"Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" is a 2020 Korean love movie directed by Kim Jong-kyun and starring actors Han Ji-min and Nam Joo-hyuk.
In a small town on the outskirts of Seoul, Yongshuo, who is about to graduate from college, accidentally meets a woman who has fallen into a wheelchair on the road, and she returns home with the help of Yongshuo and invites him to a simple meal.
This made Yong Shuo curious about the woman who called herself "Joseph" and wanted to know Joseph better, and as they began to understand each other for a long time, love gradually sprouted between the two.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > faint rays of life in the darkness</h1>
The 1984 novel Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish, written by Japanese writer Seiko Tanabe, is known as the pyramid of youth romance, although it was starred in a film version in 2003 by Satoshi Mu and Chizuru Ikewaki, and an animated version is expected to be released early next year.
But just because the film caused a sensation in South Korea at that time, as a variety of themes and a strong creative ability of the Korean film circle naturally did not let go of this work full of potential, looking for the Blue Dragon Award film queen Han Zhimin, "Start-Up: My New Creative Era" Nam Joo Hyuk launched the Korean version of "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish", I believe that it can also make a different interpretation of this story.
As an audience who had never been exposed to related works and had only seen the synopsis and another trailer for "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" and decided to watch the film, I originally thought that the movie "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" would tell a romantic and cute story with a little blood.
But until it was discovered that the director was Kim Jong-kwan, who had directed the short film "Walking in the Night" starring IU Lee Chi-eun, he guessed that the whole film of "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" might take a relatively deep and introverted style like the previous work, and make a deep depiction of the character's heart, and in the end it was true.
With an unforgettable name and an unforgettable love sign, "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" focuses the story on college student Yong Shuo and a half-paralyzed woman "Joseph".
Yong Shuo is a college student who is about to graduate, optimistic and kind and hard-working, and is loved by his juniors and professors in school, while "Joseph" is completely different from him, because it is inconvenient to go out, he usually stays at home to study, treats people coldly and lacks confidence in himself. However, it is this huge difference between Yong Shuo and Joseph that allows them, whose personalities and backgrounds are far apart, to become interested in each other after an unexpected encounter.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the mysterious girl of Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish</h1>
Perhaps out of kindness, or curious about "Joseph", a mysterious woman full of mysteries, whether it is on the road to help his grandmother carry back furniture, help him repair a broken electric wheelchair, or carry a gift box sent by the manager of the part-time shop, Yongshuo always goes out of his way to come to their house, meet Joseph, and eat a simple dinner she prepared.
I really like "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" film every time Yong Shuo comes to their house, Joseph slightly looks up at his appearance, that seemingly indifferent, lifeless eyes, but also hidden as if the long-dormant heart has been touched, full of desire for the outside world and hope that he can be cared for by others.
"Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" has a rather charming character modeling, Yongshuo as a standard Korean college graduate, although on the surface seems to be a life victory group, but just like the reaction of the student sister when he asked him where to work after that, Yongshuo in this competitive environment is also full of confusion about his future path, and the mysterious woman Joseph is even more so.
When Yong Shuo asked about the foreign face in the picture on the wall, she said that it was her father, and she was a mixed-race child born in Budapest in 1987, but it was as if she would name it "José" because she liked a character written by the French writer Sagang, what secrets was hidden by this woman? What kind of past has it been?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the love story of Joseph with tigers and fish</h1>
"Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" unveils Joseph's background with the "little dots" of working in the garage, so that the audience understands why she will tell Yongshuo that she has traveled to many places and knows so much about whisky, rather than letting her own hand tell the choreography very gently.
Not only does it retain a trace of dignity for her, but also as an orphan with limited mobility, Joseph, who can only use the information in the book, recycle the smell in the bottle, and use the fantasy in his brain to realize his inability to achieve his wishes, can get the opportunity to step out of the house after meeting Yongshuo.
So "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" brings Yong Shuo and Joseph, two people who were originally in different worlds, together, from using "navigation" to go to the Place where they first met in the Scotch whisky region, to the two of them going to the amusement park together to ride the Ferris wheel, listening to Yong Shuo ask Joseph if he had ever been to such a high place before, and she replied that she had flown over the Kenyan prairie in a hot air balloon.
