Sometimes you go strolling through Netflix with some friends and nothing jumps out at you. There seems to be so much and yet nothing worth watching at the same time. You tap from page to page, someone offering a suggestion, someone else turning it down, and the minutes just tick tock away. And then you see a strange picture of a Korean dude running across a river, and you all think, "meh, I don't necessarily want to watch that, but I guess I will because it's better than that other thing." And when everyone has that same reaction, well, it's unanimous.
Sometimes you pick a random movie and you end up with aimless junk, something that passes the time and is instantly forgotten. And sometimes you pick a random movie, and you find gold.
And make no mistake, Castaway on the Moon is absolutely gold. It was a complete shock to my senses - a true original. It was like nothing I have seen before.
Kim Seong Geun (played by Jae-Yeong Jeong) is super depressed, woefully in debt, and recently dumped by his girlfriend. Despondent, he leaps from a bridge into the Han River. His suicide attempt fails and he finds himself stranded on a small island in the middle of the river, too far for anyone to hear his cries for help, but close enough to Seoul to be cruelly tortured by its skyline.
At the same time, a nameless young woman (Ryeowon Jung) in Seoul is stranded in her own way, unwilling (or unable) to leave her room for the past three years.
The tragic circumstances of these two characters would make you think Castaway on the Moon is a study of loneliness and isolation. And it is. But it is also a study of hope. And I don't mean the movie is just about how the characters need to find hope. It is it also about what the film does to us, as the audience. By the end of the film, we have gone through so much with them, laughing, crying, riding their triumphs and disasters, that we feel intimately involved in their fate. We hope for them. It's pretty inspiring when a movie can do that.
And plus, it is funny. Wow, is it funny. A look at my pick for the best line of the movie below should tell you that!
I hope I haven't built this movie up to much. There is nothing worse than disappointment. But for me, this movie was a real treasure. I don't want to say any more. The less you know, the better. I've already said too much. Just go find some friends, pop over to Netflix Streaming and scroll around until you see a strange picture of a Korean dude running across a river. Trust me.
MVP:
It's a tough call. Do I say writer/director Hae-jun Lee for concocting such a brilliant little adventure? Or do I go with the two leads, whose stellar performances are equal parts pathetic and compelling. I think I have to go with Hae-jun Lee because of his inspired madness. I hope you guys find this film and like it as much as I did.
BEST LINE:
Kim: I need to make healthy poop! And a lot of it!!!!
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