civilized business man that becomes much more uncivilized while stranded on an island. Initially, when Kim Seung-geun is stranded, he attempts to use his civilized devices to call for help (his cell phone). During his desperate cry for help the camera begins to circle around him faster and faster while the background sound becomes more piercing as he becomes more frantic with his conversation on the phone because his battery is about to die. The movement of the camera causes Kim Seung-geun’s anxiety and franticness to show through especially when the camera suddenly halts when his battery dies. Small techniques such as this are used throughout the film to convey the feelings of both the protagonist and Kim Jung-yeon, the main female role in the film. Since there is little dialogue throughout the film, filming techniques and symbolic objects are used to convey the film’s themes. Not long after getting stranded on the island, Kim Seung-geun finds a jjapagetti wrapper. While staring at the wrapper, the camera slowly tracks in on the words that he is reading on the back of the wrapper until it reaches the word, hope. By focusing on the words on the back of the wrapper, the viewer’s understand that hope is what will get him through being stranded. This becomes a central theme for Kim Seung-geun’s rebirth as a stronger human being on the island as he works to accomplish his goals. After the shot of Kim Seung-geun’s struggling efforts on the island, the camera shifts focus onto Kim Jung-yeon who, like Kim Seung-geun, is living a very isolated life in her room. It is ironic that both characters live in Seoul, a heavily populated city, and yet they are so alone and isolated. One was thrust into this while the other chooses to live alone. The camera shifts perspectives often going from Kim Seung-geun’s point of view to Kim Jung-yeon are which make the story between the two aliens of the film connect perfectly. Overall, the film was very enjoyable and though there are much more to talk about, the two above scenes were what caught my eye the most.
Although Castaway on the Moon follows the very specific narrative of Mr. Kim Seung-Keun and Ms. Kim Jung-Yeon, it reaches a broad audience because of the characters’ universal personal struggles. Koreans can seem to relate to the film because of the familiar cultural background embedded into the film. Aside from the clear facts that it is in Korean and takes place in Korea, native audiences directly relate to the literal cultural references—such as eating jajangmyeon. However, Castaway on the Moon is able to relate to non-Korean audiences through Mr. Kim’s and Ms. Kim’s physical and emotional battles. While viewers may not fully understand the depth of the financial struggle in Korea or the intensity of yearning to fit the cookie-cutter image of a “beautiful Korean woman,” they can still connect with their narratives. For example, the scene of Ms. Kim reading hurtful comments on her blog of her simulated self demonstrates this common understanding. Even though there are not English subtitles for all of the insensitive, malicious comments, non-Korean speaking viewers understand the situation and the meaning of them all without knowing exactly what it says.
Furthermore, the use of humor in Castaway on the Moon creates a unique feel to the film. The narrative focuses on very sensitive subjects, such as suicide, but it does not have a somber, serious tone because of the use of humor. Mr. Kim contemplates to attempt as well as actually attempts to kill himself on several occasions, but comedic interruptions of needing to use the bathroom or exaggerated reactions to failed tries prevent the tone from being harsh and depressing. Other occasions of Mr. Kim yelling toward the city after dropping his pants and Ms. Kim ridiculously power-walking multiple times in her daily ritual present the audience with comedic relief.
An initial worry I had about the film was that it would not be able to hold my attention given its lack of dialogue and its more or less central focus on one character, Mr. Kim. As the film progresses and Miss Kim is introduced, these doubts were mostly forgotten. I couldn't help but compare Castaway on the Moon to the American film Castaway starring Tom Hanks (i.e. what the volleyball is to Hanks, as the scarecrow is to Mr. Kim) But what I found was that the two films are quite different. I'm not sure if this is an applicable comparison for this assignment but it is interesting to draw parallels between the two films. Hanks is marooned on an island completely unwillingly while Mr. Kim's failed suicide attempt leads him to his isolation. The two protagonists emerge from entirely different backgrounds. Hanks wants to leave the island so badly, while Mr. Kim finds therapy from being completely alone with only the bare essentials.
I noticed that Castaway on the Moon is highly stylized. Everything from the makeup, lighting, to the film tecniques used are highly intensified. I don't know whether it struck me as tacky or beautiful.
Korean films are very good with striking a human chord, and no better exemplified than in the scene in which Mr. Kim takes a taste of the saliva(?) flower. Music enhances the scene and creates a kind of mystic suspension of time in which Mr. Kim's hope is restored and he traces an innocence and freedom, and simplicity that he had thought had been all together forgotten.
Overall the film is an effective conveyance of universal themes such as economic struggle, social distortion, etc. The film is able to draw out symbolic meaning from mundane objects and attach raw emotion and significance to commonplace things. I would highly recommend this film.
Castaway on the Moon paints a picture of isolation and the shallowness of people’s relationship with each other. In one of the scenes, Mr. Kim is seen talking on the phone trying to get help from the police and his ex. The only person that is willing to call him and stay on the line is the telemarketer who wastes all the battery on his phone. As his desperation grows, the sound of the telemarketer’s voice rings louder and louder in the audience ears as if that’s all he can focus on. The two people, whom he reaches out for help, shun and dismiss him as an annoying crazy individual while the one person who does stay on the line with him is someone who wants his money. This scene presents shallowness in the depth in his relationship with others, even though he had a chance to contact another person for help he is unable to because he has nothing of worth to the other person, in this case his ex. In the case of the telemarketer, Mr. Kim is only worth the money that he gives the telemarketer’s company for their services. His shallow relationships scarred by his lack of money or the money they think he has presents a picture of a man who is financially trouble with no one else to turn to, isolated in his troubles and isolated from any outside help. This occurs even before he arrives on the island.
The movie also plays with the theme of desire and it is desire that allows humans to keep on living their life. In the movie, it was his desire to live which then switches to his desire to make a bowl of jajangmyon that motivates him towards a goal on the island. He says “desires makes humans smarter.” It is through his desire that he becomes more innovative and self-sustaining in his way of life on the island. This self-sustaining ability of his overcomes all the failures he has experienced in life that has cause him to lose desire to live in the first place. Even the duck boat he sleeps is a symbol of his desire to stay and exist on the island. Out of all his belongings, it is only the duck that he tries to desperately save during the storm. When he lets go of it we have a big picture of it but it slowly floats further and further away, become smaller and less significant in the frame of the camera. The duck represent his hope and dreams of the life on the island floating away slowly into the water.
In the film, Castaway on the Moon, a man named Kim Seunggeun faces many adversities in his life that ultimately push him to the point of suicide. In the opening scene, it starts out with a long shot of a city skyline as well as a seemingly monotonous phone call, which initially doesn't indicate anything amiss, but as the scene progresses, the camera shows a close up of Seunggeun's troubled expression as well as the caller on the phone indicating the large sum of money that he owes. The audience begins to see more of the background and Seunggeun's location, and it becomes apparent that he is standing at the edge of a bridge, and what initially was thought to just be a city skyline camera pan is actually the view Seunggeun sees as he stands on that ledge. You begin to come to the conclusion that this man is about to jump off, presumably due to the exorbitant debt he's in, and when the camera cuts to a long shot of Seunggeun from the opposite ledge of the bridge, a bus driving along blocks the audience's sight of Seunggeun for just a second. After the bus passes, Seunggeun is no longer in the shot, but the earlier parts of the scene indicate that he jumped off the bridge in that moment.
Other than the phone call about the debt, it isn't yet apparent whether there were other reasons for Kim Seunggeun's attempt at suicide. It isn't until the scene in which Seunggeun tries to swim back to civilization but instead begins to flail in the water due to his inability to swim, that we see all the events leading up to his jump. As Seunggeun is drowing in the water the camera focuses in on his and tracks closer and closer until it's a black screen and then appears as if it's in Seunggeun's point of view as he breaks the surface of the water, still struggling to stay afloat but in a completely different setting. The camera switches between shots of Seunggeun flailing intensely in the pool to a low angle medium shot of his father complaining about how he's not as good as the other kids because he couldn't tread. The camera then switches back to Seunggeun who's still desperately trying to swim. The camera then blacks out again as if Seunggeun went under the water and as he resurfaces it switches to a different low angle shot but this time it switches to an out of place table with several businessmen who are criticizing Seunggeun as a poor employee that doesn't seem to be good enough to hire. The shots continue to switch between the businessmen and Seunggeun, who's trying to explain through gasps of air why he got laid off from his previous job. Once more the camera turns to Seunggeun's perspective as he goes under water and when he resurfaces once more, it's another low angle shot of his ex-girlfriend who tells Seunggeun that it's better to be mean than incapable. The shots shifting between Seunggeun trying to stay afloat and explain himself, and these different seemingly out of place events indicate that these are the reasons that have pushed him towards his attempted suicide. Instead of simply showing scenes of flashbacks of these actual events, the scene of Seunggeun in the pool and the back and forth shots kind of make it seem like he's reliving these events and they're not just things of the past but very real things that still continue to bother him. And these events have stuck with him so much to the point where it literally pushed him off the edge.
What I found particularly interesting about the film Castaway on the Moon, was director Lee Hae-Joon’s use of contrast throughout the film. From the beginning, the film is dealing with the very serious issue of suicide and possibly depression, yet it is filled with gags, moments of laughter, and even light hearted music in the background. As a viewer, I was rather confused as how to feel during these opening scenes, but later realized that it was Lee Hae-Joon’s way of showing hope and joy in the midst of suffering. The next juxtaposition that I noticed (and was also mentioned in class today) was the image of a business man in a formal suit covered in dirt and crawling on a deserted island. It seems rather symbolic of the dog-eat-dog and Darwinist business world in South Korea.
Further contrast seen in the film was during the swimming scene in which Mr. Kim is trying to escape from the island. As he had flashbacks to his past the water color would change from a murky grey to bright blue water in the swimming pool. I imagine this to represent the realities of adulthood and the ways in which things no longer seem as clear and fantasy-like as they once did as children. Mr. Kim is experiencing some of the hardest moments of adulthood at this time. The final contrast that I will take note of is the sharpness of the Seoul skyline compared to the softness of nature seen on the island. It almost seems as if this could be dialogue on how people have ruined the beauty and innocence of the world, leading many men like Mr. Kim to suicide.
Please note, that these are only some of the comparisons that I noticed in the film, Castaway on the Moon and other viewers of the movie could have seen drastically different symbolism than I did, but I believe that that is the beauty of cinema.
In the film, Castaway on the Moon, the male protagonist washes up on an island in the middle of the Han River after attempting suicide. When he comes to, he tries to call for help on his phone, but everyone he calls won't listen to him. We can tell that he is in a frenzied state of mind by looking at how the camera continues to come closer and closer to his face. His state of mind is also evident in how the sounds grow louder and louder, until his phone battery finally dies. In another scene afterwards, Mr. Kim is seen looking at the saliva flowers. When he finally plucks one of the petals, the overwhelming sound of sucking on the flower and of him swallowing the nectar is heard. This intensification of sound shows the audience how hungry and thirsty Mr. Kim is. The director uses many sound intensifications to show the audience what the characters are feeling: in the first case it was used to emphasize his frenzied mind and desperateness, while it was used in the second case it was used to convey his hunger.
In one of the last scenes in which the female antagonist, Ms. Kim, misses the bus, the long take of her backside shows foreshadowing. That take is very long, and while it at first shows her despair at missing the bus (and therefore, missing her chance to see Mr. Kim), it later shows her backside for the long duration of the take. It seems like nothing in that particular take changes; she doesn't move around much, and there is no important background scenery that changes either. Therefore, this long take could only symbolize foreshadowing of another event that would give Ms. Kim an opportunity to get on the bus.
Throughout Castaway on the Moon, Director Lee uses a multitude of cinematographic techniques to express the emotions of the characters. Lee especially utilizes the technique of extreme close-ups in order for the audience to effectively experience the stress and thoughts of the character. For instance, when the male protagonist, Mr. Kim, starts sucking on the nectar of the salvia leaves, he starts crying. But through the use of the extreme close-up, we are able to truly feel every ounce of Mr. Kim’s pain and desperation, as we see snot and spit drip from his face. Another example of Lee’s use of the close-up is whenever the female protagonist looks through her camera lens. In some scenes, the director chooses only to show a close-up of her face. Through this, we are not only able to see the wonder she has regarding her “alien”, but also able to see the burns on her forehead, shedding some light on our mysterious female protagonist’s history.
In addition to extreme close-ups, Director Lee also uses different angles in order to express the image of Mr. Kim’s inferiority in the past. In the swimming pool flashback, from a camera angle above, we see Mr. Kim floundering in a swimming pool. Also, we see the various figures in Mr. Kim’s life standing by the edge of the pool, angled above us. They are literally and figuratively above Mr. Kim in every way possible. Through the technique of angling, Lee establishes the fact that Mr. Kim has always been put down by important people in his life, leading to his current state of desperation.
Castaway on the Moon is a powerful film that imparts the story of a middle-age man whose failure to commit suicide leads him to discover the wonders of life by living in a deserted island. A few of the rhetorical film techniques that the director utilizes to convey Kim’s emotions to the audience is seen in the scene where Kim is about to achieve his hope of making black-bean noodles. The initial of the scene begins with an extreme close up of Kim’s face, which tells the audience that Kim has something in mind. Then, still maintaining a close-up shot, the camera makes a transition to the corn at the field. In this close up shot where the audience sees Kim’s hand ripping off the corn, the audience cannot just visually experience what it is occurring, but can also hear the ripping of the corn. This direct sound enhances the nature and the little details that are important to Kim in that particular moment. Moving over, the camera pans across the set of ingredients that are laid on the mat. In this shot, the director uses sound bridge, which along with the panning camera creates a progression movement that leads the audience towards where Kim is taking off the corn of the cob. However, the interesting aspect is that the camera has maintained the same close-up shot. This announces to the viewer that something important is about to occur. Suddenly there is a close-up shot transition to Kim’s side face, which demonstrates Kim’s undivided attention to a specific task. So far there has been a set of close-up shot that outlines the special event that is about to take place in Kim’s life. This special event is more clearly seen when the director decides to make more close-up shots of the noodles’ preparation, until the camera makes a transition to a long-medium shot. The reason for why there is a transition from a close-up shot to a long-medium shot is to announce the climax of the event. Nevertheless, this transition can also refer to the movement from Kim’s state of mind to an outsider’s view. Taking a view of the whole scene it becomes noticeable that the director has made shots of all preparation steps. Even though, the steps are film in short-takes it takes a while to get to where Kim finally eats his product. The reason behind this is to create a feeling of anxiety among the audience. Also, the anxiety increments more when there are no shot of Kim eating the food while preparing the noodles. Lastly, the anti-climax begins when Kim cries and the music starts to play. The editing of the music works to transmit Kim’s achievement. All these uses of the camera and sound editing contributed to transmit not just Kim’s emotions, but arise and urge on the audience to try black-bean noodles.
Castaway on the Moon sets on the isolated island in the most crowded city in Koera, Seoul. The Bom island is well known, and everyone is aware of its existence, but no one particularly gives a big thought on the land, which parallel to the character himself. The complete alienation of the two male protagonist is reflected on the setting itself. As the camera tracks in and out, the audiences can see how close he is from the city, but at the same time how different the environments are. Kim's isolation from the most intimate relationships such as with his father, girlfriend, and coworkers are represented in his complete lost in the most populated city, Seoul. Although the character struggles to find solution and decides to commit suicide, the attempts turn into hope and finally cure his trauma by himself in the Bom island. He self-meditates himself and actually tries hard to take care of himself when he is most troubled. The Bom island is a perfect setting to do so because it is away from the civilised troubles, and let him focus on the conventional, the most fondamental issue of survival.
The extreme close-up to the characters' faces emphasise the emotional progression they go through. Two of the protagonists repeats a lot of their actions. The female character's strange outings to the bridge and getting back to observe Mr. Kim shows progression on her facial expression become more dynamic and the shots are longer and lingering on her face. Shots move from her camera lenses to her reaction by close up shots of her face. The reactions grow more emotional as her facial expression changes from the monolook to smile, anxious, and desperate. Also, Mr. Kim's close up deliberately express his inter conflicts. His child-like burst out cry in the beginning changes to the overwhelming accomplishing tears when he succeeds to make the black bean noodle.
Castaway on the moon is a very connoted and symbolic film. Even though the film does not contain many dialogues, the characters' behaviors, reactions, personalities and thoughts in many scenes illustrate the recurring theme of the film very well. It is very interesting how the film delivers the theme to the audience through many symbolic objects such as jajangmyeon, poop, salvia flower, etc. I think the time Mr.Kim spent on in bam island represents the theme of the film in which a person who is in a desperate position in a society can achieve his/her dream and live on by having a little hope in his/her life. I found a scene when Mr.Kim fell into water on his way to escape the isalnd interesting because of the following reminiscence scenes that show his incapablity in the society. While Mr.Kim was struggling in the water, the scenes of his desperate past such as him being criticized by his bosses and him being dumped by his girlfriend appear in the film. His incapability and despair in the society turned into a hope when he sow seeds in order to make jajangmyeon which works as a motivation for Mr.Kim to strive hard for his own goal and to live on. Jajangmyeon, a black bean noodle that Korean people enjoy eating anytime, plays a pivotal role in the film since it is a first thing Mr.Kim found in the island as a hope. His continuous effort to produce corns and make jajangmyeon finally led him to achieve his goal. There is another character who is in a similar situation with Mr.Kim. Ms.Kim, who lives in an apartment where the bam island can be seen, is isolated from the world although she is not stuck in a deserted island like Mr.Kim. She keeps herself isolated from the world because of the scar on her face and low self-esteem. She does not communicate with anyone but she eventually communicates with Mr.Kim through the messages in the bottles. However, through the observations and communication with Mr.Kim, Ms.Kim learns how to have a hope in one's life and how the hope can provide happiness. After Mr.Kim left the island by force, Ms.Kim finally takes off her helmet and just runs out to the world with her own figure and self. Even though Mr.Kim and Ms.Kim are in a different place, they share similar situation and problem. The film uses their isolation from the world and reveals a theme of the importance and value of hope in one's life.
