The Book Of Fish

The film starring Sol Kyung-gu and Byun Yo-han, is about an exiled Joseon era scholar and a fisherman and their exchange of knowledge in writing a book. The film was theatrically released on March 31, 2021, by Megabox.

The Book of Fish
Theatrical release poster
Hangul	자산어보
Hanja	玆山魚譜
Revised Romanization	Jasaneobo
Directed by	Lee Joon-ik
Screenplay by	Kim Se-gyeom
Based on	Jasaneobo, Pishine Encyclopaedia by Yak-jeon
Starring	Sol Kyung-gu Byun Yo-han
Cinematography	Lee Eui-tae
Edited by	Kim Jeong-hun
Music by	Score: Bang Jun-seok
Production company	Cineworld
Distributed by	Megabox Plus M M-Line Distribution
Release date	31 March 2021 (2021-03-31)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	est. US$2.70 million

According to Korean Film Council data, it is at 14th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2021 in South Korea, with gross of US$2.70 million and 342,540 admissions, as of December 11, 2021^[update].

The film won the Grand Prize at 57th Baeksang Arts Awards in May 2021. It has won 20 awards overall at various award ceremonies.

The Book of Fish is a black-and-white historical film set in 1801 about the Joseon era scholar Jeong Yak-jeon (1758–1816) (Sol Kyung-gu). He was exiled to Heuksando Island during the Catholic Persecution of 1801 in King Sunjo of Joseon’s reign. There he wrote a piscine encyclopaedia titled Jasaneobo. In the film a fictional character Chang-dae (Byun Yo-han), a young, conservative and eager to learn fisherman is introduced.

• Sol Kyung-gu as Jeong Yak-jeon
• Byun Yo-han as Jang Chang-dae
• Lee Jung-eun as woman from Gageo
• Min Do-hee as Bok-rye
• Cha Soon-bae as Poong-heon
• Kang Ki-young as Lee Kang-hwe
• Dong Bang-woo as Magistrate of Naju
• Jung Jin-young as King Jeongjo
• Kim Eui-sung as Official Jang
• Bang Eun-jin as Changdae's mother
• Ryu Seung-ryong as Jeong Yakyong
• Jo Woo-jin as Byeol-jang
• Choi Won-young as Jeong Yak-jong
• Yoon Kyung-ho as Moon Soon-deuk
• Jo Seung-yeon as Yi Byeok

The Book of Fish is a black and white film, which are making a comeback in South Korea.

Filming

Filming was wrapped up on November 15, 2019.

The film was theatrically released on March 31, 2021 by Megabox.

The Book of Fish has been invited at the 20th New York Asian Film Festival. It was featured in 'Standouts’ strand and screened at Lincoln Center and SVA Theatre in the two-week festival held from August 6 to 22, 2021 in New York. It was also selected in 'Korean Cinema Today - Panorama Section' at 26th Busan International Film Festival and will be screened in the festival in October 2021. The film was also screened at 10th Korean Film Festival Frankfurt on October 23, 2021. On May 6, 2022, it was screened at the Habitat International Film Festival (HIFF), at the Habitat Center in New Delhi.

In 2022, it was selected as one of the films in 'The Actor, Sol Kyung-gu' special exhibition event at 26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival to honour actor Sol Kyung-gu.

Box office

The film released on March 31, 2021, on 1250 screens. It was at the number 1 place at the Korean box office by collecting 54,000 audiences on the weekend, taking its total commutative audience to 255,000 persons in the second week of its release.

According to Korean Film Council data†, it is at 14th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2021, with gross of US$2.71 million and 342,540 admissions, as of December 11, 2021^[update].

• †The system of KOBIS (Korean Box Office Information System) is managed by KOFIC.

Critical response

Going by Korean review aggregator Naver Movie Database, the film holds an approval rating of 9.11 from the audience.

Kim Boram reviewing The Book of Fish for Yonhap wrote that the film keeps interest of the viewers alive as the tone is not serious. He considered that the beautiful scenery of Heuksando Island made the viewing pleasurable. He praised the performances of Sol Kyung-gu as an open-minded scholar and Byun Yo-han as Chang-dae, a young but conservative fisherman. Concluding the review Boram said, "The black-and-white cinematography makes the movie feel like a Joseon Dynasty ink painting, .... and the viewers even get the sense that color is not really important in the script-driven and performance-based piece."