Perhaps it is precisely because of Joseph's years of repressed heart and always fantasizing about his desire to be free, "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish", which seems to us without any special experience, has become so warm and moving.
Director Kim Jong-kwan added a description of the real society in South Korea in "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish", in addition to touching on the fresh people who are about to enter the workplace, but also making the help given by the social welfare unit to the vulnerable groups become the key core of the whole film, further exploring what kind of impact this relationship has on Joseph after Yongshuo suddenly entered Joseph's life.
Just as the Korean title of "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" "Joseph" deletes the tiger and the fish, leaving only the heroine's name "Joseph", I think the movie "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" is special and fascinating.
Han Zhimin is undoubtedly the most eye-catching presence in the whole film of "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish", and I like her interpretation of the heroine Joseph's willfulness and inferiority. She did not want others to give sympathy, but at the same time she was so eager for the care and companionship of others, so although she felt withdrawn in the face of Yongshuo who wanted to go further, when Yongshuo really wanted to leave, she still went to the door in a wheelchair to chase him back.
So even if she confirmed the other party's intentions, she still chose to sacrifice her body and threatened Yong Shuo in a humble tone that if he left him, he would tell others that he had violated the physically and mentally disabled person, and this means of doing her best to keep him was proof that Joseph was afraid of losing.
Maybe It's Joseph's words: "You come to my voice so that I don't feel afraid anymore." "People are moved, but they can not go to the end, although "Joseph and the Tiger, Fish" in Scotland five years later to create such a major plot twist, but it is like a fantastic fairy tale to the real society, behind this seemingly precious relationship, the innate differences in personality and identity background between the two, but also long doomed their love will not have the male and female protagonists to live a happy and happy life from then on.
Just as the "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish" film repeatedly brought to Joseph's uncomfortable attitude towards Yongshuo, such as when he brought the company's gift box and said that it was also turned into garbage at home, or after renovating the kitchen and bathroom at home, Joseph locked himself in the room and asked Yongshuo to leave on the grounds of inconvenience, this kind of Yongshuo's unconscious superior attitude in the process of getting along, can't help but make Joseph begin to wonder whether this kind of love is true, or just out of sympathy and pity?
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ending song</h1>
Although Yongshuo can stand up and bring her a sense of security that she has never felt before when facing things like tigers and other things that Joseph is afraid of, the two of them are like people and fish separated by the glass of the aquarium, people always think that fish are kept in the water tank is very pitiful, but the world that the fish owns also makes them feel that they are the ones who are locked up.
In the end, "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" is a story about the intersection of people in two worlds due to an accident, although Joseph gained the courage to step out of the house because of the influence of Yongshuo, but they could not be together in different worlds.
Perhaps from the perspective of a love movie, "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" is inevitably regrettable, but is this really a bad ending? And don't we all experience similar things all the time in our lives?
I think that's why director Kim Jong-kwan chose IU Lee Ji-eun's "Lullaby", a song she wrote inspired by this short film after filming the director's previous work "Walking in the Night" as the ending song.
Even if people wake up and forget their dreams, we still hope to be able to give the last lullaby to our departed beloved in a late-night dream, comforting each other and ourselves. Just as The Flower is dying, beautifully and gorgeously, Joseph can continue to live in her own way in a world without Yongshuo.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Overall, although I have not seen other versions of "Joseph", I can still deeply feel the innovation of "Joseph and the Tiger, the Fish", in which the strong personal style of the creator is fully reflected in the obscure and poetic picture and dialogue.
It is precisely because of this that the success or failure of the film also depends more on the performance of the actors and their interpretation of the current state of mind of the characters, and there is no doubt that Han Zhimin completely supported the entire movie of "Joseph and the Tiger and the Fish" with the role of Joseph.
Lonely and humble at the same time, it also shows her independence in constantly trying to find a corner to survive, and the bitter helplessness also shines in the darkness with a faint but enough light to illuminate life.