Cast Away on the Moon(김씨 표류기) by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about two people who have lost hope and are isolated from society. These two people, one who is a hikikomori girl and the other being a middle-aged man in debt, are two extreme versions of lonely modern human beings in the 21st century. They struggle to fit into their society because of their own personal experiences which have alienated them from society. Mr. Kim’s story and Ms. Kim’s story merge together towards the end of the movie, they began to communicate and step forward into the world.
The first part of the movie mainly focuses on Mr. Kim’s life on Bam-Island, starting with his failed initial suicide attempt because of a jobless life, uncontrollable credit card debt and break up with his girl friend. He attempts to commit suicide again but also fails because of the civil defense training siren and unexpected diarrhea. The next scene, he sucks nectar from salvia flowers and relieves himself at the same time, the three long close-up shots illustrate Mr. Kim’s overwhelming emotions. The next tracking shot shows the sight of his depressing posture and beautiful Salvia flowers which surround him. This contrasts the protagonist’s life and peaceful island. Since he gave up on his life in the city, he decided to stay in the island and start his life from scratch. Mr.Kim gets used to his life in Bam-Island find hope that he can do something and live on by himself.
The focus of the movie suddenly shifts to Ms. Kim’s hikikomori life. She is stuck in her dark room and tries to get attention online by making fake personal website using other people’s pictures. However, she is enjoying her life and she makes it as a healthy escapism. We don’t know what Ms. Kim’s traumatizing experience is but we just guess what happened from the scar on her forehead. If the main goal of Mr. Kim is to make jjajangmyoun, Ms. Kim’s goal is to contact with a weird guy (Mr. Kim) on Bam-Island since she found him on civil defense training day. What they were aiming for was different but he became her hope that she can find a real friend. At the climax of the movie, she becomes insecure about herself when Mr. Kim asks who she is, thus causing her to go back to her hikikomori life. However, when she logs onto her fake website, the netizens find out who Ms. Kim is and post vicious comments. The shot of this scene was using the effect where the subject stays as a same size but the background becomes zoomed in to emphasis her facial expression when she was reading the comments and also an isolation.
The director used least amount of computer graphic or editing and he used a lot of basic camera skills to express protagonist’s emotions. Thus the video clip, we watched a day before, about camera movement and shot angle was very helpful and made it easier for me to understand the effect of the techniques.
Cast Away on the Moon(김씨 표류기) by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about two people who have lost hope and are isolated from society. These two people, one who is a hikikomori girl and the other being a middle-aged man in debt, are two extreme versions of lonely modern human beings in the 21st century. They struggle to fit into their society because of their own personal experiences which have alienated them from society. Mr. Kim’s story and Ms. Kim’s story merge together towards the end of the movie, they began to communicate and step forward into the world.
The first part of the movie mainly focuses on Mr. Kim’s life on Bam-Island, starting with his failed initial suicide attempt because of a jobless life, uncontrollable credit card debt and break up with his girl friend. He attempts to commit suicide again but also fails because of the civil defense training siren and unexpected diarrhea. The next scene, he sucks nectar from salvia flowers and relieves himself at the same time, the three long close-up shots illustrate Mr. Kim’s overwhelming emotions. The next tracking shot shows the sight of his depressing posture and beautiful Salvia flowers which surround him. This contrasts the protagonist’s life and peaceful island. Since he gave up on his life in the city, he decided to stay in the island and start his life from scratch. Mr.Kim gets used to his life in Bam-Island find hope that he can do something and live on by himself.
The focus of the movie suddenly shifts to Ms. Kim’s hikikomori life. She is stuck in her dark room and tries to get attention online by making fake personal website using other people’s pictures. However, she is enjoying her life and she makes it as a healthy escapism. We don’t know what Ms. Kim’s traumatizing experience is but we just guess what happened from the scar on her forehead. If the main goal of Mr. Kim is to make jjajangmyoun, Ms. Kim’s goal is to contact with a weird guy (Mr. Kim) on Bam-Island since she found him on civil defense training day. What they were aiming for was different but he became her hope that she can find a real friend. At the climax of the movie, she becomes insecure about herself when Mr. Kim asks who she is, thus causing her to go back to her hikikomori life. However, when she logs onto her fake website, the netizens find out who Ms. Kim is and post vicious comments. The shot of this scene was using the effect where the subject stays as a same size but the background becomes zoomed in to emphasis her facial expression when she was reading the comments and also an isolation.
The director used least amount of computer graphic or editing and he used a lot of basic camera skills to express protagonist’s emotions. Thus the video clip, we watched a day before, about camera movement and shot angle was very helpful and made it easier for me to understand the effect of the techniques.
-Repost! I previously posted same response as a reply.
"Castaway on the Moon" is full of symbolism that reflects some of the negative common beliefs and practices in Korea with a touch of satire. The submissive, formal speech and attitude of the protagonist Mr. Kim from the beginning of the movie represents a typical low-position worker in Korean society. Through his flashbacks of the past, we know that he grew up under a strict, discourageous father with high expectations. He was also marked as a failure at the scenes of job interview and the break-up in which others view him incapable(무능). While he suffers from the stress and the social pressure, the quick-loan commercial is played obnixiously right in front of him. All these together manifest the common Korean social expectations and judgements of a man and the suffering of those who fail: the marginality. And instead of helping them, the media and others try to take advantage of them by giving easy access to money they need and the false hope. The other side of the story with Ms. Kim also reflects the other extreme Korean life style on the opposite spectrum. She is marginalized from the society as well but for a different reason: her facial disfigurement. She chooses to lock herself in her room and make up a fake self in a cyber community online instead. Her real diet and life-style is extremely malnutritious, but she establishes a pretty, stylish, and popular girl's identity on the Intrenet as a woman whom everyone wishes to be. This, in fact, happens in the real world with the advancement of the Internet, where people create another identity that seems perfect from the outside on a website and takes it too far. I believe such idea works so powerfully in Korean society because it is especially true amongst Koreans to pursue perfection and want to be looked up to by others. However, not all the symbols and themes in this movie are negative, as Chajangmyeon and the letters delievered in the old fahsioned way represent some touching moments of hope and Cheong (정).
"Castaway on the Moon" is a film that centers around the alienation that results from a very materialistic world. Both Mr. Kim and Miss Kim are burdened with societal expectations that are put upon them, creating a negative space that causes Mr. Kim to attempt to commit suicide, and Miss Kim to close herself off from the world. It can be seen from the very beginning of the film where the camera uses various shots of the city of Seoul switching to a close-up of Mr. Kim that he is not a man belonging in this world, but one who wishes to free himself of it. Although he attempts to commit suicide, the realization of his failure to do so and the reality that he is stranded on an island right outside of "home" causes him to act in a state of hopelessness and urgency; this is executed by the circling movement of the camera around a very disillusioned Mr. Kim. With Miss Kim, on the other hand, her alienation is not one of physical distance, but one of emotional and mental separation. The seemingly quick-paced shots of her daily routine shows that she not only chooses not to stray away from this fictitious life she has made for herself online, but her whole existence and ability to begin another day depends on it. It is not until the Civil Defense Corps announces its air-raid drill that the shots and movement of the camera begins to slow down and captures the true alienation felt by Miss Kim. This emphasizes the importance of Mr. Kim's existence to her when she realizes there is an "alien" living on Bam Island.
As the film goes on, we see the importance of many aspects of Korean culture, like jajangmyeon and feces, through the extreme long-shots that switch into close-ups of the characters, fully displaying every emotion that they feel in that very moment in time. It won't be until the end of the movie that we begin to see the same shots that were used in the very beginning. After the typhoon hit Bam Island, Mr. Kim is seen in a close-up (similar to one of the beginning shots of the film) that allows the audience to see a more dire degree of hopelessness compared to the one he felt in the beginning of the film. When Miss Kim first steps out into the world, revealing herself after 3 years, she shows the same disillusionment that Mr. Kim felt when he realized he was stranded on an island. In this instance, the camera, once again, moves around her, showing quick shots of her surroundings, making the sense of her alienation in society very real. Here, Miss Kim is losing all her sense in an unfamiliar place. It is also with the extreme long-shot of Miss Kim looking hopelessly at the bus that Mr. Kim is on that we feel a further sense of alienation that is similar to the one shown in the beginning of the film. When the Civil Defense Corps announces another air-raid drill, the world seemingly pauses and empties out completely in order to allow Miss Kim to reach Mr. Kim. Here, we see shots of her running towards him like a ray of sunlight in a world that is just for the two of them. Finally, the film ends in a very romantic way where Miss Kim falls after the bus begins to move again, allowing her to catch on to Mr. Kim's hand where they both face the world together.
Castaway on the Moon is a film that explores the struggle between one’s detachment from society, hope, and human companionship. One of the common techniques used in this movie were extreme close-ups of the actor’s faces during times of emotional turmoil. An example of this is when he tastes the salvia flowers, the close-up of his drool, snot and tears convey the internal chaos he feels. One scene specifically foreshadowed the conclusion of the film. After Ms. Kim delivered her first message, she looked up and saw two butterflies flitting around at night. The butterflies represent the two main characters and butterflies are symbolic of change. At the conclusion of the film, although it was Ms. Kim that saved Mr. Kim from suicide, it was he who had provided her the hope of friendship. By providing hope for one another, they were not only able to save each other, but themselves as well. As soon as I saw this scene I knew that they would transform each other’s lives and eventually unite. Aside from jjajangmyun, another symbolic theme for hope in this film was the corn sprouts. When Ms. Kim sleeps outside of her closet in the light of the moon for the first time, the camera pans out of focus from her to the corn sprouts and back to her again. Mr. Kim had inspired her to plant corn and at the same time stirred the hope of a future inside of her that was once lost.
In response to the question asked by Professor Chung in class on Thursday as to why he needs to know who she is and why he feels a void even after achieving his goal of making his own jjajangmyun, he needs to know the identity of his mysterious pen-pal because it exemplifies the true nature of the human psyche. As humans, we long for the companionship of others because it creates a sense of belonging and community. Both Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim chose to solitarily confine themselves from society, him on a deserted island and her inside a room with her “hikikomori” lifestyle. Although at first they are content with the isolation they have provided for themselves, the first chance of communication with each other brings joy and excitement to their lives. When Mr. Kim replies to Ms. Kim’s first message she states, “Finally, after three months a reply!” This clearly expresses her desire for the companionship of another, even going as far as leaving her room for the first time in three years to deliver messages. After Mr. Kim accomplishes his jjajangmyun goal, he asks, “who are you,” and when she fails to respond to him he angrily tells her “fuck you.” Because she begins to ignore him, his anger reveals that although he has achieved personal satisfaction from creating his own jjajangmyun, the yearning for another to recognize and appreciate his accomplishment has not been fulfilled. Achieving one’s goals is futile unless there is someone else to enjoy the success and happiness with. One significant detail in the movie is the distinct similarities of their names. Kim Seung-geun (Mr. Kim) and Kim Jung-yeon (Ms. Kim) have the same family name and the first character of their names rhyme. The likeness of their names represents their bizarre, yet intimate relationship as two secluded people embodying one soul.
Castaway on the Moon directed by Lee Hae-Jun is a very traditional yet innovative film in diverse aspects, including its way of representing its theme of hope as well as the technique of filming. The despair and the hope intertwine together throughout the whole movie creating several big plot twists throughout the film. Unlike many other films in theatres in Korea, this movie suggested nearly three climaxes, all introduced with two repetitive but still distinctive rising actions and followed by falling actions. Realization, despair, hope, realization, despair then hope again, are implanted in this film, leading it to be very original. For example, the protagonist, at first, realizes the limitation of his ability in this century where it asks him to be smarter, more efficient and richer, therefore he decides to suicide by jumping of the bridge. However, he ends up in an inhabited and uncivilized island called “Bam Sum” in the middle of Seoul. He somehow sees the hope that he is no longer forced to be smarter, more efficient or richer; he can stay as who he is in this island. However, soon, he realizes that he really want to eat “Ja Jang Myun” which is a civilized food that he can’t make in the island. But he somehow figured out a way to make it and ultimately hopes to make his own. The film seems to have an endless twists building up the depth of the theme. However, the curves are well organized with its technique of how it is written and shot that the film doesn’t get boring.
Numerous common humors in Korean society such as excrement jokes are compounded well in the movie to keep the audiences’ attention. For a long time in Korean media history, excrement has played a huge role as a humor. Every time excrement is shown in the movie, laughs as well as the “eww” reaction blow out among everyone in the audience. The jokes come to support the seriousness of each problem that came more enjoyable to me through watching this movie, full of severe satire of the 21st century. Also, this movie, as the instructor of the course explained, uses less graphical editing, but rather depicts more authentic shooting of actual scenes. The result of this is that the movie is approached to be more realistic and personal. The authenticity of the film derives a closer connection of an audience to the situation in the film. As a conclusion, my own opinion to the question, “Why does he need to know who she is right after he finishes his Ja Jang Myun?”, is that before he cooks the noodle and eats it, he is freed from the capitalistic, merciless and civilized society. However, by eating the noodle which represents the civilization, he finds back the intimidating senses of being in 21st century. In a contemporary period, not-knowing is a crime and a fear; therefore, he suddenly becomes very annoyed with the fact that he does not know who she is. In this film, a lot of analytical questions are left alone without specific answers, and I think that is the most intriguing parts that make the film more valuable.
Cast Away on the Moon by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about how two isolated people from a society, one hikikomori girl and one financially broken man solve their problems and come out to the society. Cast Away on the Moon begins with a long shot of buildings in Seoul, and close up Mr. Kim’s face. This scene is indirectly telling audience that this movie will talk about an isolated people living in a big city.
Mr. Kim casts away in Seoul, a capital city. It reflects people wandering in a society. From the first scene, Mr. Kim tries to commit suicide but he fails and he fell in Bam-island. While he was trying to escape from the island, he recalls his past living existence and sinks while being oppressed by the weight of life. He decides not to escape from the Bam-island, but commit suicide by hanging himself. When he tries to hang himself on a tree, civil defense training siren and diarrhea distracts his action to suicide, and it makes some humor. The director tells audience that even in a despair and depressing moment, there are still unexpected happenings we can laugh at. While he was moving his bowels, he finds out salvia flowers, and he tries the nectar of salvia flowers. Then he narrates ‘I have not tried this nectar of salvia flowers for 100 years.’, and he keeps crying. This scene is divided to three long shots, which means it is very important scene in this movie. A floral language of salvia flower is to heal and to save. Thus his narration can be also meant that nobody tried to heal and save him when he was in a despairing moment. This reflects selfish and desolate society. After he tried salvia or after he was healed, he decided not to commit suicide. He yells to the buildings over the river, and says ‘nobody hearing me? Nobody watching me?’ This typical salary man living in desolate society wants somebody who can listen his story. He decides to live in the island, and he changes the sign from help to hello. Actually this sign is a meant for himself. Before he desired somebody’s help to rescue him from his despair, but now he is saying hello to his new life and his new society he made. Also while making a goal to live which is to eat black bean noodles, he makes a hope to live himself.
While Mr. Kim is happy for being bored, Miss Kim is introduced, who also only lives in her area, but lives by rules. The fact that Ms. Kim lives busy makes contrasts with Mr. Kim’s life. Even though she does not come out from her room, she lives on her schedule. In her own word, she is doing “healthy escapism” Twice on a year, she opens window in daytime, when civil defense training siren rang and nobody is on the road. She narrates ‘you don’t feel lonely if there’s no one around.’ It is very paradoxical and also true. Ms. Kim finds out Mr. Kim through her camera, and she keeps watching him. They become “pen-pal” friends and Ms. Kim comes out from her room to contact with Mr. Kim. Two isolated and unimportant people become a goal to each other. For Mr. Kim, a desire to know the unknown person who helps him becomes a goal to live in his small island. Also for Ms. Kim, Mr. Kim is the only reason she comes out from her room and to contact Mr. Kim is her goal to go outside.
This movie criticizes tough and heartless society by Mr. Kim’s drift in a capital city, Seoul. A story of two isolated characters makes audience to look and care people around. Even though this movie talks about a social defect, it is not only boring but also good for entertainment.
"Castaway on the Moon" is a fairly quiet Korean movie, mostly flowed by each protagonist's narration rather than the characters' conversations. Many believe that this film is just a comedy, but it is rather a melodrama consisted of comical aspects in it. Personally I believe, one of the representative film techniques used in this movie--Mise-en-Scene and Montage--, played a great roles in effectively determining mood or relationships between elements of each scene. According to Skwirk.com, Mise-en-Scene technique refers to "putting on stage." It includes everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement such as settings, propositions, actors, costumes, and lighting. Therefore, all of them contributes to the "meaning" of the scene. For example, in one of a sequence of scenes consisted of a locked door with padlock. huge piles of clothing against the window, canned corn stuffed with junk, a wall with pictures of moons, shoes with piles of other messy stuff, untidy hair, burn on right side of forehead, and at last, Miss.Kim, who is on 'Cyworld' clicking on photos to update her fake account. In this case we can find out that the settings of items in the sequence of scenes allow the audience to figure out what kinds of the person Miss.Kim is. The technique helps us to figure out that Miss Kim lives in a place where stuffed with junk and in a very gloomy and dark room. With those scenes alone, we can even know that Miss. Kim is an isolated outsider. Another technique, montage, refers to juxtaposing unrelated footage mostly to show passage of time and also to create meaning that is not in the scene alone. For example, Mr.Kim could catch some fish while washing his hair by the Han River, by accident. After then there were a sequence of scenes of the skewered fish, birds came down to eat fish while Mr.Kim was sleeping, one of dead birds, Mr.Kim who was watching upon it, and at last a bird finished its life being barbecued. This obviously shows us the passage of time how Mr. Kim could catch both of fish and birds and finally figured out that perhaps evolution is the process of becoming tastier. In this way, without much of wordings or narration, the film could communicate effectively with the audience. Both Mise-en-Scene and Montage techniques help allow the public to assume about what each of protagonists is going to do and why with purposely inserted symbols or meanings in them. To me, it was very impressive to watch this kind of movie, since, at first, it allowed me to feel basic emotions such as sympathy or joy even without much narration; however, it later allowed me to think once again and have deeper thoughts. Then, I could find closer meaning of what the director Haejun Lee, tried to say to the audience: that there are many people who are isolated and lonely, but they are also people who need warm-hearted encouragements or attentions. That is real 'hope' they are looking for. As I mentioned above, in this movie, the audience mostly depend on the protagonists' expression, background, bright or dark light, settings, etc., rather than exact words or quotes from the main characters. That's why it was joyful as the more times I watch this movie, the more chances I could get to be matured with a variety of deep thoughts defining hidden symbols or meanings of each scene. This could have never been possible if the director led this movie full of quotes of each protagonist as many other directors do.
