Is it worth watching Moon, a Korean drama reminiscent of The Martian?
Miscellaneous / / September 26, 2023
A lot of emotions await you.
On September 28, the Russian premiere of the film “Moon” will take place. The film is dedicated to the conquest of space, or more precisely, to the flight to the Moon. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute does have a lunar program - it was launched in 2016 jointly with NASA. This fact, on the one hand, turns the events of the film into a bold prediction, on the other hand, it reproaches the partners (but more on that below). The film's budget is small - $22 million, and sometimes it shows.
The director and screenwriter of the film is Kim Yong-hwa ("With the Gods" franchise). Starring EXO musician Kyung Gu-sol (“Desire”) and Kyung-soo Do (“Running Man”).
2029 After an unsuccessful lunar expedition, South Korea launches another one. The spaceship crashes and only one astronaut, Hwang, survives. To return him to Earth, the leadership of the space program asks for help from Ji-Gook, one of the commanders of the previous, unsuccessful expedition. The scientist tries to save Hwang in a situation where NASA refuses to cooperate.
Forced simplicity
Despite its cosmic scope, "Moon" is built on simple dramatic techniques. Good and bad characters are known from the very beginning, the plot is predictable. There are also several clichés - a hero trying to continue his father’s work, a man who retired from business and returned to it in the spirit of the old militants, a stupid minister who only cares about his reputation.
Most of the simple techniques create the emotional background of the picture and, in principle, do not irritate. But several times they directly affect the plot and then infuriate. It is quite difficult to explain the actions of NASA leaders who seem to wish the death of the Korean astronaut, unless the screenwriter decided to introduce villains into the story.
The visuals also look quite simple for a space film. Overall, this is a nice and noisy picture that doesn’t try to do anything it can’t do – after all, the 22 million budget serves as a serious limiter. Yes, the Moon turned out to be quite gray (maybe it is, but it was more fun in The Martian), and towards the end they saved a very poorly drawn scene. However spaceship, and the control center look cheerful - simple, but tasteful.
Hyper-emotional drama
“Moon” is a film that requires maximum emotional involvement from the viewer, because the absence of incredible special effects brings the drama to the fore. About once every 20 minutes a situation arises when everyone falls silent and waits for tragedy. Then they are glad that it did not happen, and so on until the next catharsis.
Sometimes these emotional swings look too manipulative, so not all “touching” moments are truly moving. But good music and expressive acting smooth out such episodes. The final speech of one of the characters is so sweet and deliberately inspiring that it can cause both laughter and tears, depending on the degree of sympathy evoked by the previous scenes.
Well, in order for the viewer to empathize even more with what is happening, Kim Yong-hwa adds complex family relationships, flashbacks and bureaucratic obstacles to the story. This is the film in which officials are always bad and think only about their reputation, which is why life astronaut finds itself under even greater threat.
Perhaps, all this break-up drama, in principle, works only because “Moon” has its own modest charm. Predictable, understandable, sometimes cheap, but I don’t want to scold it - it turned out to be too good a story, almost fairy-tale-like.
Unexpected political statement
Perhaps the only original idea of the film is its discussion of the political component of space research. If in the first half hour the viewer is only hinted that South Korea is not allowed to go to the moon and is not accepted into the elite club of space powers, then towards the end direct accusations are poured in towards NASA. Perhaps this is too subjective a view, but it looks interesting - literally like a political manifesto.
Over the course of 130 minutes, the viewer is hinted in various ways that everyone should be friends and explore the world together. This, by the way, is the difference between “Moon” and “The Martian” or the same “Challenge”, which revel in national space programs. Korean filmmakers behave much more modestly.
Optional space
Comparisons that suggest themselves do not always work for Luna. The same “The Martian”, from which “Moon” blatantly cut one of the scenes, simply looks richer, not to mention the crazy potato garden.
But if we compare it with the recent “Challenge”, the story about the Korean astronauts turned out to be more emotional and touching. And the authors of “Moon” did not fly into space to make a movie (note to the hostess: to shoot a film about ISS you can make scenery, that’s the essence of filmmaking).
Moreover, after the ending it becomes clear that the film as a whole is not about space. The main character can be shoved into another place (for example, into a collapsed mine or the Pacific Ocean) - and the concept will not change, and the international appeal will sound just as convincing. Because of this, comparisons with other space films become irrelevant.
In general, the Korean drama about space turned out to be fabulous, a little manipulative, but still fascinating. This kind and inspiring film does not pretend to have complex plot lines or incredible visuals. But if it takes what's happening on screen too seriously, "Moon" can become tiresome.
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