The Book of Fish

Korea at the start of the nineteenth century. The scholar Jeong Yak-jeon is exiled for his interest in Catholicism; his destination is the island of Heuksan. Nobody there knows or cares who he is. He meets a young fisherman, Chang-dae, who wants to read, to learn the Confucian texts and to sit the state examination. The scholar teaches him to read; in return he learns every living thing in the sea from the fisherman and begins to write a book. Lee Joon-ik directs. Sol Kyung-gu plays Jeong Yak-jeon. It is shot in black and white. The narrative rests on a real book. In exile Jeong Yak-jeon studied the sea life around the island and wrote an encyclopedia of fish; it was completed in 1814 and counts as one of the first systematic works of natural science in Korea. The argument at the centre is what knowledge is for. Chang-dae wants to enter the state and change the order from inside; the scholar believes that order cannot be changed and uses knowledge for something else. The black and white takes the film away from the usual look of period cinema; the island and the sea are given plainly. The persecution of Catholics stands behind the narrative and the political pressure of the period is described in detail. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean period film and calm narratives built on ideas. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, it rests on talk, and some of the arguments stay closed without the historical context.