Castaway on the moon by director Lee Hae-Joon is a movie about 2 outcasts discovering the hopes. Mr. Kim, the protagonist of the movie, is financially broke, dumped by his girfriend, and got laid off from his job. Due to desperate situation around him, he decided to commit suicide. But he even failed to commit suicide. Miss Kim, the female protagonist, represents hikikomori who withdraws from the society. She never leaves her room and never communicates with her family. She just stayed isolated and updates her fake Cyworld accounts. Mr. Kim and Miss Kim are totally different characters but they have common in that they are isolated from the society and living their lives without hopes.
The movie shows how these two outcasts discover the hopes and reflects the social problems that current Korean society has. There have been lots of advances and developments in Korean society. Especially due to emerging social networking sites, the barriers of space and time were broken and people could communicate with each other anytime and anywhere they want. However, ironically social networking displaces face-to-face communication and even though people use social networking sites, they feel more lonely. Social networking leads to isolation rather than real communication. The movie points out communication problems through Miss Kim who are immersed in self-created illusions and tries to escape from the reality. However, the movie is not desperate and does not end up with describing hopeless situations. For example, Mr. Kim started to overcome despair after he ate Salvia flower and by making black bean noodle. Miss Kim overcame hopeless rut by watching Mr. Kim. Overall,by depicting two outcast protagonists going out into the world, the movie conveys hope to audiences who are having same problems.
Castaway On the Moon is a surprisingly uplifting film centered on a man named Kim Seung-geun, who ends up on a deserted island in the middle of the Han River after a failed suicide attempt. The film utilizes a variety of techniques, most notably highlighted long shots and tracks and zooms to give the viewers insight into Mr. Kim’s situation as well as his mental state. For example, after a second failed suicide attempt on the island, the scene of Mr. Kim sobbing uncontrollably while drinking the nectar from the Salvia flowers are taken in several different long shots, all highlighting the strength of his current state of despair. The beautiful, vibrant flowers are a stark contrast to the grubby Mr. Kim, who is sniveling over them in a manner that invokes feelings of both disgust and sympathy in those who are watching. The film then treks out of the scene, the sight of Mr. Kim’s shaking shoulders growing smaller and smaller as if the viewers are backing away from the scene quietly.
Once the shut-in girl, Kim Jung-yeon is introduced as another character that is isolated from society, the film uses many impossible visions to show how she is able to connect to the protagonist from all the way across the Han River. For instance, she is able to spot Mr. Kim through her camera that she has set up like a telescope in her room. Realistically, it is unlikely that she’d be able to zoom that far as to see him on the island, but the film continues its impossible visions when Ms. Kim is able to observe him even when he is deeper within the island. In fact it becomes apparent that she is able to find him and watch him almost anywhere. She is even able to look anywhere in the city that she wants. However through this one window to the outside world Ms. Kim is able to finally communicate with another lost individual, and both are able to grow in character by the end of the movie.
Overall, the film was funny, often strange, and one that instilled a sense of hope in the viewers. While Mr. Kim and Ms.Kim are two very extreme examples, there are many times in which we feel similarly isolated from a society that sometimes doesn't seem to care. But the movie finishes off with close up shots of growing plants, inside Mr. Kim's shoes to plastic water bottles, to depict the message that hope can always sprout from the most unlikely places.
Through the use of long takes scenes in Castaway on the Moon, Lee Hae-Jun creates symbolic durations of meaning. The characters, Kim Seung-geun and Miss Kim, both desire to escape from the realities of life. Seung-geun’s suicide attempt suggests his ultimate desire of escapism through the termination of life, while Miss Kim’s recluse, continuously scheduled lifestyle suggests another form of escapism. As both characters are aliens to society and “castaway on the moon,”—the moon a place of no life—they must emerge from their existential thoughts and find meaning in life. Hae-Jun uses multiple long-duration takes and close-ups to convey Seung-geun’s epiphanic moment, where he becomes reawaken to meaning in life. Seung-geun’s epiphanic moment occurs during the salvia flower scene. The scene consists of three long takes. The takes are long in length as a conscious effort to give the viewer an abundance of visual imagery regarding the salvia flowers, ultimately to allude to the symbolic importance of the scene.
In terms of viewing the movie from a Korean perspective, Castaway on the Moon leans in favor of the Korean ideal. Confucianism is still prevalent in Korean culture. In Confucianism, there are seven learned emotions. In contrast, in Western culture, emotion is usually considered a private affair, while because Confucianism is a homogeneous culture, emotions are not private, so one is never alone. Seung-geun and Miss Kim are able to relieve themselves of their castaway position from society by helping each other. The long scene of Miss Kim running toward Seung-geun depicts the closing of their spatial as well as emotional gap. As they help each other, this reinforces the notion that Castaway on the Moon embraces the Korean ideal of Confucian rules.
Jae Young Lee In the beginning of the film, Castaway on the Moon seems to focus on showing humrous scenes which attract audiences, but its main theme is focused on that the main chracter developes and realizes "hope" thoroughout the movie. The film, Castaway on the Moon, describes two outcasts who are Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim in detail. I really enjoyed watching the movie and these two main characters got my attention and made me think about my real "hope" once again. When we watched the final scene of the movie, we can think that the movie is a romantic story between two main characters, but i do not think that the movie has a romantic part at all. Two main characters just met together because of their each curiosity, so it is not love or attraction at all.
I personally think that the movie director made the movie very well by using the black bean noodles and the flowers. Mr. Kim, the main character, attempts to commit suicide and he dramatically survives and lands on the desert island around Han River. He finds out his real hope during living in the desert island and black bean noodles makes him live alone in the desert isalnd as well. Black bean noodles and the flowers let him retrospect his past days. The other main character, Jung Yeon, also finds out her hope to observe Mr. Kim's actions in the desert island. Finally, hope makes two main characters bind together. I think that director wants to say about the significance of real hope throughout the movie.
In this movie, Castaway on the moon, it makes Mr. Kim’s hopeless life in the island into an optimistic experience. I believe this transition is intended to let us, audiences understand that there is always hope somewhere close by. This movie has relatively simple, but a lot of close up shots. The cameras really focus on the facial expressions of both Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim. Since this movie contains less action, it was necessary for the director to deliver the emotions of the characters, and the director has achieved this in a very effective way. Mr. Kim at the beginning of the movie was a very depressing character that did not know what to do in this island with no help. We saw numerous scenes where he was trying to commit suicide. When Mr. Kim ate that ja-ja-men that he made himself, the camera vividly illustrated his face with all the tears telling us how happy he was. Although he had a terrible start in living in this island, he started to find out that he could do things by himself and this really boosted his motivation because he was always the one criticised and going through troubles in the real society (outside the island). On the other hand, Ms. Kim’s happiness and her goal are to get in contact with Mr. Kim. Whenever she spots Mr. Kim on her camera, we can see a big smile on her face which was unimaginable from the way she was portrayed in the beginning where she was portrayed as a “hikikomori” girl. They both had very different goals, but as they realised someone is looking and caring for them, they strived to get in contact and this created happiness for them.
My first encounter with the movie Castaway was about a few years when I enjoyed it as a light comedy type of movie. However, this time I watched the movie from a critical perspective, and I have come to describe the movie as a dialogue between two characters that the world did not care to listen to. Mr. Kim has been abandoned by the society and ostracized. He has accumulated credit card debt beyond his limits, failed at romance, and traumatized by family issues. Even though he was polite and proper in nature and his mannerisms, his voice was never heard by anyone. When he is accidently placed in a desert island, he chooses to stay where he is for he wishes to get away from the reality. Ms. Kim is similar. She lives in her dark room and has locked herself in that little space. Although it is not explicitly shown, it can be inferred that she has been traumatized or has had a bad experience with the society that caused her to lock herself in her room. In their own unique ways, they have abandoned the world that has abandoned them to live their own lives. However, they listened to each other through a camera, words written on sand, and words written on a paper inside a wine bottle to find their inspiration from each other to live in the cold hearted society.
In the desert island, Mr. Kim has shifted his objective in life to making a bowl of black-bean noodles. He has dedicated his life on the island to making that cheap, common food and went onto enlarge the magnitude of it as his hope. Black-bean noodle gave him a new objective, a goal that he can strive to achieve. He was a failure in the society. Perhaps, he wanted to try himself if he could achieve something in his life and a black-bean noodle was that inspiration and goal. On the other hand, Ms. Kim has found an inspiration from watching Mr. Kim trying to make a bowl of black-bean noodles, because Mr. Kim’s existence on the desert island and his determination towards making the black bean noodles have changed the way she looked at her life. Perhaps, she was inspired by the struggle of Mr. Kim to accomplish something in his life, and she was able to make self-reflection on her life. She learned to gain courage through his actions. This is evident in the scenes where she suppresses her fears of going outside and goes outside to throw a wine bottle into the river from the bridge. The film techniques used in the movie emphasized important points in the movie. Most notably, the extreme close-up shots on objectives such as corn brought attention to result of Mr. Kim’s hard work and signified the moment of his success. Precisely, the movie is about a man and a woman who have been abandoned and marginalized by the society turn around to abandon the society for freedom. Their abandonment was their way of escaping from the confinement in the cruel and coldhearted society. Thus, they needed a room to breathe and an opportunity for another chance to prove themselves of their worthiness.
Castaway on the Moon (2009)
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon is a powerful film that is able to give hope to the viewers who need it. By turning Mr. Kim’s hopeless situation into an optimistic experience, the director tries to tell the audience that hope can be found very close to you indeed – in such an insignificant object as a corn seed. It is hope itself that is important, not the object through which you can pave your way to hope.
Mr. Kim in the beginning is a desperate man; he doesn’t have a job, has become a credit card delinquent, and even is abandoned by his lover. He finds no hope in his life and tries to escape it by drowning himself in the Han River. However, this event ironically provides him with a new place of living and a hope of a brand new life. When Mr. Kim comes across the Jjapagetti soup powder, he is suddenly struck with the desire to eat Jjapagetti (or even Jjajangmyun). All he has at his possession is the soup powder, but with great determination to eat Jjapagetti, Mr. Kim finds corn seeds in bird poop, grows the seeds himself, and finally makes the noodles needed for his craved Jjapagetti. From Mr. Kim’s discovery of the soup powder until the completion of his masterpiece, one can say that Mr. Kim is the happiest man in the world, filled with magnificent hope that he will be able to make his own Jjapagetti and eat it with great joy. Especially when Mr. Kim found the first stock of corn that bore many corns inside, he saw the tangible realization of his hope and was more joyful than ever. The director of the film wants the viewers to comprehend that even a small being like a corn seed can cause an individual to be hopeful and happy.
I personally understood the real meaning of hope after watching Castaway on the Moon. I am not exactly an optimist; I tend to look for the worst-case scenarios and prepare so that they will not happen, rather than hopefully looking forward to the best-case scenarios and desire that they in fact occur. Mr. Kim initially was a person like me, who expects the worst-case scenarios, and in this case, the worst-case scenario did really happen: his lover left him and he was penniless. However, when the deserted island provided Mr. Kim with a hope of a new, exciting life, he became an optimist who learned to gradually walk towards the best-case scenario goal with hope in his hands – in this case finally being able to eat Jjapagetti. I also realized that I should be hopeful for the best from now on rather than preparing for the worst, because after all you do only live once.
Byeong Wan Kim
Castaway on the Moon as a whole is a very interesting film where the two main characters' love story is being depicted in a very different and refreshing context. The film also highlighted the importance of hope and perseverance through the character of Kim Seung Gun. He was introduced from the beginning of the film as being suicidal and was already on the verge of jumping off the bridge into the Han River. However, he later turned into a castaway as he didn't manage to end his life and instead had to live on Bamseom all alone and with no means of survival materials. Even when he was shown to be on the verge of drowning, there were many flashbacks of his life, which also emphasized the point that he's a castaway and also the reason for him to be suicidal.
ReplyDeleteThe turning point was when he suddenly felt that there was hope for him in continuing to live on after he tasted some Salvia flowers which were very sweet. He realised that hi 'life suddenly got easier' and once again found the will to continue living on. Thus, he slowly found means to stay alive on this island and in the process giving hope to the viewers. As the film unfolds, he slowly gets used to life as a castaway, which once again strengthens the notion that even in adverse situations, humans can always find a way to live as long as we have the will to live on. He has adapted to life away from the city and this life also served as an escape from his life that was full of debts.
The focus of the film then suddenly shifts to the female character, Kim Jung Yeon, who escapes from reality by shutting herself up in her room the entire day and is addicted to the cyberworld. She likes the feeling of being all alone on a world, away from everybody else and seems to like the life of Kim Seung Gun and watches him everyday. That was the start of the relationship between them. She watches him slowly adapting to his life as a castaway and also sees him persevering on regardless of the difficulties he faced. As he exclaimed, 'desire makes people smarter', humans are highly adaptable creatures. In the film, there was also a scene where Kim Jung Yeon sends Kim Seung Gun black bean noodles and he refuses them, which seemed like he wanted to create hope for himself instead of having somebody else give it to him, showing his strong will to live! Towards the end of the film, he was once again thrown into despair as a typhoon robbed him of all his belongings on the island and destroyed all the things that he built. However, he was also soon after found by a group of men who were cleaning the island and brought back to mainland. In a way, it was once again a turn for the better even though he refused, saying that he wanted to wait for the replies from Kim Jung Yeon. However, at the end, everything turned out well and he finally knew who was writing to him, giving the film a happy ending. Therefore, in this film the theme of hope is depicted in a few scenes and is shown repetitively to viewers to make viewers understand that hope is life and that we should never give up hope just like Kim Seung Gun.
Felicia Chay
Charlotte Fitzek
ReplyDeleteLike Danny, I would agree that the overarching theme of this movie concerns hope. We witness Kim Seunggeun's complete loss of hope which leads him to jump off the bridge in the first place, and consequently watch him as he builds it back up again as he lives on the deserted island. The movie even distinguishes between different kinds of hope: there is the hope to live and be happy, the hope for friendship and human contact, but also the hope for more, which Seunggeun fears and because of which he rejects Jungyeon's offer of Jjajangmyeon. In Jungyeon's parallel story we also see the hope for acceptance, and her own hope for companionship. That Seunggeun mentions the Ugly Duckling is just one example of how the film reminds us that these characters hope to fit in somewhere, one day.
For me the first instance in which I thought: "oh, this movie is about hope" was during the "Hanging/Saliva Flowers" scene. Though he has just tried to hang himself, diarrhea forces Seunggeun to delay, and it is while in the very vulnerable position of relieving himself that he espies these beautiful red flowers that pop out against the green forest brush. The tasting of the first flower takes the forefront, with the camera focusing simply on Seunggeun's mouth. But it's enough for the viewer to realize what a change the taste of the Saliva flower has on Seunggeun - not withstanding that during the next take Seunggeun begins furiously eating more. With flowers being one of nature's more beautiful creations, and nature often being equated with life, it seems safe to say that these Saliva flowers literally give back and inspire life (and hence hope) into Seunggeun. This scene signaled the change in Seunggeun's attitude towards survival on this island, for it is after this scene that Seunggeun decides that if he really wants to die, he can just do it some other time.
Charlotte Fitzek
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ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon (2009)
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon is a film that is amazing and worth watching. The director has helped to create a new definition of hope to everyone through scenes of Mr Kim’s situation from wishing to die by jumping into the river and transiting to the desire of to survive by shouting for help and finding of means to survive on an isolated island. The storyline has provided the viewers the possibility of hope existing everywhere and is determined by how much you are willing to find and work for it.
In this film, it showed the scene of Mr Kim jumping down into the river as it showed scenes of flashback of him being a young child and was scolded by his father for not being able to swim. Furthermore, he also lost his girlfriend and lost his job. Despite so, he actually survived and arrived on an isolated island. The island had become a chance for him to continue to survive. While he was walking around the island, he actually discovered flower petals and mushrooms and realized that hunger can also be dependent on small little things around us. Furthermore, he tried to catch fish from the river but he failed. Hope appeared again where there were bloated fishes floating around the island. Another significant sight was the scene where he found a packet of Jjajangmyun powder and started craving for it. He then thought of using bird poop which has the possibility of containing seeds to grow corn and make noodles out of it. With the help of surroundings, he managed to cook a decent bowl of Jjajangmyun. Another hope was that a lady actually spotted him by chance and he found a friend that he can talk to through letters.
By watching this film, I have definitely learned a lot more about what hope can really mean. I learnt a lot from Mr Kim that we should not always wait for things to happen. We should actually take a step forward and find out what are the possible solutions rather than losing hope and constantly thinking negatively about the things that happened around you. I realized that every one of us can actually live a meaningful and exciting life through the life that Mr Kim experience on the island. It depends on how you actually use your hands and legs to discover the small little things around you and how you could view the objects and surroundings around differently. After watching, I have definitely set a new goal in life which is to live life with hopes.
