This blog post examines how two marginalized characters in the film ‘Castaway on the Moon’ come to understand and communicate with each other.
Director Lee Hae-joon’s ‘Castaway on the Moon’ tells the story of two Kims, adrift in their own worlds after being marginalized in modern society, who discover hope in life and each other. The story unfolds around the worlds of the male Kim and the female Kim, the two protagonists, and their encounter. Its unique, comedic premise and the social implications embedded within create a quiet resonance. Though the film was first released in 2009, its themes—the struggles of reclusive loners and young people without support—remain meaningfully relevant today. These themes still resonate deeply in today’s society, mirroring the isolation and anxiety modern people face.
Mr. Kim (Kim Sung-keun), a former office worker who attempted suicide by jumping into the Han River due to massive debt, is carried by the current to Bamseom Island. Using his cellphone, he sends distress signals to passing boats, but given the location, no one believes he is genuinely adrift. As he prepares to hang himself again, he decides he can die anytime and instead begins figuring out how to survive on Bam Island. Gradually adapting, he cultivates his own little world there, living out his days hidden from the outside world. Through the inner conflict and transformation revealed in this scene, the director expresses how deeply modern people live in solitude.
Ms. Kim is a recluse who hasn’t left her room for years due to wounds from her school days. She creates a homepage pretending it’s her daily life by stealing other people’s photos. Refusing to meet people, she usually only takes pictures of the moon. Twice a year, on civil defense training days, she captures the moment when the streets are completely empty, maintaining her own ritual. Then, one night on Namsan Island, which should have been deserted, she sees a message left by someone: ‘HELP’. She soon finds the man she names ‘Alien’. After watching him for months until ‘HELP’ changed to ‘HELLO’, Ms. Kim makes a big decision one day. She goes out at night and throws a glass bottle containing a letter with ‘HELLO’ written on it onto Bamseom. After that, the two communicate sporadically through messages written on the sandy beach of Bamseom and letters in glass bottles. Eventually, after Mr. Kim finds the Jjapagetti soup and his farming for making jajangmyeon—which he defines as his hope—nears completion, Ms. Kim asks a delivery driver to send him jajangmyeon from a Chinese restaurant. Mr. Kim refuses it, declaring jajangmyeon is his hope. Ultimately, Mr. Kim succeeds in seizing his hope, but is soon discovered by others. His hideout is destroyed, and he is cast out into society. Ms. Kim also faces condemnation when her plagiarism is exposed. Having lost everything once more, Mr. Kim heads to the 63 Building to jump to his death. Thanks to a civil defense drill clearing the road, Ms. Kim arrives in time to find him.
This film meticulously depicts the subtle psychological shifts of each character, helping the audience gain a deeper understanding of their inner worlds. Particularly moving is the moment when Mr. Kim abandons suicide and resolves to fight for survival. This transcends mere survival, connecting to a profound reflection on human existence. This scene vividly conveys how crucial—and how difficult—it is to find meaning and purpose in modern life.
While the film employs many metaphors through dialogue, direction, and subject matter, most are relatively clear. For instance, drifting in this work signifies existing in one’s own isolated world, disconnected from others, even amidst a densely populated urban space. While Mr. Kim used this drifting as an opportunity to rediscover his own value and undergo a time of recovery, Mrs. Kim, who had drifted for a long time, lived online, presenting only a fake identity that wouldn’t get her hurt, unable to properly fulfill her desire to connect with people. Their commonality was that their drifting initially began almost involuntarily, but later, whether due to inertia or not, they refused to escape that state by their own will. Ms. Kim muses that she photographs the moon because “no one is there, so it’s not lonely.” Yet, when she sees Mr. Kim through the same device she used to photograph the moon and calls him an “alien,” it becomes clear they chose a drifting existence where even others who might inflict pain or evoke loneliness were eliminated.
However, the film reveals at its end that this space of drifting was an illusion. Mr. Kim’s hideout on Bamseom Island was ultimately a space bound to be discovered, and Ms. Kim’s fake mini-homepage couldn’t escape controversy. They were destined to suffer repeated pain within human society. Mr. Kim, despairing, attempts suicide again. But when Ms. Kim, who had previously insisted on anonymity, runs towards him, their approach to life undergoes a change. Midway through the film, Mr. Kim tells the scarecrow about Ms. Kim, saying, “It’s better not to know who she is.” This, too, was not so much a newly acquired, wise way of living, but rather the same avoidance Ms. Kim had consistently practiced through her homepage. Ultimately, the film suggests that the illusion of isolated spaces and the notion of drifting are merely temporary states. We are beings who must inevitably live entangled in pain, and that is how we must live. Yet, when we inquire about each other’s well-being within each other’s spaces—that is, when we attempt to peer into another’s heart and discover each other—we can somehow find a way to live.
