It comes to earth, removes its robe, and bathes in the water. If you hide its robe, it follows you home; if you care for it, it loves you; and as long as you keep its robe, it will never leave you.

Presented this week by the Pacific Arts Movement Spring Showcase in San Diego, Abigail Harm is a vanguard film that confronts the stereotypical images and ideas of love. What is love? What is real love? What is love not? Director and writer Lee Isaac Chung brought to life an old Korean folk tale about a woodcutter and a faun, giving it a unique twist. Starring veteran actress Amanda Plummer as Abigail Harm and Tetsuo Kuramochi as The Companion, the story is intriguing in its honesty, refreshing in its ingenuity. Their outstanding performances were honest and poignant.

Abigail is a woman who exists on the fringes on society, one of the invisible people, rarely making eye contact, in fact, most comfortable with the blind. She makes a living reading to the visually impaired, and lives her life hidden in her apartment, watching life go by from the sidelines. Her only living relative, her father, is dying. The mixed emotions that she exhibits as she continues to insist that she needn’t come to his side, are telling of the difficult and complex relationship she has with her father.

When Abigail rescues a mysterious man on the run, he offers her an unusual reward for her kindness – the love and devotion she has never experienced before. Embarrassed and confused, she declines at first, but finally seeks out his intriguing advice.

“The creatures still gather in this location. It comes to earth, removes its robe, and bathes in the water. If you hide its robe, it follows you home; if you care for it, it loves you; and as long as you keep its robe, it will never leave you.” Doubt and disbelief soon give way to hope as she makes her way to the designated location where she is confronted with a beautiful young man. He reclines in a tub. The robe lies on the floor. She quietly slips forward, snatches the robe and is away. Life changes.

“Are you real?” Her voice carries a pleading tone. “Are you real?” Faced with the idea that the creature loves her but is “tied” to her, Abigail must grapple with her own concepts of love. The death of her father jolts her into another dimension of reality and she finds herself questioning what she wants from life and love.

What makes love real? Is love conjured with a potion real? Is love that develops between two people tied together through fate real?

It comes to earth, removes its robe, and bathes in the water. If you hide its robe, it follows you home; if you care for it, it loves you; and as long as you keep its robe, it will never leave you.

The robe. The metaphorical tether that ties one person to another. To tie your love down.

Happy Movie Watching!