Joey Tay
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ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon is one of the interesting films that show what true meaning of hope is. The story of the Castaway on the Moon is simple and easy to understand. Main character Kim Seung Gun is one of the general social outcasts. He even jumped to his death from the bridge of Han River but he survived in the uninhabited island in the middle of Seoul. At first he tries to get out of the island but he is faced with indifferences and decided to stay in the island. From that moment he finally gets his ‘own house’ and ‘own time’ that he wanted badly and become really happy. I think he is drifted from the society and became feeling free from social restriction after arrive at island and finally found full of happiness of his life. The Women character Kim Jung Yeon is Hikicomori who cuts herself of from the society. She is usually mute and won’t speak to anyone. However, after she found out Kim, she is encouraged by Kim’s positive behavior in the island through the camera. Finally she comes out from her own world to communicate with Kim which represents the first step of the Neil Armstrong on the moon.
ReplyDeleteAs the title describe straightly, two main characters are socially castaways who wants to get out of the society and stay in the calm and independent place. However it is impossible to stay out of the society so, two characters have to develop their uninhabited island to become their foothold to start their new life in the same society. In the film, I could learn hope is not given but it is the thing that I have to gain by myself as Seung Gun waited for corn for long period of time without giving up. Each scene of the Castaway on the Moon represents how main characters reach their hope and how they reconstruct their past lives inside of their own uninhabited island. Therefore, the film wanted to teach views that hope can change people’s life and mind and is really important in our lives to dedicate to reach our own hope like two main characters did.
Jinyoung Park
The movie screened today, Castaway on the Moon, is an interesting film that gives moral about “Hope”. In this movie, there are two main characters, Mr. Kim and Kim, Jung Yeon. They both turned away from their normal lives because they have lost hope. As film progresses, the two protagonists who had nothing but dismay becomes sparks of hope for each other. After watching this film, I learned that a person with even a little bit of hope can live on to matter for other who might need help. If even a dismayed one can plant a hope into other who is in despair, how can one treat his/her life easily? Mr. Kim who has large credit card debt and lost his girlfriend, tried to kill himself twice in the film. The reason is that he thought he had no purpose of living. Yet, he fails both times and finds a reason to live when he finds Jjapaghetti powder. When Kim, Jung Yeon has three types of black bean noodle delivered to Bam Island for Mr. Kim, he refuses to take them because to grow corn and make it himself is goal of his life. If he takes delivered black bean noodle, he would lose his goal of living again. From this, audience can learn that he found out how to crawl out of dismay and try to achieve his goal.
ReplyDeleteThe female protagonist, Kim, Jung Yeon, is appeared to be a type of anthrophobia. She finds Mr. Kim when she was taking pictures during civil defense training because that’s the only time she opens her windows. To her, Mr. Kim himself is a purpose of living. She finds him freakish, dirty, and alien. Since the day she saw him, audience can notice changes in her daily life. She must’ve seen the spark that ignited in Mr. Kim’s mind. There are several scenes that emphasize change from “help” to “hello”. This shows beginning of optimism by embracing the despair one held. The funny pictures of Mr. Kim were put up at the center of her dark wall that was filled with pictures of “unlonely” moon. I think this scene was symbolic representation of hope, in this case, Mr, Kim, sprouting in dark and lonely mind of Kim, Jung Yeon. It is put up as if it started from dead center and other pictures of Mr. Kim are gradually put up. The space left on the wall is shown as if it indicates that there are many more pictures to be put up. Even though at the end of the movie, both of them face another obstacle in their life, Jung Yeon runs to Mr. Kim vigorously to stop him from killing himself. Also, by doing such, she finally overcame her fear and faced it. The final scene is which they are holding hand together which shows that they will support each other to survive rough world. This movie showed several forms of hope both literally and figuratively. It gave audience a true meaning of hope and what it can do to people.
Dong Eun (Agnes) Lee
ReplyDeleteComical aspects in Castaway on the Moon
Lee Hae-Jun’s Castaway on the Moon most certainly creates constant laughter among its audience. Through the protagonist’s comical characteristics – blue underwear outfit, devastated facial expressions, and extremity of consuming bird feces, the movie definitely conveys humor.
From a personal viewpoint however, the appeal to pathos should have been driven through a more sincere and solemn sensation. The severity of the tragic situation, in which the suicidal protagonist Kim becomes stranded on an island, does not seem to be reflected as well upon. Rather, everything appears to be silly and thus makes it harder for the audience to capture how serious the problem is. For instance Kim’s urge to make fire is made a joke out of, since he purposely disregards using the lighter that is available to him and tries manually instead. Another scene that seems absurd is when Kim takes his underwear off and yells across the river to see if he can receive help. His irritation could certainly have been illustrated through other means that better portray his urgency for help. Luckily, the comical aspects are not as irrationally depicted in scenes where the female character is present. Yet her behavior does illustrate a form of humor – high comedy. While her ‘lonely’ environment may seem odd to the average person she explicitly states, “When there’s no one, you can’t feel lonely.” Her play on words thus allow the audience to imply that she appreciates being by herself. Further, her ever-effective approaches toward sending bottled messages to the stranded man is unlikely to take place in reality. But that process itself is the comical aspect on her part. She takes initiative to engage in wearing a motorcycle helmet or hiding behind an umbrella to avoid the eyes of the public, and Lee Hae-Jun’s dynamic shot types assist her comic behavior. This is particularly evident when Lee incorporates a point-of-view shot and the audience is faced with a helmet vision. The female character’s intensive situation is easily felt yet it is ironic and humorous in the sense that one has to go through so much tension to simply through a bottled message into the river.
Perhaps due to the dislike of ‘funny’ movie genres, Castaway on the Moon was not too impressive. However, it was easy to appreciate the setting of the Han River because of its familiarity.
The opening scene of Castaway on the Moon presents a picture of a man named Kim alone, rejected by society, and most importantly, devoid of hope. His failures in life are accented further when he cannot commit suicide and through a unique series of flashbacks during his attempt at swimming. As he tries to adjust to his situation on the island, he begins to realize he enjoys the isolation of the island where he is all alone, and avoids people who come near the island. The theme of hope echoes throughout the story, and it begins with the discovery of a packet of jjajangmyun. His craving for the noodles gives him the drive for hope he needed in his normal life, but soon his plea for help he had written on the sand would be answered.
ReplyDeleteKim Jung-Yeon is a social outcast who refuses to leave her room, but maintains a very heavy online presence through pretending to be other people. She is alone, just like Kim is, and they are both rejected by society. She views other people as aliens, and when Seoul is emptied during a drill, she is ecstatic due to it being devoid of humans, but she spots Kim's writing of 'Help.' This sparks the beginning of their correspondence, and she finally decides to leave her house in order to communicate with him. The actions she does reveal that Kim needs to achieve hope for himself, and he sees the jjajangmyun and the island as his only reasons to live. However, his hope changes to a hope of finding her, and she changes too, even breaking her strict rules of isolation. When Kim loses his island and is back in the city, he realizes his hope is lost and there is nothing to do but to commit suicide. Jung Yeon refuses to let it happen, and this change in both of them causes them to finally meet.
The movie as a whole was a great experience of hope and redemption, as well as a touching account of two lonely people in a society that rejects them finding each other. The movie exceeded my expectations, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Daniel Rhee
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon
The movie starts out in a Shakespearean setting where a man attempts to escape his fate by committing suicide. The opening shot only sees the character talking on his cell phone, but the camera slowly zooms out, giving us a little bit of background to the character and why he has such a pale expression. As the camera uses the mise-en-scene technique and shoots at many angles that vary along with shots, we recognize that the main character is standing on the side of a bridge. A passing bus, however, prevents us from seeing the character jump, which in my opinion inhibited the audience from feeling the scare or shock value for that matter. The protagonist realizes that he failed in his attempt at suicide so decides to go up the 63 Building, but soon finds out that he is deserted on an island. We see the panic that the character faces because the camera shots shake and change quickly, just like the character's thoughts and emotions, which gave a feel for how afraid the character actually was. Initially he wanted to die, but now is scared to because he is stranded on an island, a moment which made the scene all the more ironic.
I really enjoyed this segment of the movie because it not only made me realize that this movie was strikingly similar to the American film, Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, but it also made me realize the irony that the island is in the center of such a densely populated city. The Han River splits Seoul in half and the island is in the center of the river. The irony of a man being stranded in the most populated city in South Korea demonstrated that it does not take geographical distance to isolate someone. The isolation is also evident when the movie introduces a new girl character who has not left her room for three years. Irony played a major factor in this film. The girl is introduced as a recluse and informs the audience that she has become an online socialite who has physically removed herself from society. Symmetrically, the male character is forced into isolation because of his desire to commit suicide but ultimately ends up stranded on an island, in which he can easily leave via learning to swim or making a signal such as a large fire.
Through all the irony though, what trumps this theme is hope. Both characters exude this feeling of hopelessness in their lives, but find a way of hope back into life. The male character finds his hope in his craving for a black noodle dish, while the girl finds hope through fascination in this "mysterious" character who lives on the island. But after he was able to make the noodles, his hope changed from the craving to wanting to meet his "international" pen-pal. The constant struggle of communication created this one dimensional relationship ultimately led to one thing: a desire to meet each other. Once each obstacle was overcome, new hope was found, which eventually led up to the scene where the protagonist finally met the girl.
‘Castaway on the Moon’ gives people to get hope in difficulty situation through Mr. Kim’s eccentric life. Mr. Kim is struggling for his life who makes a suicide bid by leaping in to the Han River, but he dramatically discovers that is lying on a small island. He decides to make the best of his situation as a castaway and builds a new life for himself. The other part of the story, Jung-yoen who hasn’t left her room in three years. She fears the world outside of her room and she makes her own world in her room. She only makes contact with the external world via the Internet her camera lens. When she opens her window during one of the two days Seoul is completely deserted, she can the sign that our castaway has written on the sand “hello.” She starts intrigued into this strange little man’s world. Soon overcome by a pressing urge to communicate, she sends him a message in a bottle. By they are communicating through their own connections, Mr. Kim discovers Jjapagetti powder, and he desires to eat Jjapagetti. After Mr. Kim decides to produces the noodles himself, he finds happiness, with hopes of making the noodles. The film tries to show the viewers to realize that people do not forget their hope. Women also affected by his new world in the deserted island, she tried to leave her apartment. The film director gives example of Mr. Kim’s suffered to possess the noodles but he finally get them.
ReplyDeleteThis film gives me big impact of my personal life. After watching Castaway on the Moon, I could understand that satisfy one’s desires bring huge happiness and energies to survive in difficulties. When Mr. Kim rejects the Jjapagetti delivery, this shows that he can achieve the hopes without any other help. I was very impressed this part because he suffered because he pushed out high-level’s influenced. His emotional darkness concealed by his comical mood. Also the relationship between Mr. Kim and women, the communication is silly and ridiculous, but the messages are purposeful. The island ensures that their shared messages are simultaneously metaphorical, a tangible romantic discovery.
Chankyung Jung
"Castaway on the Moon" portrays the lack of meaning and hope in our lives today with the use of comic relief. To start, the protagonists' locations and the distant communication between them are significant to the development of the characters and also provide some laughter for the audience. Even when the male protagonist is stranded on an island, he is strategically located in a place where the 63 building and other famous Korean buildings are located, reminding him that it is not possible to escape his past troubled and meaningless life in Seoul--as he is later forced to return to the city. On a related note, the female protagonist is also in her "stranded island"--her room; the lack of light and color in her room show the trapped state she is experiencing. Although she would like to live in her little world, she still cannot escape the outside city knocking on her door--her family trying to communicate with her and fake, demanding citizens who occupy the city 24/7 except during two days. The two protagonists live similar lives in which they want to escape the superficial world. The use of the camera frame in looking at the male protagonist's daily life without sound not only provides a comical perspective, but shows the communication and connection between the two characters that do not need many words or sounds to be included.
ReplyDeleteAlso, close-ups of the main characters' faces show their significance in the plot and capture their emotions. Whenever the male protagonist is crying or having realizations, his face is zoomed to take up a majority of the screen, showing his vulnerability and letting viewers sympathize with him. Anxiety and helplessness of the female protagonist are portrayed during the scene when she finds hateful comments about her fake internet blog; shots that gradually get shorter and change quicker between the scrolling of the mouse and twitching fingers, the comments online, and her worsening expression.
Last, objects and climate help further present the symbolism present in the film. Jjajjangmyun and corn undoubtedly signify the hope present in both protagonists' lives as well as the lack of hope present in outsiders' lives. These objects prove to be somewhat silly to observers and other less important characters in the film; these days, people are so immersed in impressing others and finding a place in society that they lose the hope that makes them happy--when was the last time we pursued something that made us happy and truly satisfied? The violent storm towards the end serves as a realization for the protagonists; hardships and obstacles exist but hope still perseveres and drives people towards true happiness.
Justyn Park
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon does not only focus on grabbing audiences’ attention with humorous lines and actions but also centers around the theme of hope of which the main character develops and upholds throughout the movie. The beginning of the movie is quite dramatic as the main character attempts to commit suicide as a result of his company’s bankruptcy. The scene changes from the jumping of Han River to his presence at the island and the director incorporates alternative usage of close-shot and long-shots to show the view of the barren island and the character’s emotions simultaneously. The sound of the birds chirping also adds to the peaceful and isolated atmosphere of the island. The director nicely combines the setting and the sound to give the audiences the impression of a deserted island with nothing but sand, trees, and a body of water nearby. In the cases where he cries or laughs hardly, close shots are used to show detailed facial expressions and at times where the writings on the sand such as “hello” have to be visible or when he is dancing or moving around vigorously, long shots are used in order for audiences to see the full detail. Symbolic objects also had longer takes in order to hint that they are significant throughout the movie.
The plot of the summary is tight, straightforward and nicely connected. However, I felt that it could have been better if the transition from the island to the female character’s room was made smoother. At times, I felt that the shift was too abrupt and unexplained. Also, the movie neither thoroughly delves into the woman’s life nor clearly explains the cause of her behavior. Hence, even though I do understand what partly caused her isolated life from the public, I would have had better understanding if there were scenes that explained more about her past life and events.
The movie included various symbolic objects that helped develop the bigger theme of the film. From the Saliva flower to black bean noodles, the objects do help the main character to live up to his dream and hope and his perseverance pushes him to be more creative and studious to survive. The scene where he returns the black bean noodles delivery can be noted as the climax of the movie since that is when the audiences finally realize what the black bean noodles actually mean to the main character. It was not just a food that he craved for. It meant more than that as it was something that he hoped to obtain by himself and something that he lived up to. In a deserted island with nothing else to do, it would have been the only motivation that would have kept his life lively and energetic as there was a goal, something he can look up to in the hope of achieving. The scene where he gets frustrated for all the black bean noodles that he turned down in the past also shows how there are many things in our lives that we just take for granted. Since we can get it or taste it whenever we need to, people usually forget the real value of such items. The movie made me to be once again thankful for everything that I have and can get.
KOH SEUNG HYUN
ReplyDeleteThe film, Castaway on the Moon, vividly depicts two outcasts of Korean community and their gradual path to finding happiness and hope in their seemingly forlorn and lackluster lives. The principal characters are illustrated as the pariahs of society; the main male character, Mr. Kim is a credit-card delinquent who is vexed by the age of endless competitions present in Korean culture while the female counterpart, Miss Kim, is a hikikomori, detached from people and locked off in her own cyberspace.
It is important to note that close-ups are utilized admirably to symbolize important objects in the film. One of the important objects is the salvia flower. In the film, Mr. Kim is shown sipping on the flower and remarks that it has a sweet taste. In a sense, the flower stopped or at least postponed his plan to commit suicide. He finds temporary comfort in the sweetness of the flower and halts his plan as he realizes that he can always commit suicide when he wants to; it does not have to be now. Moreover, the word salvia comes from the Latin word salvare, which means ‘to heal’. In a way, the flower is shown in a close-up to foretell Mr. Kim’s journey of healing. That is overcoming his dire situation in society and finding hope in life.
Perhaps the most significant close-up in the film is that of the ‘black bean noodles’, which initiates Mr. and Miss Kim’s journey of healing. When Mr. Kim finds a wrapping of instant black bean noodles with only the condiment, it triggers his desire to make his own noodles. Through this event, Mr. Kim leads a self-sustainable life while finding peace and comfort from learning to do things that were taken for granted in society. For instance, he is overwhelmed with joy when his idea of planting bird waste is blessed with the blossom of corns. In addition, black bean noodles spark off the healing process of Miss Kim, who realizes Mr. Kim’s penchant for the food through meticulous observation and brave, unprecedented act of leaving the house to communicate with Mr. Kim. When the bowls of black bean noodles she sent to Mr. Kim are returned back to her, she realizes that they are ‘hope’. In other words, she believes that Mr. Kim actually sent her hope, and in a sign of affirmation, the chopstick wrapping is shown in a close-up with the words 진짜루 meaning really in English.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that the various close-ups of important objects highlight pivotal messages of the film.
Christine Kim
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching the movie Castaway on the Moon. The movie introduction immediately got my attention and the attention sustained until the end. It is a very unique movie that involves little dialogue and only two main characters. According to AsianWIki, this movie is categorized as an adventure and romance movie. I personally do not see Castaway on the Moon as a romantic movie. The interaction between Kim Seung geun and Kim Ji Yeon does show clear friendship, however there is not enough evidence that the two had an attraction for each other. It appears that their curiosity for each other is being mistaken as attraction.
I personally think that the director did a good job of integrating humor and deep themes. Many times, the deep message is subtle or hidden behind the funniness. However, the deep theme and comedy were both equally evident. A big message I got from the movie was that tomorrow can always be a better day and it is never too late to turn things around no matter how bad your situation may seem. From the beginning, Seung geun wanted to end his life. But throughout the movie, his suicide is always delayed and something good happens. For example, if Seung geun died when he jumped off the bridge, he would never made jajjang myun and he never would’ve met Ji Yeon. This encouraging message is complimented with many funny scenes. My favorite funny scene was when the jajjang delivery guy rode the duck boat to the island. The whole scene was very funny. When Seung geun rejects the jajang, it emphasizes the message about hope and hard work.
Christine Kim
Although some viewers may believe after watching Castaway on the Moon (2009) that the film is a love themed movie depicting the first meeting of two potential lovers, there is a more underlying and explicit theme of hope that is portrayed through these characters. Director Hey-jun Lee’s use of characters helps convey two significant messages of hope. The first being that even in the most desperate of situations hope can be found all around us. The second is more implicit but significant nonetheless, our own struggles with hope can inspire others as well.
