The World of Korean Film and Drama

In the not so distant future, South Korea sends a manned rocket to the moon. Yet the lunar mission ends in disaster, when a massive explosion occurs on board. Five years later, another spaceflight is attempted. After the successful launch, a strong solar wind causes the spaceship to malfunction, which leaves astronaut Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo) stranded in space. He is quickly running out of oxygen. Fearing another fatal disaster, the Naro Space Center turns to former managing director Kim Jae-guk (Sol Kyung-gu) to help bring Sun-woo back home safely.

This film features a strong cast, starring Sol Kyung-gu (Kill Boksoon, Phantom, Kingmaker), Do Kyung-soo (Along with the Gods, My Annoying Brother), and Kim Hee-ae (Moonlit Winter, Secret Love Affair, Herstory) and was directed by Kim Yong-hwa (Along with the Gods), who also wrote the screenplay. This is Kim’s seventh film as a director. According to the media, this work, which obviously resembles The Martian with Matt Damon, believably demonstrates Korean space science and technology and presents a realistic and spectacular visual universe with top-notch VFX technology.

The Moon was released on August 2, 2023 in South Korea. Yet for some reason, it was not a success. Box office results were sluggish. However, it did very well in other Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, where the film quickly hit the top of the charts. One reason might be that Korean pop culture is immensely popular in Southeast Asia.

Whereas the story goes that science fiction and fantasy films are rarely a success in South Korea. True, the expensive Alienoid (2022) was a huge flop last year. In a conversation with the audience of The Moon, director Kim Yong-hwa said, “I tried to ‘break the wall’ because the sci-fi market in Korea is poor. There is still a sense of distance between Korean audiences and sci-fi in Korean films.”

However, science fiction films from the U.S., such as Interstellar or The Martian have done quite well in Korea. So the theory that Korean audiences are wary of Korean science fiction films, not science fiction in general, might have some credence. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics seem to dislike the film, giving it a score of only 17%, yet the audience score is quite different with a whopping 92%. One critic stated, the film was mediocre blockbuster entertainment, another called it a story “awash in sentiment and K drama cliches.” These negative statements rather clash with David Griffith’s (Subculture Entertainment) review: “The Moon is one of the cinematic highlights of 2023. This is the film that many expected 2013’s Gravity to be. Not only is this one of the best films of this year it is an absolute masterpiece in the disaster movie genre.”

The Moon will be part of the Fantasy Film Festival in Germany this week and should also be shown in other European countries. I will see the film on Saturday. Please look forward to my review.

Interview with the director Kim Yon-hwa conducted by Choi Song-hee.