"Furthermore, had the script put more emphasis on the differences between Yak-jeon and his equally, if not more, famous brother Yak-yong (Ryu, pitifully underutilized), who was a distinguished scholar and also exiled for 18 years in a remote area, the film would've hit the mother lode of philosophical discourse and oriental sophistication, instead, hijacked by Chang-dae's school of hard knocks, Yak-yong's side of story tends to be perceived as too cerebral to possess any import, which, in fact, does a disservice to Yak-jeon's left-field decision of writing a book about fish. Finding more purpose in dedicating himself to a non-human world than to a human society is Yak-jeon's most radical rebellion, in spite of his advocacy of embracing all different schools of thoughts, he cannot slough off the rancor that turns him into a cynic, compared to Yak-yong's humanism blooming against adversity, Yak-jeon is a less heroic figure in this regard, his book is, give or take, his act of petty revenge, plus the film never cares to show there is any affinity between Yak-jeon and his marine objects."
read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, please google it, thanks.