ReplyDeleteThe first more explicit message of hope is portrayed through Mr. Kim a depressed, middle-aged man whose world has been crumbling down on him. He is a credit card delinquent whose father who has been ashamed of him since he was a child, and his lover has recently left him. With all this weighing down on him, Mr. Kim attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Han River. Unfortunately (or rather very fortunately) he is washed ashore onto a deserted island, this the first time that hope is conveyed to the audience. After surviving his first attempt at suicide, Mr. Kim once again attempts to kill himself, this time by hanging himself. Once again Mr. Kim fails when nature unexpectedly calls and he is forced to answer. This is the first time that the character Mr. Kim experiences hope when he realizes that he has been missing and craving the taste of the stevia flower. This ignites hope in him which is seen in many other scenes following, especially when he decides to farm plants to make noodles.
The second more implicit message is portrayed through the other main character, Jung Yeon Kim. She plays the role of a mentally unstable woman who has never left her apartment for three years. However after witnessing Mr. Kim’s struggle she is inspired so much that she decides to leave what has been comfortable for her in hopes of finding someone like her.
Personally I really enjoyed this movie because of the more subtle themes of hope inspiring others. In addition it is very pleasing to be reassured that even in the darkest times there is hope and that hope is what helps us survive.
Kevin Ling
'Castaway on the Moon' conveys a message of pursuing hope in an emotionally empty society. Having failed to commit suicide, Mr.Kim accidentally lands on an island located in the Han River. This unusual location for a castaway is intended to convey the sardonic view on the modern society. While Mr.Kim can clearly see those urban structures and facilities, they cannot see him. Technically saying, they are unwilling to see him, as shown by a man on a boat. The society expels him. The delinquent cards, the 63 building, and his phone represent futileness of civilization that we appreciate. Furthermore, the 63 building even symbolizes death or a road to death.
ReplyDeleteThere is, however,a woman named Kim Jung-Yeon who can see Mr.Kim. She's a castaway as well, a castaway on the moon. With a scar on her face, she is afraid to go out of her room. She sees the world through her computer, watches the moon through her camera, and finds Mr.Kim. There is nothing in direct contact with Kim Jung-Yeon, not even her mother. There is always a medium through which she sees the world. The computer and the camera expel her out of society. Through computer, she lies about her identity and through camera, she hides from Mr.Kim. Furthermore, the camera makes her a castaway on the moon, where there is no one.
The movie 'Castaway on the Moon' effectively draws our indifference and aggressiveness toward other people. The director purposefully presents this tragic happening in a humorous way for the message is pursuing hope, which brings happiness. While Kim Jung-Yeon values physical beauty, luxury items, Mr.Kim values money. None of them is an answer to happiness. The black bean noodle is. It is a common food in Korea. The point is that it is delivered to everyone. In other words, it reaches out to people no matter what. When Mr.Kim rejects the black bean noodles delivered to him, the message is that black bean noodle, or hope, cannot be bought. At the same time, hope is not something extravagant, as shown by the messages that Mr.Kim and Kim Jung-Yeon share. The messages were only a sentence long. The black bean noodle too, is just a common food. They simply need truthful minds.
The black bean noodle and the messages eventually bring Mr.Kim and Kim Jung-Yeon together. They are no more constrained to money and physical beauty. The hope binds them together.
The movie 'Castaway on the Moon' is a hopeful, honest, and humorous conveyance of how people should pursue hope.
In Hey-jun Lee's Castaway on the Moon, both a suicidal man and a hikikomori woman struggle to fit into the world. To cope with their fearful world, the suicidal man ends up settling on an island and the hikikomori woman confines herself in her room. Both of these characters realize that having a sweet goal can bring hope and tears of joy. The comedy, drama, and long distant/pen pal romance is demonstrated with many formal elements but I will focus on a symbolic value and cinematography (camera movement).
ReplyDeleteI've noticed how the plants were symbolic in this movie. The attempted suicide fails because the man is scared of death. However, when he sees the Salvia Flower, he tastes it and cries that he can die later. The sweet Salvia Flower ultimately gave the man a reason to live because of the sweet taste that life offers. Plants are symbolic to the man because he finds hope in them. Later on in the film, with the help of bird poop, the man is able to grow his own crops to make his black bean noodles. Here, these plants provide the man with delicious food that he has worked hard for. Plants not only gave this man hope but also gave him physical and emotional satisfaction. Through this man, the hikikomori woman also decides to grow corn on her own -this makes her happy and also brings tears of joy to her mother because she finally got out of her confined space. Plants are everywhere (mise-en-scene); it is a reoccurring symbol of life throughout the movie.
The camera's gaze is frequently at these character's eye level, following them and observing the world in their view. This film isn't filled with dialogue but their reaction and eye contact communicates their feelings to the audience. When the man was attempting suicide, the close up on his face shows the fear in his eyes. This type of cinematography is used on the hikikomori woman even more when she is on her mini-homepage and when she is looking through her camera lens as she is spying on the man. With the help of different camera movements, these characters are able to convey their emotions and thoughts -they speak to the audience without having much dialogue.
Joan Kim
Korean Cinema - Summer 2013
ReplyDeleteJun Seong Ahn
Castaway on the Moon(2009)
This movie, Castaway on the Moon, surely is a great example for the lecture that was given in the first class of this course. After listening to the importance of the camera angle, place, magnification, movement, and so on, the movie seems totally different than I have seen before. This is my second watch of Castaway on the Moon and my first view and this time have a huge difference by comparing my both thoughts.
The first time when I viewed this film, I was only concentrating on the story, which is pretty much normal. And then after the first lecture of this course, I kept on focusing on the actors’ viewpoint, location of the camera or frame, and a connection between every part of short scenes. This is a totally new world to my life of enjoyment and it is very shocking because I’ve only entertained on what’s happening in the frame but all of these new viewpoints totally expanded my space of joy.
Since I already knew that black bean noodle is the main focus of this film, I wasn’t really diving into the story but tried to understand the location of actors, movement of the camera, and time duration of every scene. I wanted to know why the director of this film, Hae Jun Lee set up and finalized the film like this. To me, his goal seemed like an unrevealed pearl on top of a fire and let it gradually open as time flies. All of the actor, Mr. Kim’s effort finalizes into a single black bean noodle but the director did not want the previous scenes to just fly away into the air, but wanted to wrap those all up and finish in one object, the noodle.
What’s also interesting about the movie is that both the actor and actress are being shown as a totally different characters and later merges into one peaceful similar couple. The actor, Mr. Kim, seems like he started as a normal businessman and falls all the way down to losing his credits which almost leads to a suicide. But the story changes this person to become stronger and more individual as he is casually trapped into a desert island. The actress, Ms. Kim, also starts as a normal student but she stays isolated after a forehead burn, which is shown often in this film. After the accident, her life was just staying very individual and protected by her own-made environment. But she gradually changes her mind after witnessing Mr. Kim’s life in a desert island and surprisingly communicating each other. There was a huge gap between these characters but their last intersection is been viewed blessed, which tells about this film that the director plays the viewers by creating rise and fall of this movie and absorbs mostly affirmative comments.
We all wish at times to escape the restraints of our reality. A reality that can be so harsh and unforgiving that some believe that the only way they'll find a release is through leaving life behind. Our unfortunate protagonist, Seung-Keun fell into this category. He can't seem to do anything right. Whether it be finding a job, maintaining a romantic relation, or learning how to swim. He can't even commit suicide right. When he tries, he ends up stranding himself in an island in the middle of urban Seoul. This is an interesting juxtaposition between what our idea of 'escape' is, leaving behind one's present reality, and what appears to be Seung-keun not actually escaping his reality, but finding himself just slightly off center of it. He finds himself in a place where he can constantly see what he's left behind, but finds that even with his past so close in proximity, he can start anew by making the conscious decision to leave the life he once led behind. Once he does so, we see Seung-keun slowly but surely fall into a comically sweet and earnest lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the whole movie changes once Jung-yoen enters the story. Before her, the movie was leading up to an almost 'Castaway' featuring Tom Hanks-esque storyline, with a protagonist naturally adapting to a new and foreign situation. With Jung-yoen, the theme switches from survival to salvation. Our leading lady, in contrast with pre-island Seung-keun, has grown accustomed to a monotonous lifestyle and seems to have no future plans of leaving it. She seems neither happy nor unhappy in her habit of taking bits and pieces of other peoples' online lives and molding them into a make-believe one of her own. Her hobby of tracking the moon through photo leads her to discover our strange 'alien' Seung-keun on his deserted island. The resulting friendship between our two misfits leads to them saving one another. For Seung-keun, he is stopped on his way to his second suicide attempt by Jung-yoen. And for Jung-yoen, being given the curiosity and courage to step out of the safe confines of her dingy room by Seung-keun.
I absolutely adored this movie. As you said, it was so completely endearing that I will admit I teared up more than once. I agree with many of my classmates that a main theme of the movie is about hope, which is blatantly brought up many times throughout the movie. However, another theme I felt was just as prominent and important was the idea of salvation. Salvation through ones own efforts to combat reality, through striking up human relationships, through making our own meaning in life, and of course, through maintaing hope at all times.
This was by Jane Pak :)
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ReplyDeleteCast Away on the Moon
ReplyDeleteThe opening scene of “Castaway on the Moon” implied the burden of living in a modern society where money defines happiness. Even the final phone call Mr. Kim received was from a loan company which only served as a reminder of how truly alone he had become in this materialistic world. Mr. Kim had concluded that death was the only escape from this unfortunate reality but his suicide attempt turned into isolation on an island near civilization. This image of the modern world was continuously in his view while he tried to survive without the credit and cash society has enforced on us and only with the few resources he had on hand. His failures, however, were what continued to cloud his mind with the thought of death and the idea the he would only fail in this situation as well. This representation of failure was shown every time the screen showed the Mr. Kim going under or drowning. Every time he thought that he would be able to achieve something he ends up failing again and drowns in misery.
Bam Island served as a reason for the character to become capable of more than just living through what society expected of him. The inspiration he needed came from a packet of Black Bean Noodle seasoning. The multiple steps of laborious work he endured to make noodles gave him the illusion that if he achieve this goal with what little the island provided then he could survive without the technology and wealth that the modern world says we need. He would finally able be able to stay afloat in his own mind. His own motivation became the foundation for another individual that had confined herself from the rest of the human population by physical means. The idea that some who wanted to be saved turned into an independent person (or that an alien that was able to survive in foreign territory) provoked her to endure the challenges that came along with walking out into real world.
The overall movie reveals that drastic difference yet similarities that the couples has and shows how over time the problems we face are more often a mental obstacle that we can overcome if we have hope.
Sora Paik
ReplyDeleteThe ‘Castaway on the moon’ was very interesting and showed the idea of hope well. This whole movie is about a man who trapped himself on a desert island and a woman who locked herself in her room. They are both isolated from the society but they get to communicate each other and share feelings. In ‘Castaway on the Moon’, unique narrations of the two main characters stand out. In the film, there are a lot of narrations of characters than monologue, and more monologue than dialogue of characters. The plot of the story unfolds in a very natural way mostly with the monologue of two main characters with narration of each of them on top of it. Their narrations play a leading role in the story since it develops a storyline of the overall film containing deep messages. Moreover, the narration between the scenes did mingle with the each scene very well even when narration is heard in a sudden monologue. The film might have gone bored without the narrations to watch because two characters never meet or have conversation throughout the movie until the ending of the scene. The structure of the film is well organized even with the narrations and monologues of the characters.
The camera work in “Castaway on the Moon” is also important. The organization of the most of scenes looked simple and plain whereas it provided the message of the movie by repeating shots. For example, it kept showing the character, So-yeon Jang’s trial to get outside to the real world and effort to communicate with Min-hee Hong. This action first begins the real connection of two characters. Thecamera repeats the scene several times in the movie which tells how important that scene acts in the movie. Also, to emphasis the situation that Min-hee Hong is all alone in the desert island, the camera keeps shooting the scene in the air capturing the character and the island together. Additionally, the interesting thing is that the So-yeon Jang in the movie also uses her camera throughout the film to observe the man in the desert island. The camera that So-yeon Jang uses shows Min-hee Hong in the different way to viewers which forms different views at the same time. It did expand the main idea of the movie and analyzed the communications of two main characters based on hope of their lives effectively. ¬¬¬
Jieun Yoon
ReplyDeleteCast away on the Moon reminded the fact that hope can be found from near in our lives, which we easily forget and consider ourselves as hopeless.
The main character Mr. Kim has become a jobless, penniless and hopless, and he decided to commit suicide. However, he survived and became a cast away in desert island and this worst situation became a turning point to him. He was satisfying and happy with an abandoned ship as his house and an empty can as his friend. Mr. Kim found a 'Jjapagetti' powder and his desire to have Jjapagetti became his hope. Cooking a Jjapagetti in uninhabited island seems imposible but his hope led him to achieve what he wanted.
This movie conveyed a message that hope is everywhere in ourlives and we can gain them through our effort. It was not only a comic but also an encouraging movie.
Jieun Yoon
Dong Min Shin
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon is about two people who are left alone, both mentally and physically, in the modern society. Although they are living in a crowded city, they separate themselves by creating their own world. At first, they are satisfied by their isolated state, until one of them is forced back into reality from the personal paradise.
Castaway on the Moon uses a lot of dramatic camera effects to depict the characters' psyche. Since their main conflict is about fitting in the environment, the movie includes a lot of 360 degree turning camera movement. The camera starts from the back of the character's head and shows the surrounding environment, until the camera comes back to the character and reveal their face. Starting from the character's back of the head, the camera places the viewer behind the character as the environment dominates the scene over the silhouette. As the camera moves and covers the scene entirely with the surrounding environment, the viewer can see what the character is seeing. When it comes back to the character, the viewers can finally see the character's facial expression as the character realise that he or she feels out of place.
As the scenery exposes the character's own world, the locked room and the island, the movie uses various effects to further expose the character's psychological world, too. As the man almost drowns in the beginning, his single attempt to run away from the initial isolation becomes a summary of his failures in life. When he comes back to the surface for the first time, he is a child in the swimming pool, failing to learn how to swim. When he comes back the second time, he is back to his suited self who is failing at his job interview, desperately trying to explain about the bankruptcy. When he comes back the third time, his ex-girlfriend casually talks about how she is fed up with him and leaves him. Then the girls in Hawaiian dresses starts to dance and sing about money loaning company. By this point, the viewers can connect to his phone call from the beginning of the movie about the loaned money. As he comes back to reality, he climbs up to the shore and lies down. Now, he seems even more miserable as he remembers his multiple failures, including his current failed attempt to escape from the island.
However, the realistic moments remind us that they haven't found a permanent paradise but a temporal refuge in their attempt to run away from their current plight. The woman's room is a total chaos. Her hair is an oily mess while her clothes are crumpled and dirty. When the man cries, the viewer can see his bead of drool and snot. The moment he eats Salvia flower honey, he is still in crouched excreting position. While he cries in happiness for discovering hope of survival and sorrow from his plight, the salvia flowers and the beautiful plantation of the environment decorates the scene like a frame. Despite his pitiful position, the beautiful plants and the salvia flowers shows his hope in his desperate reality.
Miwon Kim
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon depicts a man whose life becomes miserable with tremendous amount of loans but turns around as his hope rises while he is trapped on an island. At the later scenes, the protagonist, Mr. Kim, communicates with a woman who also separated her life with society.
In the film, the story shows several themes that exist in our modern society—failures, hope, and love. The film juxtaposes on the definition of the word happiness and hope. Mr. Kim clearly demonstrates this juxtaposition through his transition from despair to somewhat optimism. As he learns to live in a desert island, he realizes that his life can be refreshed. Not only he finds the island a new place for a new start, but he also finds his love. The way this movie shows the development of Seung-geun and Jung-yeon illustrates hope for both of them. At the beginning, they were both in despair. With no other way to repay for his debt, Seung-geun chooses to commit suicide, and Jung-yeon lives in her own world as she believes that everything can be done through just a few clicks. However, their love develops as they begin to communicate through a wine bottle. The theme of failures and hope is clearly portrayed through the protagonists.
The film’s camera view also played an important role in this film. This movie heavily depends on actor and actress’s acting rather than a dialogue between the characters. With consolidation of acting and the song played behind, the characters are more focused. This shows the feelings that are not conveyed covertly.
Myoung Su Ko
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon
Castaway on the Moon, directed by Hey-jun Lee, is a beautiful film that portrays no matter how hard life goes on, people with hope never give up, stand up over and over, and finally achieve their dreams. The original name of this film is "Kimssi pyorugi." There are two Kims in this film, Seong-geun Kim and Jung-yeon Kim. The film starts with a scene of Seong-geun fails to kill himself and drifts on a Bam island in the middle of the Han river. He cries for help such as screaming to the people on a boat and writing a word "Help" on the ground. However, nobody cares him and rather treats him as a mad man. Realizing that there is no difference if he drowns or dies in the island, Seong-geun decides to live there. Against expectation, feeling a sense of freedom, he becomes happier and satisfied with his life. The word, "Help" becomes "Hello." Jung-yeon is another main character and she is a typical hikicomori person. Insulated from the world, she does everything in her room, eating, sleeping, working out and blogging. In cyber world, she packages herself as a rich, pretty and lively girl who is very different from her true self. One day she finds Seong-geun, who is casting away in the island alone, and starts watching him with her gigantic camera. Start from this event, exchanging signs with Seong-geun, she takes courage to go out into the world again.