Another point to note in this work is how each character attempts recovery from their state of drifting. In the case of Mr. Kim, he chooses self-reliance within his drifting, building his own small world through an independent way of life. This aligns with the modern societal pursuit of self-reliance or the effort to protect one’s own space. In contrast, Ms. Kim chose a path where she hid herself even deeper and cut off connections with others during her drifting. However, as these choices ultimately end in failure for both, the film reemphasizes how crucial it is for us, as social beings, to connect with others.
So, how should we interpret Mr. Kim’s ‘jajangmyeon’? Mr. Kim discovers an unopened packet of Jjapagetti soup in a trash heap and becomes consumed by a powerful desire to eat jajangmyeon. After failing to make noodles with available ingredients, he even tries to just eat the soup packet. Yet his will to eat a proper bowl of jajangmyeon prevails. He farms for months and refuses delivery jajangmyeon from Chinese restaurants, ultimately succeeding. While Mr. Kim’s initial driving force was clearly appetite, his subsequent refusal of delivery jajangmyeon suggests this desire transformed into something else. What Mr. Kim named his ‘hope for life’ was truly trivial, yet precisely because of that, it was symbolic. Ultimately, Mr. Kim discovered an attitude toward life that finds meaning in the process rather than the goal or outcome. There’s a scene early on where he complains about being labeled a ‘credit risk’ and shouts that he isn’t defective. This reveals his rebellion against being evaluated and stigmatized by societal standards. Later, he attempts to proactively reconstruct his life through the process of making his own jajangmyeon. Here, jajangmyeon carries meaning beyond mere food. It represents his process of forging his own hope against the world and symbolizes his will to have his existence acknowledged.
This ‘process’ chosen by Mr. Kim becomes more than just a means of survival; it transforms into a journey of self-discovery and recovery. Through this process, he comes to understand the meaning of hope, gained precisely through the experience of carving out his own path. In this context, jajangmyeon can be seen as symbolizing the self-assurance and sense of accomplishment gained when a person sets a goal and moves toward it in modern society. Furthermore, Mr. Kim’s refusal of the jajangmyeon was not mere vanity or pride, but a will to cherish the unique value he discovered in the process.
However, the film shows that even after successfully making the jajangmyeon, Mr. Kim cannot completely escape society. He is ultimately discovered by others, and his struggle against the crushing isolation continues in a new form. Here, the film starkly reveals how fragile the freedom or independence we dream of truly is, and how difficult it is to sustain it within society’s structures. Mr. Kim found hope in the isolated space of Bamseom Island, but that hope is once again threatened by the vast structure of society.
Furthermore, Ms. Kim’s transformation is also noteworthy. Through indirect communication with Mr. Kim, she gradually begins to step out of her own world. While Mr. Kim farms on Bamseom, she too attempts to break free from her own closed space and connect with others. This process was deeply frightening for her, yet simultaneously became an opportunity opening new possibilities. The jajangmyeon she sent to Mr. Kim was not merely a food delivery; it demonstrated her strong will to connect with the outside world.
Ultimately, the film ‘Castaway on the Moon’ transcends a simple story of drifting, exploring the isolation and alienation modern people experience, and the efforts to recover from it. The film shows how easily humans can be judged by social standards during this process and, as a result, lose their sense of self. Yet, it also conveys the hope that overcoming this and rediscovering one’s value is possible. The story of Mr. Kim and Ms. Kim ultimately powerfully asserts that we can grow and heal through each other, and that this is one of the reasons we must live.
Finally, the film poses a question about the essence of human existence. Can we discover our true selves within society, or in isolation from it? While the film doesn’t provide a clear answer, it emphasizes that the crucial point is that we must constantly strive to find that answer.
Drifting is painful in itself, yet within it, we gain the opportunity to confront our true selves and find new meaning in life. This is one of the film’s most profound messages. Director Lee Hae-jun’s ‘Castaway on the Moon’ transcends a simple tale of drifting, addressing isolation and alienation in modern society and the efforts to recover from them, evoking deep empathy in the audience.
Though each person’s circumstances and environment differ, the film powerfully asserts that we ultimately grow and heal through each other, and that this is one of the very reasons we must live. The journey of the Kims in the film conveys the belief that we can create a better life by acknowledging each other’s existence, understanding one another, and growing together.
