Film Discussion: Spider Forest

*Warning*

If you have not viewed this film, you may
want to stop here due to the possible
spoilers in this reading that may or may not
prohibit you from enjoying your experience.

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The stories in Asian films have a history of being told in new and different ways. Their unique visual style transcends the experience of watching foreign films. This writer has chosen to take a deeper look at the film, Spider Forest. The film was made in South Korea. It is from the year of 2004 and was written and directed by Ill-gon Song.

Ill-gon Song does not have a long list of films to his credit. He was born on January 1, 1971 in Seoul, South Korea. This only makes him thirty- eight years old which could be considered a young age for a director. Already at age thirty-eight, he has won ten awards and has two nominations from around the world. Spider Forest was nominated in 2004 at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for the Golden Seashell award.

The story revolves around Kang Min, a widowed television producer, who is drawn to a cabin in mysterious woods known as Spider Forest. He receives a call from a mysterious male who this writer believes is actually his subconscious. This mysterious male tells him that his girlfriend is meeting with another man in Spider Forest. Kang Min decides to investigate it and finds the truth. Now, Ill-gon Song decided to tell the story in a non-linear fashion. This either works or it does not. In this case it works, and works very well.

A spirit like figure dressed in a robe with a green scarf is viewed in the beginning of the film, with her back to us. The idea of a spirit and the green scarf show up throughout the film. Kang Min also wears a green sweater in many of the scenes. This color reminds this writer of the constant connection to the forest. The film begins with Kang Min discovering two gruesome murders in this mysterious cabin. As implied earlier, the two deceased are Su-yeong, his girlfriend, and Choi, his boss. Throughout the film, Kang Min attempts to understand what happened. The film as a whole largely deals with his subconscious forcing him to actually remember what happened. At the tail end of the film, he does in fact become aware that he was the perpetrator in these murders.

However, Asian films have the tendency to drag us along in order to give us the impression that something else is really going on. In this case, this could not be more true. There are several symbolic elements that serve as his subconscious. One element in particular that this writer found very interesting was the apple scene. In this scene, Kang Min is talking with his wife in what this writer presumed to be a flashback of sorts. She portrays a mime and while doing so she reaches for an apple in a basket that is on a table. At first glance, this may not seem significant to the story, but the sound effect of them eating the apple is the key to his subconscious forcing him to remember what happened. In the cabin, Kang Min’s boss was screwing his girlfriend, all while chewing on an apple. Kang Min then tells his wife of a dream that he had of her dying in a plane crash. She replies, “That isn’t a dream, that’s reality”. Unfortunately, this is pretty much a dead give a way to the fact that something else is going on. She actually dies in a plane crash, which the audience discovers through the use of a flashback. One must remember the story is not told in a linear fashion.

Kang Min visits Min Su-jin, the owner of a one- hour photo development store (in Min’s subconscious). He is investigating Spider Forest for his television show, Mystery Theatre. She tells him a story of a young boy who transfers into a new school where he takes a liking to a girl who is seen as an outcast. This girl lives in a cabin in Spider Forest. ¬ After viewing this film, this writer drew the conclusion that the story Min Su-jin tells Kang Min is that of their short childhood together. This becomes partially explained later in the film when the police make the discovery that Kang Min’s father was the actual owner of the one-hour photo store. One element that was confusing was the fact that we later find out that Kang Min was reported to have lived in the cabin in Spider Forest. Now, who actually lived there we may never find out. However, Kang Min’s mother left his father for another man. This seems a bit confusing and contradictory to the story as told by Min Su-jin. The teacher told the detectives that Kang Min lived in the forest with his father. However, this could have just been another way to help Kang Min’s real memory come back.