In the beginning of the film, Seong-geun brings back his memories and reminds why he commits suicide. Seong-geun lost his job when the company went under, his girlfriend left him and the $75,000 loan has morphed into a whopping $209,000 because of missed payments. Jung-yeon has also tasted the bitterness of the cruel realities of life.She was bullied once and as the result, never coming out from her room for more than three years and camouflaging herself with fake information in cyber world, she becomes a social phobia. People do not classify these kinds of people "winners." They would rather categorize them "losers." However, I would like to say they are neither "winners" nor "losers." Everyone has his or her own dream and has own definition of an "ideal life." Only because they do not fit into the standard of a society, people cannot call them "failure." Even though Seong-geun and Jung-yeon fail to get jammed into the society, they still try their best to be happy in their situations and finally achieve what they actually desires. Seong-geun successes on making black bean noodle and Jung-yeon overcomes her sociophobia and meets Seong-geun.
The movie, Castaway on the Moon, shows how people should pursue hope and how hope can be the driving force of life.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(Ju Hyun Lee)
ReplyDeleteLike many people mentioned in their posts, Castaway on the Moon is a great film that discusses the theme of "hope" that warms viewers' minds and thoughts towards the world that became corrupt and cold. However, the main character Mr. Kim realized early in the movie that he will not be able to survive from the society that rejected him and from the situation of so much debt, unemployment, and the breakup with his ex girlfriend. When he tried to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge but fails to die, there on the random island on Han River, he finds the first hope of living a new life outside of the society and the cruel world. Then when he slowly adjusts the life of living with a harmony of wild but pure environment that shows him another hope of peacefulness and happiness. There he finds out that without any money nor artificial stuff from the world, he sees true fun and enjoys the real life of being a human. When he finds out that another main character tries to reach out to him, there he sees the biggest hope to finally wanting to talk to someone, wanting to meet people, and wanting to spend more time with people.
The main girl in the movie, however, has the similar problem with Mr. Kim where she would not get out from her room because she has some sort of wound in her heart as well as on her face that never was fully explained in the movie but clearly showed through out the development of the story; the girl never wanted to communicate with the world that was never warm to her. However, after she finds out about Mr. Kim on the island, which triggered her to have a hope, she starts trying to communicate with Mr. Kim. This eventually breaks down the wall between her and the world that was blocking her to go out to the world. This also causes them to fall in love with each other with out even seeing or knowing each other. When she finally goes outside without caring about people seeing her or interacting with her after Mr. Kim gets kicked out from the island, they both looses hope of seeing each other for second but little bit after, she finds hope again and she tries her best to go see Mr. Kim at the end which also gives another hope to him to not commit suicide.
This film have done an amazing job of slowly building the story and the feelings into the viewers' thoughts that later helps the audience to connect with the characters better. This film definitely warms people's heart and definitely gives out message of having hope is a great tool of finding a new, better life.
Emerson Sosa
ReplyDeleteOn "Castaway on the Moon," the way society rejects Seung-guen is reflected through nature and technology. As a result, he has no where to go but back to his first notion of salvation from his life: suicide.
Seung-guen has a rough time being accepted by anyone. He first gets rejected by the water as he survives an attempted suicide. The water does not accept his life and sends him to an island in the Han river. Only his shoe is taken by the water. When he tries to call 911, his plea for help is also rejected, along with his ex-girlfriend. The rejection continues throughout his stay on the island as his body initially rejects the food through diarrhea. One of the more significant rejections that happen to Sueng-guen is the storm that destroys all of his crops. He had managed to build a field of corn but nature simply rejects his work with a storm.
Sueng-guen experiences rejection first in the human world but then with the natural world. Neither embraces him which is in contrast with other survival movies such as Robert Zemecki's "Castaway" in which Tom Hank's character is embraced by his island habitat for years. Seung-guen is only present on the island for a few months before he is exiled back to the mainland. The human world rejects him because he is "too old" as told by his bosses and the natural world rejects him as the coast guard that kicks him out says that it is a conservation site. Seung-guen is lost in a life that has no purpose and as a result his only answer to life is building 63.
Gloria Chang
ReplyDeleteThe movie Castaway on the Moon is on one hand specific to the Korean culture (black bean noodle delivery, telcom phone sales..) yet at the same time it addresses a deeper, universal issue of the want to escape this life for something more.
Although the male lead did not manage to escape the world with his initial failed suicide attempt, he was in a way, successful. He ‘escaped’ to the island. There he is free from being a failure. The island then becomes his home. The home he had always wanted, thus the sarcastic reference to the duck boat as the house he finally owns after saving up for 7 years. The island provides for him, through the flowers and mushrooms with fish and birds ‘dropping’ in. He starts to be hopeful, changing his sign for HELP to HELLO. The plants growing from poop also represents his hope of new life on the island; life that ‘grew’ from his attempt at death. The female lead here is a reflection of his life. He was trapped in failure and debt; she was trapped in her room. She tried to made her mind escape her room by creating fake profiles online, hypnotizing herself to sleep and floating to the moon but its only when she discovered him that she starts to come out of her prison.
The movie itself is interesting and is more than just a simple boy-meets-girl story. It touches on the stresses of society and the thought of leaving everything to run away from life, something everyone has thought about at some point.
Gayoung Park
ReplyDeleteCast away on the Moon is the story of two outcasts who does not see any hopes in their lives.
The world they live is completely different from the kind of world they want to live. They are trapped in their own world; Kim in the Bam island and Jung-yeon in her room.They are both afraid of the place outside of their world. Every episodes and the items in the movie convey different meanings depending on two main characters' view. Mr. Kim and Jungyeon have different perspective view, but somewhat similar.
1. Window
Jungyeon sees the world through her computer window. Computer window was the place where she hopes to "receive" the interests from other people; however, her window in the room played as the place where she "expresses" the interest to Mr. Kim which she has never experienced before. The person who always turned on her computer window to receive the interests from virtual world now turned to open the actual window to communicate with the real world. To Mr. Kim, window was the common thing he looks at everyday, nothing special. As he realizes that someone is looking at him through window, he also started showing genuine interests and opened his mind as they communicate. In this movie, window served as a string that connected two outcasts and a way of communication.
2. Black bean Noodle
Black bean noodle played very important role in this movie. Black bean noodle was a motivator to Mr. Kim; it gave him a sense of "hope" and "possibility." He sees "possibility" when he finds black bean powder. He realizes that if he could make noodle, this "possibility" could turn into "achievement." His healthy motivation changed his view and caused him to have a positive energy and dedication for achievement. She sees As Jung-yeon watches him, she feels that giving black bean noodle to him is the best thing she could do for Mr. Kim. To her, black bean noodle was the best present and interest she could give to him. However, Mr. Kim return black bean noodle that she sent. As she eats black bean noodle that are returned to her, she was able to taste some kind of "hope" that she never felt before. Black bean noodle was "hope" to these two main characters.
At the end of the movie, two characters are able to escape from their own place whether it was voluntarily movement or not. They are afraid to live and adapt in the place outside of theirs. Mr. Kim and Jung-yeon holds their hand in the bus accidentally and this implies that they are encouraging themselves and taking their first step off to the new life.
Jung-yeon also has the last name of "Kim." "Kim" is one of the most common last names in Korea and this implies that "Kim" can be anyone including me, you, and people around us. People often fall into despair and give up like Mr. Kim and Jung-yeon did; however, if they see everything around them as a hope and just shake off all the bad thoughts as two main characters changed, I truly believe that we could live in the world that are full of hope and can take a next step to live in the kind of life we want to acquire.
Julia Wong
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon
In “Castaway on the Moon,” the protagonist Kim Seung-geun is first portrayed as a typical civilized business man that becomes much more uncivilized while stranded on an island. Initially, when Kim Seung-geun is stranded, he attempts to use his civilized devices to call for help (his cell phone). During his desperate cry for help the camera begins to circle around him faster and faster while the background sound becomes more piercing as he becomes more frantic with his conversation on the phone because his battery is about to die. The movement of the camera causes Kim Seung-geun’s anxiety and franticness to show through especially when the camera suddenly halts when his battery dies. Small techniques such as this are used throughout the film to convey the feelings of both the protagonist and Kim Jung-yeon, the main female role in the film. Since there is little dialogue throughout the film, filming techniques and symbolic objects are used to convey the film’s themes.
Not long after getting stranded on the island, Kim Seung-geun finds a jjapagetti wrapper. While staring at the wrapper, the camera slowly tracks in on the words that he is reading on the back of the wrapper until it reaches the word, hope. By focusing on the words on the back of the wrapper, the viewer’s understand that hope is what will get him through being stranded. This becomes a central theme for Kim Seung-geun’s rebirth as a stronger human being on the island as he works to accomplish his goals. After the shot of Kim Seung-geun’s struggling efforts on the island, the camera shifts focus onto Kim Jung-yeon who, like Kim Seung-geun, is living a very isolated life in her room. It is ironic that both characters live in Seoul, a heavily populated city, and yet they are so alone and isolated. One was thrust into this while the other chooses to live alone. The camera shifts perspectives often going from Kim Seung-geun’s point of view to Kim Jung-yeon are which make the story between the two aliens of the film connect perfectly. Overall, the film was very enjoyable and though there are much more to talk about, the two above scenes were what caught my eye the most.
Caitlin Omai
ReplyDeleteAlthough Castaway on the Moon follows the very specific narrative of Mr. Kim Seung-Keun and Ms. Kim Jung-Yeon, it reaches a broad audience because of the characters’ universal personal struggles. Koreans can seem to relate to the film because of the familiar cultural background embedded into the film. Aside from the clear facts that it is in Korean and takes place in Korea, native audiences directly relate to the literal cultural references—such as eating jajangmyeon. However, Castaway on the Moon is able to relate to non-Korean audiences through Mr. Kim’s and Ms. Kim’s physical and emotional battles. While viewers may not fully understand the depth of the financial struggle in Korea or the intensity of yearning to fit the cookie-cutter image of a “beautiful Korean woman,” they can still connect with their narratives. For example, the scene of Ms. Kim reading hurtful comments on her blog of her simulated self demonstrates this common understanding. Even though there are not English subtitles for all of the insensitive, malicious comments, non-Korean speaking viewers understand the situation and the meaning of them all without knowing exactly what it says.
Furthermore, the use of humor in Castaway on the Moon creates a unique feel to the film. The narrative focuses on very sensitive subjects, such as suicide, but it does not have a somber, serious tone because of the use of humor. Mr. Kim contemplates to attempt as well as actually attempts to kill himself on several occasions, but comedic interruptions of needing to use the bathroom or exaggerated reactions to failed tries prevent the tone from being harsh and depressing. Other occasions of Mr. Kim yelling toward the city after dropping his pants and Ms. Kim ridiculously power-walking multiple times in her daily ritual present the audience with comedic relief.
Alice Kwon
ReplyDeleteAn initial worry I had about the film was that it would not be able to hold my attention given its lack of dialogue and its more or less central focus on one character, Mr. Kim. As the film progresses and Miss Kim is introduced, these doubts were mostly forgotten. I couldn't help but compare Castaway on the Moon to the American film Castaway starring Tom Hanks (i.e. what the volleyball is to Hanks, as the scarecrow is to Mr. Kim) But what I found was that the two films are quite different. I'm not sure if this is an applicable comparison for this assignment but it is interesting to draw parallels between the two films. Hanks is marooned on an island completely unwillingly while Mr. Kim's failed suicide attempt leads him to his isolation. The two protagonists emerge from entirely different backgrounds. Hanks wants to leave the island so badly, while Mr. Kim finds therapy from being completely alone with only the bare essentials.
I noticed that Castaway on the Moon is highly stylized. Everything from the makeup, lighting, to the film tecniques used are highly intensified. I don't know whether it struck me as tacky or beautiful.
Korean films are very good with striking a human chord, and no better exemplified than in the scene in which Mr. Kim takes a taste of the saliva(?) flower. Music enhances the scene and creates a kind of mystic suspension of time in which Mr. Kim's hope is restored and he traces an innocence and freedom, and simplicity that he had thought had been all together forgotten.
Overall the film is an effective conveyance of universal themes such as economic struggle, social distortion, etc. The film is able to draw out symbolic meaning from mundane objects and attach raw emotion and significance to commonplace things. I would highly recommend this film.
Tina Nguyen
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon paints a picture of isolation and the shallowness of people’s relationship with each other. In one of the scenes, Mr. Kim is seen talking on the phone trying to get help from the police and his ex. The only person that is willing to call him and stay on the line is the telemarketer who wastes all the battery on his phone. As his desperation grows, the sound of the telemarketer’s voice rings louder and louder in the audience ears as if that’s all he can focus on. The two people, whom he reaches out for help, shun and dismiss him as an annoying crazy individual while the one person who does stay on the line with him is someone who wants his money. This scene presents shallowness in the depth in his relationship with others, even though he had a chance to contact another person for help he is unable to because he has nothing of worth to the other person, in this case his ex. In the case of the telemarketer, Mr. Kim is only worth the money that he gives the telemarketer’s company for their services. His shallow relationships scarred by his lack of money or the money they think he has presents a picture of a man who is financially trouble with no one else to turn to, isolated in his troubles and isolated from any outside help. This occurs even before he arrives on the island.
The movie also plays with the theme of desire and it is desire that allows humans to keep on living their life. In the movie, it was his desire to live which then switches to his desire to make a bowl of jajangmyon that motivates him towards a goal on the island. He says “desires makes humans smarter.” It is through his desire that he becomes more innovative and self-sustaining in his way of life on the island. This self-sustaining ability of his overcomes all the failures he has experienced in life that has cause him to lose desire to live in the first place. Even the duck boat he sleeps is a symbol of his desire to stay and exist on the island. Out of all his belongings, it is only the duck that he tries to desperately save during the storm. When he lets go of it we have a big picture of it but it slowly floats further and further away, become smaller and less significant in the frame of the camera. The duck represent his hope and dreams of the life on the island floating away slowly into the water.
Janet So-Men Tang
ReplyDeleteIn the film, Castaway on the Moon, a man named Kim Seunggeun faces many adversities in his life that ultimately push him to the point of suicide. In the opening scene, it starts out with a long shot of a city skyline as well as a seemingly monotonous phone call, which initially doesn't indicate anything amiss, but as the scene progresses, the camera shows a close up of Seunggeun's troubled expression as well as the caller on the phone indicating the large sum of money that he owes. The audience begins to see more of the background and Seunggeun's location, and it becomes apparent that he is standing at the edge of a bridge, and what initially was thought to just be a city skyline camera pan is actually the view Seunggeun sees as he stands on that ledge. You begin to come to the conclusion that this man is about to jump off, presumably due to the exorbitant debt he's in, and when the camera cuts to a long shot of Seunggeun from the opposite ledge of the bridge, a bus driving along blocks the audience's sight of Seunggeun for just a second. After the bus passes, Seunggeun is no longer in the shot, but the earlier parts of the scene indicate that he jumped off the bridge in that moment.
Other than the phone call about the debt, it isn't yet apparent whether there were other reasons for Kim Seunggeun's attempt at suicide. It isn't until the scene in which Seunggeun tries to swim back to civilization but instead begins to flail in the water due to his inability to swim, that we see all the events leading up to his jump. As Seunggeun is drowing in the water the camera focuses in on his and tracks closer and closer until it's a black screen and then appears as if it's in Seunggeun's point of view as he breaks the surface of the water, still struggling to stay afloat but in a completely different setting. The camera switches between shots of Seunggeun flailing intensely in the pool to a low angle medium shot of his father complaining about how he's not as good as the other kids because he couldn't tread. The camera then switches back to Seunggeun who's still desperately trying to swim. The camera then blacks out again as if Seunggeun went under the water and as he resurfaces it switches to a different low angle shot but this time it switches to an out of place table with several businessmen who are criticizing Seunggeun as a poor employee that doesn't seem to be good enough to hire. The shots continue to switch between the businessmen and Seunggeun, who's trying to explain through gasps of air why he got laid off from his previous job. Once more the camera turns to Seunggeun's perspective as he goes under water and when he resurfaces once more, it's another low angle shot of his ex-girlfriend who tells Seunggeun that it's better to be mean than incapable. The shots shifting between Seunggeun trying to stay afloat and explain himself, and these different seemingly out of place events indicate that these are the reasons that have pushed him towards his attempted suicide. Instead of simply showing scenes of flashbacks of these actual events, the scene of Seunggeun in the pool and the back and forth shots kind of make it seem like he's reliving these events and they're not just things of the past but very real things that still continue to bother him. And these events have stuck with him so much to the point where it literally pushed him off the edge.
What I found particularly interesting about the film Castaway on the Moon, was director Lee Hae-Joon’s use of contrast throughout the film. From the beginning, the film is dealing with the very serious issue of suicide and possibly depression, yet it is filled with gags, moments of laughter, and even light hearted music in the background. As a viewer, I was rather confused as how to feel during these opening scenes, but later realized that it was Lee Hae-Joon’s way of showing hope and joy in the midst of suffering. The next juxtaposition that I noticed (and was also mentioned in class today) was the image of a business man in a formal suit covered in dirt and crawling on a deserted island. It seems rather symbolic of the dog-eat-dog and Darwinist business world in South Korea.
ReplyDeleteFurther contrast seen in the film was during the swimming scene in which Mr. Kim is trying to escape from the island. As he had flashbacks to his past the water color would change from a murky grey to bright blue water in the swimming pool. I imagine this to represent the realities of adulthood and the ways in which things no longer seem as clear and fantasy-like as they once did as children. Mr. Kim is experiencing some of the hardest moments of adulthood at this time. The final contrast that I will take note of is the sharpness of the Seoul skyline compared to the softness of nature seen on the island. It almost seems as if this could be dialogue on how people have ruined the beauty and innocence of the world, leading many men like Mr. Kim to suicide.
Please note, that these are only some of the comparisons that I noticed in the film, Castaway on the Moon and other viewers of the movie could have seen drastically different symbolism than I did, but I believe that that is the beauty of cinema.
Karen Kay Lam
ReplyDeleteIn the film, Castaway on the Moon, the male protagonist washes up on an island in the middle of the Han River after attempting suicide. When he comes to, he tries to call for help on his phone, but everyone he calls won't listen to him. We can tell that he is in a frenzied state of mind by looking at how the camera continues to come closer and closer to his face. His state of mind is also evident in how the sounds grow louder and louder, until his phone battery finally dies.
