Castaway on the Moon 2009

Kim Seong-geun, Jung Jae-young, is deeply in debt and feels his life has collapsed. He jumps from a bridge into the Han River and washes up on the shore of Bamseom, a small island that sits directly beneath the bridge. After exploring the island, he discovers a landscape that is mostly vegetation, strangely quiet, and surrounded by the city—far enough away that shouting for help feels futile, and he can’t swim to safety. He finds a duck-shaped paddle boat and begins to grow fond of life on the island, a fragile freedom from his debts and the noise of urban life, even though the new way of living is not without hardship.

As he learns to survive, his cry for help, scratched into the sand, is seen by Kim Jung-yeon, Jung Ryeo-won, a hikikomori who spends her nights photographing the moon. They start exchanging messages: Jung-yeon ventures out from her home at night to toss bottled messages onto the island, while Seong-geun writes replies in the sand. He even manages to cultivate crops to prepare a simple jajangmyeon noodle meal from an instant packet, turning the island into a small, stubborn kitchen of hope.

A torrential storm arrives, destroying Seong-geun’s fragile farm and sweeping away the possessions he has gathered. He is discovered by a group of workers sent to clean up litter on the island and is forced off the place he has come to call home. He then boards a city bus, intending to jump off the 63 Building. After overcoming her anxiety, Jung-yeon runs across the bridge to find him, and she finally catches up to the bus after the civil defense drill stalls it. She boards the bus and introduces herself, marking the start of a new, delicate connection that threads back toward the human world.