A Story That Didn't Need to Be Told in Space: 'The Moon'

In Korea, July and August are the summer vacation period, so it's when Korean film production companies release films with large budgets. The film that kicked off the 2023 summer peak season was 'The Moon'. This film is the first Korean film to feature a lunar exploration theme. However, both audiences and critics gave the film negative reviews. Although July and August are the months when the most movie tickets are sold in Korea, 'The Moon' only sold about 500,000 tickets. To recoup the production and marketing costs of this film, it needed to sell over 6 million tickets.**

The plot of the film revolves around the events that unfold when Korea's first lunar exploration spacecraft drifts in space. A total of three astronauts boarded the spacecraft, but due to a technical malfunction, two of them, excluding Hwang Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo), died in space. Left alone in space, Hwang Sun-woo successfully lands on the moon and returns to Earth alive, despite objections from the headquarters on Earth.

However, this film spends more time on the characters' pasts and the emotional conflicts stemming from them than on the lunar exploration itself. The theme of humanity's journey to the moon has been used since 'A Trip to the Moon' (Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902), the first science fiction film in history. This is probably due to the suspense and curiosity generated by the unknown space. But this movie doesn't utilize the space of the moon in a (negative) traditional way. Instead of showing adventure and discovery in a strange world, it constantly presents close-up shots of Korean funeral halls and weeping characters.**

Even when Hwang Sun-woo (Do Kyung-soo) lands on the moon, the film fails to deliver what one would expect from a lunar exploration movie. The scene of Hwang Sun-woo's lunar landing features a news anchor's voice explaining how momentous this moment is for Korea. It would have been better if the silence of outer space had been shown instead. Instead of expressing the awe or fear one might feel in an extraterrestrial space, this film forces patriotism upon the audience.** The space of the moon doesn't feel like a completely new world, but merely another device for pouring out the characters' sad stories.

The film's Rotten Tomatoes score is 23%, and it has also been criticized for being not only illogical but also xenophobic. However, this film also has its merits. It can make even the least favorite Marvel movie feel like 'Citizen Kane' (Citizen Kane, 1941). The actual footage of the Apollo 11 crew members bouncing around the lunar surface in 1969 while humming 'Da-da-da' is far more entertaining than this movie.**