In another scene afterwards, Mr. Kim is seen looking at the saliva flowers. When he finally plucks one of the petals, the overwhelming sound of sucking on the flower and of him swallowing the nectar is heard. This intensification of sound shows the audience how hungry and thirsty Mr. Kim is. The director uses many sound intensifications to show the audience what the characters are feeling: in the first case it was used to emphasize his frenzied mind and desperateness, while it was used in the second case it was used to convey his hunger.
In one of the last scenes in which the female antagonist, Ms. Kim, misses the bus, the long take of her backside shows foreshadowing. That take is very long, and while it at first shows her despair at missing the bus (and therefore, missing her chance to see Mr. Kim), it later shows her backside for the long duration of the take. It seems like nothing in that particular take changes; she doesn't move around much, and there is no important background scenery that changes either. Therefore, this long take could only symbolize foreshadowing of another event that would give Ms. Kim an opportunity to get on the bus.
Castaway on the Moon
ReplyDeleteThroughout Castaway on the Moon, Director Lee uses a multitude of cinematographic techniques to express the emotions of the characters. Lee especially utilizes the technique of extreme close-ups in order for the audience to effectively experience the stress and thoughts of the character. For instance, when the male protagonist, Mr. Kim, starts sucking on the nectar of the salvia leaves, he starts crying. But through the use of the extreme close-up, we are able to truly feel every ounce of Mr. Kim’s pain and desperation, as we see snot and spit drip from his face. Another example of Lee’s use of the close-up is whenever the female protagonist looks through her camera lens. In some scenes, the director chooses only to show a close-up of her face. Through this, we are not only able to see the wonder she has regarding her “alien”, but also able to see the burns on her forehead, shedding some light on our mysterious female protagonist’s history.
In addition to extreme close-ups, Director Lee also uses different angles in order to express the image of Mr. Kim’s inferiority in the past. In the swimming pool flashback, from a camera angle above, we see Mr. Kim floundering in a swimming pool. Also, we see the various figures in Mr. Kim’s life standing by the edge of the pool, angled above us. They are literally and figuratively above Mr. Kim in every way possible. Through the technique of angling, Lee establishes the fact that Mr. Kim has always been put down by important people in his life, leading to his current state of desperation.
Castaway on the Moon is a powerful film that imparts the story of a middle-age man whose failure to commit suicide leads him to discover the wonders of life by living in a deserted island.
ReplyDeleteA few of the rhetorical film techniques that the director utilizes to convey Kim’s emotions to the audience is seen in the scene where Kim is about to achieve his hope of making black-bean noodles. The initial of the scene begins with an extreme close up of Kim’s face, which tells the audience that Kim has something in mind. Then, still maintaining a close-up shot, the camera makes a transition to the corn at the field. In this close up shot where the audience sees Kim’s hand ripping off the corn, the audience cannot just visually experience what it is occurring, but can also hear the ripping of the corn. This direct sound enhances the nature and the little details that are important to Kim in that particular moment. Moving over, the camera pans across the set of ingredients that are laid on the mat. In this shot, the director uses sound bridge, which along with the panning camera creates a progression movement that leads the audience towards where Kim is taking off the corn of the cob. However, the interesting aspect is that the camera has maintained the same close-up shot. This announces to the viewer that something important is about to occur. Suddenly there is a close-up shot transition to Kim’s side face, which demonstrates Kim’s undivided attention to a specific task.
So far there has been a set of close-up shot that outlines the special event that is about to take place in Kim’s life. This special event is more clearly seen when the director decides to make more close-up shots of the noodles’ preparation, until the camera makes a transition to a long-medium shot. The reason for why there is a transition from a close-up shot to a long-medium shot is to announce the climax of the event. Nevertheless, this transition can also refer to the movement from Kim’s state of mind to an outsider’s view.
Taking a view of the whole scene it becomes noticeable that the director has made shots of all preparation steps. Even though, the steps are film in short-takes it takes a while to get to where Kim finally eats his product. The reason behind this is to create a feeling of anxiety among the audience. Also, the anxiety increments more when there are no shot of Kim eating the food while preparing the noodles. Lastly, the anti-climax begins when Kim cries and the music starts to play. The editing of the music works to transmit Kim’s achievement. All these uses of the camera and sound editing contributed to transmit not just Kim’s emotions, but arise and urge on the audience to try black-bean noodles.
Angela Jeannette Rivera
Castaway on the Moon sets on the isolated island in the most crowded city in Koera, Seoul. The Bom island is well known, and everyone is aware of its existence, but no one particularly gives a big thought on the land, which parallel to the character himself. The complete alienation of the two male protagonist is reflected on the setting itself. As the camera tracks in and out, the audiences can see how close he is from the city, but at the same time how different the environments are. Kim's isolation from the most intimate relationships such as with his father, girlfriend, and coworkers are represented in his complete lost in the most populated city, Seoul. Although the character struggles to find solution and decides to commit suicide, the attempts turn into hope and finally cure his trauma by himself in the Bom island. He self-meditates himself and actually tries hard to take care of himself when he is most troubled. The Bom island is a perfect setting to do so because it is away from the civilised troubles, and let him focus on the conventional, the most fondamental issue of survival.
ReplyDeleteThe extreme close-up to the characters' faces emphasise the emotional progression they go through. Two of the protagonists repeats a lot of their actions. The female character's strange outings to the bridge and getting back to observe Mr. Kim shows progression on her facial expression become more dynamic and the shots are longer and lingering on her face. Shots move from her camera lenses to her reaction by close up shots of her face. The reactions grow more emotional as her facial expression changes from the monolook to smile, anxious, and desperate. Also, Mr. Kim's close up deliberately express his inter conflicts. His child-like burst out cry in the beginning changes to the overwhelming accomplishing tears when he succeeds to make the black bean noodle.
Woo Yeon Park
Gloria Lee
ReplyDeleteCastaway on the moon is a very connoted and symbolic film. Even though the film does not contain many dialogues, the characters' behaviors, reactions, personalities and thoughts in many scenes illustrate the recurring theme of the film very well. It is very interesting how the film delivers the theme to the audience through many symbolic objects such as jajangmyeon, poop, salvia flower, etc. I think the time Mr.Kim spent on in bam island represents the theme of the film in which a person who is in a desperate position in a society can achieve his/her dream and live on by having a little hope in his/her life. I found a scene when Mr.Kim fell into water on his way to escape the isalnd interesting because of the following reminiscence scenes that show his incapablity in the society. While Mr.Kim was struggling in the water, the scenes of his desperate past such as him being criticized by his bosses and him being dumped by his girlfriend appear in the film. His incapability and despair in the society turned into a hope when he sow seeds in order to make jajangmyeon which works as a motivation for Mr.Kim to strive hard for his own goal and to live on. Jajangmyeon, a black bean noodle that Korean people enjoy eating anytime, plays a pivotal role in the film since it is a first thing Mr.Kim found in the island as a hope. His continuous effort to produce corns and make jajangmyeon finally led him to achieve his goal.
There is another character who is in a similar situation with Mr.Kim. Ms.Kim, who lives in an apartment where the bam island can be seen, is isolated from the world although she is not stuck in a deserted island like Mr.Kim. She keeps herself isolated from the world because of the scar on her face and low self-esteem. She does not communicate with anyone but she eventually communicates with Mr.Kim through the messages in the bottles. However, through the observations and communication with Mr.Kim, Ms.Kim learns how to have a hope in one's life and how the hope can provide happiness. After Mr.Kim left the island by force, Ms.Kim finally takes off her helmet and just runs out to the world with her own figure and self. Even though Mr.Kim and Ms.Kim are in a different place, they share similar situation and problem. The film uses their isolation from the world and reveals a theme of the importance and value of hope in one's life.
Mia Inhwan Choi
ReplyDeleteCast Away on the Moon(김씨 표류기) by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about two people who have lost hope and are isolated from society. These two people, one who is a hikikomori girl and the other being a middle-aged man in debt, are two extreme versions of lonely modern human beings in the 21st century. They struggle to fit into their society because of their own personal experiences which have alienated them from society. Mr. Kim’s story and Ms. Kim’s story merge together towards the end of the movie, they began to communicate and step forward into the world.
The first part of the movie mainly focuses on Mr. Kim’s life on Bam-Island, starting with his failed initial suicide attempt because of a jobless life, uncontrollable credit card debt and break up with his girl friend. He attempts to commit suicide again but also fails because of the civil defense training siren and unexpected diarrhea. The next scene, he sucks nectar from salvia flowers and relieves himself at the same time, the three long close-up shots illustrate Mr. Kim’s overwhelming emotions. The next tracking shot shows the sight of his depressing posture and beautiful Salvia flowers which surround him. This contrasts the protagonist’s life and peaceful island. Since he gave up on his life in the city, he decided to stay in the island and start his life from scratch. Mr.Kim gets used to his life in Bam-Island find hope that he can do something and live on by himself.
The focus of the movie suddenly shifts to Ms. Kim’s hikikomori life. She is stuck in her dark room and tries to get attention online by making fake personal website using other people’s pictures. However, she is enjoying her life and she makes it as a healthy escapism. We don’t know what Ms. Kim’s traumatizing experience is but we just guess what happened from the scar on her forehead. If the main goal of Mr. Kim is to make jjajangmyoun, Ms. Kim’s goal is to contact with a weird guy (Mr. Kim) on Bam-Island since she found him on civil defense training day. What they were aiming for was different but he became her hope that she can find a real friend. At the climax of the movie, she becomes insecure about herself when Mr. Kim asks who she is, thus causing her to go back to her hikikomori life. However, when she logs onto her fake website, the netizens find out who Ms. Kim is and post vicious comments. The shot of this scene was using the effect where the subject stays as a same size but the background becomes zoomed in to emphasis her facial expression when she was reading the comments and also an isolation.
The director used least amount of computer graphic or editing and he used a lot of basic camera skills to express protagonist’s emotions. Thus the video clip, we watched a day before, about camera movement and shot angle was very helpful and made it easier for me to understand the effect of the techniques.
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ReplyDeleteMia Inhwan Choi
ReplyDeleteCast Away on the Moon(김씨 표류기) by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about two people who have lost hope and are isolated from society. These two people, one who is a hikikomori girl and the other being a middle-aged man in debt, are two extreme versions of lonely modern human beings in the 21st century. They struggle to fit into their society because of their own personal experiences which have alienated them from society. Mr. Kim’s story and Ms. Kim’s story merge together towards the end of the movie, they began to communicate and step forward into the world.
The first part of the movie mainly focuses on Mr. Kim’s life on Bam-Island, starting with his failed initial suicide attempt because of a jobless life, uncontrollable credit card debt and break up with his girl friend. He attempts to commit suicide again but also fails because of the civil defense training siren and unexpected diarrhea. The next scene, he sucks nectar from salvia flowers and relieves himself at the same time, the three long close-up shots illustrate Mr. Kim’s overwhelming emotions. The next tracking shot shows the sight of his depressing posture and beautiful Salvia flowers which surround him. This contrasts the protagonist’s life and peaceful island. Since he gave up on his life in the city, he decided to stay in the island and start his life from scratch. Mr.Kim gets used to his life in Bam-Island find hope that he can do something and live on by himself.
The focus of the movie suddenly shifts to Ms. Kim’s hikikomori life. She is stuck in her dark room and tries to get attention online by making fake personal website using other people’s pictures. However, she is enjoying her life and she makes it as a healthy escapism. We don’t know what Ms. Kim’s traumatizing experience is but we just guess what happened from the scar on her forehead. If the main goal of Mr. Kim is to make jjajangmyoun, Ms. Kim’s goal is to contact with a weird guy (Mr. Kim) on Bam-Island since she found him on civil defense training day. What they were aiming for was different but he became her hope that she can find a real friend. At the climax of the movie, she becomes insecure about herself when Mr. Kim asks who she is, thus causing her to go back to her hikikomori life. However, when she logs onto her fake website, the netizens find out who Ms. Kim is and post vicious comments. The shot of this scene was using the effect where the subject stays as a same size but the background becomes zoomed in to emphasis her facial expression when she was reading the comments and also an isolation.
The director used least amount of computer graphic or editing and he used a lot of basic camera skills to express protagonist’s emotions. Thus the video clip, we watched a day before, about camera movement and shot angle was very helpful and made it easier for me to understand the effect of the techniques.
-Repost! I previously posted same response as a reply.
"Castaway on the Moon" is full of symbolism that reflects some of the negative common beliefs and practices in Korea with a touch of satire. The submissive, formal speech and attitude of the protagonist Mr. Kim from the beginning of the movie represents a typical low-position worker in Korean society. Through his flashbacks of the past, we know that he grew up under a strict, discourageous father with high expectations. He was also marked as a failure at the scenes of job interview and the break-up in which others view him incapable(무능). While he suffers from the stress and the social pressure, the quick-loan commercial is played obnixiously right in front of him. All these together manifest the common Korean social expectations and judgements of a man and the suffering of those who fail: the marginality. And instead of helping them, the media and others try to take advantage of them by giving easy access to money they need and the false hope.
ReplyDeleteThe other side of the story with Ms. Kim also reflects the other extreme Korean life style on the opposite spectrum. She is marginalized from the society as well but for a different reason: her facial disfigurement. She chooses to lock herself in her room and make up a fake self in a cyber community online instead. Her real diet and life-style is extremely malnutritious, but she establishes a pretty, stylish, and popular girl's identity on the Intrenet as a woman whom everyone wishes to be. This, in fact, happens in the real world with the advancement of the Internet, where people create another identity that seems perfect from the outside on a website and takes it too far. I believe such idea works so powerfully in Korean society because it is especially true amongst Koreans to pursue perfection and want to be looked up to by others. However, not all the symbols and themes in this movie are negative, as Chajangmyeon and the letters delievered in the old fahsioned way represent some touching moments of hope and Cheong (정).
Jiong Yi Huang
ReplyDelete"Castaway on the Moon" is a film that centers around the alienation that results from a very materialistic world. Both Mr. Kim and Miss Kim are burdened with societal expectations that are put upon them, creating a negative space that causes Mr. Kim to attempt to commit suicide, and Miss Kim to close herself off from the world. It can be seen from the very beginning of the film where the camera uses various shots of the city of Seoul switching to a close-up of Mr. Kim that he is not a man belonging in this world, but one who wishes to free himself of it. Although he attempts to commit suicide, the realization of his failure to do so and the reality that he is stranded on an island right outside of "home" causes him to act in a state of hopelessness and urgency; this is executed by the circling movement of the camera around a very disillusioned Mr. Kim. With Miss Kim, on the other hand, her alienation is not one of physical distance, but one of emotional and mental separation. The seemingly quick-paced shots of her daily routine shows that she not only chooses not to stray away from this fictitious life she has made for herself online, but her whole existence and ability to begin another day depends on it. It is not until the Civil Defense Corps announces its air-raid drill that the shots and movement of the camera begins to slow down and captures the true alienation felt by Miss Kim. This emphasizes the importance of Mr. Kim's existence to her when she realizes there is an "alien" living on Bam Island.
As the film goes on, we see the importance of many aspects of Korean culture, like jajangmyeon and feces, through the extreme long-shots that switch into close-ups of the characters, fully displaying every emotion that they feel in that very moment in time. It won't be until the end of the movie that we begin to see the same shots that were used in the very beginning. After the typhoon hit Bam Island, Mr. Kim is seen in a close-up (similar to one of the beginning shots of the film) that allows the audience to see a more dire degree of hopelessness compared to the one he felt in the beginning of the film. When Miss Kim first steps out into the world, revealing herself after 3 years, she shows the same disillusionment that Mr. Kim felt when he realized he was stranded on an island. In this instance, the camera, once again, moves around her, showing quick shots of her surroundings, making the sense of her alienation in society very real. Here, Miss Kim is losing all her sense in an unfamiliar place. It is also with the extreme long-shot of Miss Kim looking hopelessly at the bus that Mr. Kim is on that we feel a further sense of alienation that is similar to the one shown in the beginning of the film. When the Civil Defense Corps announces another air-raid drill, the world seemingly pauses and empties out completely in order to allow Miss Kim to reach Mr. Kim. Here, we see shots of her running towards him like a ray of sunlight in a world that is just for the two of them. Finally, the film ends in a very romantic way where Miss Kim falls after the bus begins to move again, allowing her to catch on to Mr. Kim's hand where they both face the world together.
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ReplyDeleteCastaway on the Moon is a film that explores the struggle between one’s detachment from society, hope, and human companionship. One of the common techniques used in this movie were extreme close-ups of the actor’s faces during times of emotional turmoil. An example of this is when he tastes the salvia flowers, the close-up of his drool, snot and tears convey the internal chaos he feels. One scene specifically foreshadowed the conclusion of the film. After Ms. Kim delivered her first message, she looked up and saw two butterflies flitting around at night. The butterflies represent the two main characters and butterflies are symbolic of change. At the conclusion of the film, although it was Ms. Kim that saved Mr. Kim from suicide, it was he who had provided her the hope of friendship. By providing hope for one another, they were not only able to save each other, but themselves as well. As soon as I saw this scene I knew that they would transform each other’s lives and eventually unite. Aside from jjajangmyun, another symbolic theme for hope in this film was the corn sprouts. When Ms. Kim sleeps outside of her closet in the light of the moon for the first time, the camera pans out of focus from her to the corn sprouts and back to her again. Mr. Kim had inspired her to plant corn and at the same time stirred the hope of a future inside of her that was once lost.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the question asked by Professor Chung in class on Thursday as to why he needs to know who she is and why he feels a void even after achieving his goal of making his own jjajangmyun, he needs to know the identity of his mysterious pen-pal because it exemplifies the true nature of the human psyche. As humans, we long for the companionship of others because it creates a sense of belonging and community. Both Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim chose to solitarily confine themselves from society, him on a deserted island and her inside a room with her “hikikomori” lifestyle. Although at first they are content with the isolation they have provided for themselves, the first chance of communication with each other brings joy and excitement to their lives. When Mr. Kim replies to Ms. Kim’s first message she states, “Finally, after three months a reply!” This clearly expresses her desire for the companionship of another, even going as far as leaving her room for the first time in three years to deliver messages. After Mr. Kim accomplishes his jjajangmyun goal, he asks, “who are you,” and when she fails to respond to him he angrily tells her “fuck you.” Because she begins to ignore him, his anger reveals that although he has achieved personal satisfaction from creating his own jjajangmyun, the yearning for another to recognize and appreciate his accomplishment has not been fulfilled. Achieving one’s goals is futile unless there is someone else to enjoy the success and happiness with. One significant detail in the movie is the distinct similarities of their names. Kim Seung-geun (Mr. Kim) and Kim Jung-yeon (Ms. Kim) have the same family name and the first character of their names rhyme. The likeness of their names represents their bizarre, yet intimate relationship as two secluded people embodying one soul.