Min Su-jin relates the story as she and Kang Min travel on a lift near Spider Forest. It comes to a sudden halt as if to say they are now frozen in time. She tells Kang Min of the legend behind Spider Forest. She states that recently deceased people who are not loved by anyone at the time of their death are transformed into spider turned spirits who this writer actually believes she is one of the spider turned spirits. This is not to be seen as a literal translation but a metaphorical one. Kang Min visits Min Su-jin because he is

Earlier in the film, we see Kang Min give Su-yeong a present while at a restaurant. The present is two dolls that supposedly resemble each other. Later that night, we see him playing with the dolls. He positions them in such a way that resembles two people saying good-bye to each other as one departs for heaven. In this case, the male doll is holding on to the female much like a child who is losing grip on a balloon. This relates back to Min Su-jin’s story, which we see young Kang Min holding on to the arm of young Min-Su-jin the same way Kang Min positioned the male and female doll. After this scene, it became obvious to this writer that the female doll does not symbolize Su-yeong, but rather Min Su-jin. She is departing and since no one loved her at the time of her death is transformed into a spider turned spirit.

It did not hit this writer until later, but the one element to putting the pieces together that surrounds the events in this story was actually Kang Min’s car. As mundane as this might sound, it is in this writer’s opinion that his car was subtly put into the movie as the one element to solving the mystery. As mentioned earlier, in the beginnings of the film, an on coming car struck Kang Min. The car then drove off, leaving a bloodied Min to die on the ground. Now, from this writer’s perspective, the car was the same that he was driving throughout the film. Could it be that he is his own worst enemy? In the end, this becomes especially important because Min Su-jin leads him through the Spider Forest and through a tunnel in the forest. At the opposite end of the tunnel is the beginning of the film. We see the events that transpired (Kang Min being struck by a car). “I came to realize that the dead person was me” (Kang Min). Could he have meant emotionally or physically dead? Kang Min becomes fully aware of what he did because of help from Min Su-jin who is the key to his subconscious and guardian of the entire spider turned spirits.

Now, an attempt will be made to put this film in chorological order in hopes of better understanding this work of art. The film starts off with Kang Min waking up in the woods. This is not the beginning, but actually somewhere in the middle. This writer believes the true beginning of the film is when Kang Min receives the mysterious phone call from what he believes is someone else. This was discussed earlier.

Kang Min then decides to see if the claims this man has made are actually true. To his dismay, he finds that they are. Kang then contemplates on their murder. When one watches the film they will notice that the bodies appear to have been dead for weeks in the very beginning of the film. This becomes clearer when the audience should realize that Min killed Choi and Su-yeong and left them in the cabin for some time. He only returns when Min Su-jin leads him through Spider Forest and strangely disappears. She re-appears when Kang has come to terms with what he has done.

Asian culture shines through in the film with the offering of herbal tea (a health practice of Asia). Self- made medicine concocted of spider webs was also offered to Kang Min for an illness following a spider bite. A connection to spirits is also an Asian belief (Shamanism as so evident in this film).

The only reference made in the film to a separate North Korea and South Korea was a sexual comment. A character quoted a North Korean defector as saying “A North Korean man is always top during sex.” Could this be suggesting that males in this country see themselves as dominate over women?

Spider Forest has similar themes when compared to other Asian films. Violence, rape, and sex are repeated themes in both Memories of Murder, and Spider Forest. Also the murders were unsolved in both films. Dead bodies are discovered at the beginning of both films. Each detective in the two films returns to the scene at the end of the film. They both look defeated and exasperated. There is a recurring theme of the use of tunnels in both of these films. The suspected killers viewed in each tunnel. One is freed from suspicion of murder, the other free from his repressed thoughts. A connection to spirits can be found in both Tropical Malady and Spider Forest. They also both deal with forests as a setting.

The non-linear fashion of the storytelling in Spider Forest makes it difficult to link thoughts and themes together. At one time in his life, Kang Min had a happy relationship with his wife. Tragedy struck and he loses his will to survive. Unfortunately, he receives no emotional support from his boss. He meets another girl and her unfaithfulness drives him to murder. This tragic act forces him to repress his thoughts. Min Su-jin, a spider spirit, revives his conscious. One is left to wonder if he ever confessed to the crime, but the film has brings to mind the idea that humans have a conscious. Morally and ethically most people know what must be done. As in the world today, there is always going to be some who participate in illicit sex, some who are non-supporting of others when they are down, and others who know what needs to be done. It is reassuring to know that a Korean filmmaker is trying to tell a story about human struggles. The film reminds us that people all over the world struggle with challenges on a daily basis.