Castaway on the Moon directed by Lee Hae-Jun is a very traditional yet innovative film in diverse aspects, including its way of representing its theme of hope as well as the technique of filming. The despair and the hope intertwine together throughout the whole movie creating several big plot twists throughout the film. Unlike many other films in theatres in Korea, this movie suggested nearly three climaxes, all introduced with two repetitive but still distinctive rising actions and followed by falling actions. Realization, despair, hope, realization, despair then hope again, are implanted in this film, leading it to be very original. For example, the protagonist, at first, realizes the limitation of his ability in this century where it asks him to be smarter, more efficient and richer, therefore he decides to suicide by jumping of the bridge. However, he ends up in an inhabited and uncivilized island called “Bam Sum” in the middle of Seoul. He somehow sees the hope that he is no longer forced to be smarter, more efficient or richer; he can stay as who he is in this island. However, soon, he realizes that he really want to eat “Ja Jang Myun” which is a civilized food that he can’t make in the island. But he somehow figured out a way to make it and ultimately hopes to make his own. The film seems to have an endless twists building up the depth of the theme. However, the curves are well organized with its technique of how it is written and shot that the film doesn’t get boring.
ReplyDeleteNumerous common humors in Korean society such as excrement jokes are compounded well in the movie to keep the audiences’ attention. For a long time in Korean media history, excrement has played a huge role as a humor. Every time excrement is shown in the movie, laughs as well as the “eww” reaction blow out among everyone in the audience. The jokes come to support the seriousness of each problem that came more enjoyable to me through watching this movie, full of severe satire of the 21st century. Also, this movie, as the instructor of the course explained, uses less graphical editing, but rather depicts more authentic shooting of actual scenes. The result of this is that the movie is approached to be more realistic and personal. The authenticity of the film derives a closer connection of an audience to the situation in the film.
As a conclusion, my own opinion to the question, “Why does he need to know who she is right after he finishes his Ja Jang Myun?”, is that before he cooks the noodle and eats it, he is freed from the capitalistic, merciless and civilized society. However, by eating the noodle which represents the civilization, he finds back the intimidating senses of being in 21st century. In a contemporary period, not-knowing is a crime and a fear; therefore, he suddenly becomes very annoyed with the fact that he does not know who she is. In this film, a lot of analytical questions are left alone without specific answers, and I think that is the most intriguing parts that make the film more valuable.
Somin Seong
Cast Away on the Moon by Yi Hae-Jun is a story about how two isolated people from a society, one hikikomori girl and one financially broken man solve their problems and come out to the society. Cast Away on the Moon begins with a long shot of buildings in Seoul, and close up Mr. Kim’s face. This scene is indirectly telling audience that this movie will talk about an isolated people living in a big city.
ReplyDeleteMr. Kim casts away in Seoul, a capital city. It reflects people wandering in a society. From the first scene, Mr. Kim tries to commit suicide but he fails and he fell in Bam-island. While he was trying to escape from the island, he recalls his past living existence and sinks while being oppressed by the weight of life. He decides not to escape from the Bam-island, but commit suicide by hanging himself. When he tries to hang himself on a tree, civil defense training siren and diarrhea distracts his action to suicide, and it makes some humor. The director tells audience that even in a despair and depressing moment, there are still unexpected happenings we can laugh at. While he was moving his bowels, he finds out salvia flowers, and he tries the nectar of salvia flowers. Then he narrates ‘I have not tried this nectar of salvia flowers for 100 years.’, and he keeps crying. This scene is divided to three long shots, which means it is very important scene in this movie. A floral language of salvia flower is to heal and to save. Thus his narration can be also meant that nobody tried to heal and save him when he was in a despairing moment. This reflects selfish and desolate society. After he tried salvia or after he was healed, he decided not to commit suicide. He yells to the buildings over the river, and says ‘nobody hearing me? Nobody watching me?’ This typical salary man living in desolate society wants somebody who can listen his story. He decides to live in the island, and he changes the sign from help to hello. Actually this sign is a meant for himself. Before he desired somebody’s help to rescue him from his despair, but now he is saying hello to his new life and his new society he made. Also while making a goal to live which is to eat black bean noodles, he makes a hope to live himself.
While Mr. Kim is happy for being bored, Miss Kim is introduced, who also only lives in her area, but lives by rules. The fact that Ms. Kim lives busy makes contrasts with Mr. Kim’s life. Even though she does not come out from her room, she lives on her schedule. In her own word, she is doing “healthy escapism” Twice on a year, she opens window in daytime, when civil defense training siren rang and nobody is on the road. She narrates ‘you don’t feel lonely if there’s no one around.’ It is very paradoxical and also true. Ms. Kim finds out Mr. Kim through her camera, and she keeps watching him. They become “pen-pal” friends and Ms. Kim comes out from her room to contact with Mr. Kim. Two isolated and unimportant people become a goal to each other. For Mr. Kim, a desire to know the unknown person who helps him becomes a goal to live in his small island. Also for Ms. Kim, Mr. Kim is the only reason she comes out from her room and to contact Mr. Kim is her goal to go outside.
This movie criticizes tough and heartless society by Mr. Kim’s drift in a capital city, Seoul. A story of two isolated characters makes audience to look and care people around. Even though this movie talks about a social defect, it is not only boring but also good for entertainment.
Dayeon Hyeon
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ReplyDelete"Castaway on the Moon" is a fairly quiet Korean movie, mostly flowed by each protagonist's narration rather than the characters' conversations. Many believe that this film is just a comedy, but it is rather a melodrama consisted of comical aspects in it. Personally I believe, one of the representative film techniques used in this movie--Mise-en-Scene and Montage--, played a great roles in effectively determining mood or relationships between elements of each scene. According to Skwirk.com, Mise-en-Scene technique refers to "putting on stage." It includes everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement such as settings, propositions, actors, costumes, and lighting. Therefore, all of them contributes to the "meaning" of the scene. For example, in one of a sequence of scenes consisted of a locked door with padlock. huge piles of clothing against the window, canned corn stuffed with junk, a wall with pictures of moons, shoes with piles of other messy stuff, untidy hair, burn on right side of forehead, and at last, Miss.Kim, who is on 'Cyworld' clicking on photos to update her fake account. In this case we can find out that the settings of items in the sequence of scenes allow the audience to figure out what kinds of the person Miss.Kim is. The technique helps us to figure out that Miss Kim lives in a place where stuffed with junk and in a very gloomy and dark room. With those scenes alone, we can even know that Miss. Kim is an isolated outsider. Another technique, montage, refers to juxtaposing unrelated footage mostly to show passage of time and also to create meaning that is not in the scene alone. For example, Mr.Kim could catch some fish while washing his hair by the Han River, by accident. After then there were a sequence of scenes of the skewered fish, birds came down to eat fish while Mr.Kim was sleeping, one of dead birds, Mr.Kim who was watching upon it, and at last a bird finished its life being barbecued. This obviously shows us the passage of time how Mr. Kim could catch both of fish and birds and finally figured out that perhaps evolution is the process of becoming tastier.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, without much of wordings or narration, the film could communicate effectively with the audience. Both Mise-en-Scene and Montage techniques help allow the public to assume about what each of protagonists is going to do and why with purposely inserted symbols or meanings in them. To me, it was very impressive to watch this kind of movie, since, at first, it allowed me to feel basic emotions such as sympathy or joy even without much narration; however, it later allowed me to think once again and have deeper thoughts. Then, I could find closer meaning of what the director Haejun Lee, tried to say to the audience: that there are many people who are isolated and lonely, but they are also people who need warm-hearted encouragements or attentions. That is real 'hope' they are looking for. As I mentioned above, in this movie, the audience mostly depend on the protagonists' expression, background, bright or dark light, settings, etc., rather than exact words or quotes from the main characters. That's why it was joyful as the more times I watch this movie, the more chances I could get to be matured with a variety of deep thoughts defining hidden symbols or meanings of each scene. This could have never been possible if the director led this movie full of quotes of each protagonist as many other directors do.
Castaway on the moon by director Lee Hae-Joon is a movie about 2 outcasts discovering the hopes. Mr. Kim, the protagonist of the movie, is financially broke, dumped by his girfriend, and got laid off from his job. Due to desperate situation around him, he decided to commit suicide. But he even failed to commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteMiss Kim, the female protagonist, represents hikikomori who withdraws from the society. She never leaves her room and never communicates with her family. She just stayed isolated and updates her fake Cyworld accounts. Mr. Kim and Miss Kim are totally different characters but they have common in that they are isolated from the society and living their lives without hopes.
The movie shows how these two outcasts discover the hopes and reflects the social problems that current Korean society has. There have been lots of advances and developments in Korean society. Especially due to emerging social networking sites, the barriers of space and time were broken and people could communicate with each other anytime and anywhere they want. However, ironically social networking displaces face-to-face communication and even though people use social networking sites, they feel more lonely. Social networking leads to isolation rather than real communication. The movie points out communication problems through Miss Kim who are immersed in self-created illusions and tries to escape from the reality. However, the movie is not desperate and does not end up with describing hopeless situations. For example, Mr. Kim started to overcome despair after he ate Salvia flower and by making black bean noodle. Miss Kim overcame hopeless rut by watching Mr. Kim. Overall,by depicting two outcast protagonists going out into the world, the movie conveys hope to audiences who are having same problems.
Castaway On the Moon is a surprisingly uplifting film centered on a man named Kim Seung-geun, who ends up on a deserted island in the middle of the Han River after a failed suicide attempt. The film utilizes a variety of techniques, most notably highlighted long shots and tracks and zooms to give the viewers insight into Mr. Kim’s situation as well as his mental state. For example, after a second failed suicide attempt on the island, the scene of Mr. Kim sobbing uncontrollably while drinking the nectar from the Salvia flowers are taken in several different long shots, all highlighting the strength of his current state of despair. The beautiful, vibrant flowers are a stark contrast to the grubby Mr. Kim, who is sniveling over them in a manner that invokes feelings of both disgust and sympathy in those who are watching. The film then treks out of the scene, the sight of Mr. Kim’s shaking shoulders growing smaller and smaller as if the viewers are backing away from the scene quietly.
ReplyDeleteOnce the shut-in girl, Kim Jung-yeon is introduced as another character that is isolated from society, the film uses many impossible visions to show how she is able to connect to the protagonist from all the way across the Han River. For instance, she is able to spot Mr. Kim through her camera that she has set up like a telescope in her room. Realistically, it is unlikely that she’d be able to zoom that far as to see him on the island, but the film continues its impossible visions when Ms. Kim is able to observe him even when he is deeper within the island. In fact it becomes apparent that she is able to find him and watch him almost anywhere. She is even able to look anywhere in the city that she wants. However through this one window to the outside world Ms. Kim is able to finally communicate with another lost individual, and both are able to grow in character by the end of the movie.
Overall, the film was funny, often strange, and one that instilled a sense of hope in the viewers. While Mr. Kim and Ms.Kim are two very extreme examples, there are many times in which we feel similarly isolated from a society that sometimes doesn't seem to care. But the movie finishes off with close up shots of growing plants, inside Mr. Kim's shoes to plastic water bottles, to depict the message that hope can always sprout from the most unlikely places.
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ReplyDeleteThrough the use of long takes scenes in Castaway on the Moon, Lee Hae-Jun creates symbolic durations of meaning. The characters, Kim Seung-geun and Miss Kim, both desire to escape from the realities of life. Seung-geun’s suicide attempt suggests his ultimate desire of escapism through the termination of life, while Miss Kim’s recluse, continuously scheduled lifestyle suggests another form of escapism. As both characters are aliens to society and “castaway on the moon,”—the moon a place of no life—they must emerge from their existential thoughts and find meaning in life. Hae-Jun uses multiple long-duration takes and close-ups to convey Seung-geun’s epiphanic moment, where he becomes reawaken to meaning in life. Seung-geun’s epiphanic moment occurs during the salvia flower scene. The scene consists of three long takes. The takes are long in length as a conscious effort to give the viewer an abundance of visual imagery regarding the salvia flowers, ultimately to allude to the symbolic importance of the scene.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of viewing the movie from a Korean perspective, Castaway on the Moon leans in favor of the Korean ideal. Confucianism is still prevalent in Korean culture. In Confucianism, there are seven learned emotions. In contrast, in Western culture, emotion is usually considered a private affair, while because Confucianism is a homogeneous culture, emotions are not private, so one is never alone. Seung-geun and Miss Kim are able to relieve themselves of their castaway position from society by helping each other. The long scene of Miss Kim running toward Seung-geun depicts the closing of their spatial as well as emotional gap. As they help each other, this reinforces the notion that Castaway on the Moon embraces the Korean ideal of Confucian rules.
Jae Young Lee
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the film, Castaway on the Moon seems to focus on showing humrous scenes which attract audiences, but its main theme is focused on that the main chracter developes and realizes "hope" thoroughout the movie. The film, Castaway on the Moon, describes two outcasts who are Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim in detail. I really enjoyed watching the movie and these two main characters got my attention and made me think about my real "hope" once again. When we watched the final scene of the movie, we can think that the movie is a romantic story between two main characters, but i do not think that the movie has a romantic part at all. Two main characters just met together because of their each curiosity, so it is not love or attraction at all.
I personally think that the movie director made the movie very well by using the black bean noodles and the flowers. Mr. Kim, the main character, attempts to commit suicide and he dramatically survives and lands on the desert island around Han River. He finds out his real hope during living in the desert island and black bean noodles makes him live alone in the desert isalnd as well. Black bean noodles and the flowers let him retrospect his past days. The other main character, Jung Yeon, also finds out her hope to observe Mr. Kim's actions in the desert island. Finally, hope makes two main characters bind together. I think that director wants to say about the significance of real hope throughout the movie.
MinJoon Choi
ReplyDeleteIn this movie, Castaway on the moon, it makes Mr. Kim’s hopeless life in the island into an optimistic experience. I believe this transition is intended to let us, audiences understand that there is always hope somewhere close by. This movie has relatively simple, but a lot of close up shots. The cameras really focus on the facial expressions of both Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim. Since this movie contains less action, it was necessary for the director to deliver the emotions of the characters, and the director has achieved this in a very effective way.
Mr. Kim at the beginning of the movie was a very depressing character that did not know what to do in this island with no help. We saw numerous scenes where he was trying to commit suicide. When Mr. Kim ate that ja-ja-men that he made himself, the camera vividly illustrated his face with all the tears telling us how happy he was. Although he had a terrible start in living in this island, he started to find out that he could do things by himself and this really boosted his motivation because he was always the one criticised and going through troubles in the real society (outside the island).
On the other hand, Ms. Kim’s happiness and her goal are to get in contact with Mr. Kim. Whenever she spots Mr. Kim on her camera, we can see a big smile on her face which was unimaginable from the way she was portrayed in the beginning where she was portrayed as a “hikikomori” girl. They both had very different goals, but as they realised someone is looking and caring for them, they strived to get in contact and this created happiness for them.
Sangbin Park
ReplyDeleteResponse: Castaway
My first encounter with the movie Castaway was about a few years when I enjoyed it as a light comedy type of movie. However, this time I watched the movie from a critical perspective, and I have come to describe the movie as a dialogue between two characters that the world did not care to listen to. Mr. Kim has been abandoned by the society and ostracized. He has accumulated credit card debt beyond his limits, failed at romance, and traumatized by family issues. Even though he was polite and proper in nature and his mannerisms, his voice was never heard by anyone. When he is accidently placed in a desert island, he chooses to stay where he is for he wishes to get away from the reality. Ms. Kim is similar. She lives in her dark room and has locked herself in that little space. Although it is not explicitly shown, it can be inferred that she has been traumatized or has had a bad experience with the society that caused her to lock herself in her room. In their own unique ways, they have abandoned the world that has abandoned them to live their own lives. However, they listened to each other through a camera, words written on sand, and words written on a paper inside a wine bottle to find their inspiration from each other to live in the cold hearted society.
In the desert island, Mr. Kim has shifted his objective in life to making a bowl of black-bean noodles. He has dedicated his life on the island to making that cheap, common food and went onto enlarge the magnitude of it as his hope. Black-bean noodle gave him a new objective, a goal that he can strive to achieve. He was a failure in the society. Perhaps, he wanted to try himself if he could achieve something in his life and a black-bean noodle was that inspiration and goal. On the other hand, Ms. Kim has found an inspiration from watching Mr. Kim trying to make a bowl of black-bean noodles, because Mr. Kim’s existence on the desert island and his determination towards making the black bean noodles have changed the way she looked at her life. Perhaps, she was inspired by the struggle of Mr. Kim to accomplish something in his life, and she was able to make self-reflection on her life. She learned to gain courage through his actions. This is evident in the scenes where she suppresses her fears of going outside and goes outside to throw a wine bottle into the river from the bridge. The film techniques used in the movie emphasized important points in the movie. Most notably, the extreme close-up shots on objectives such as corn brought attention to result of Mr. Kim’s hard work and signified the moment of his success. Precisely, the movie is about a man and a woman who have been abandoned and marginalized by the society turn around to abandon the society for freedom. Their abandonment was their way of escaping from the confinement in the cruel and coldhearted society. Thus, they needed a room to breathe and an opportunity for another chance to prove themselves of their worthiness.