Let Me Out

Created by filmmaker Jae Soh and Chang Lae Kim, who are also instructors at the Seoul Institute of the Arts, Let Me Out early on name-checks Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion, the behind-the-scenes cult indie comedy about life on a low-budget movie set. That film's vibe has pretty much been transplanted here to a fictitious South Korean film school. Student Mu-Young (Hyun-Sang Kwon) is a cineaste who has never shot a single frame of film. Boasting meager social and organizational skills, all Mu knows is theory and a worshipful stance towards the likes of Scorsese and Kubrick. Forced to finally pick up a camera and make his graduation project—a zombie-apocalypse drama—Mu contends with a misfit cast and crew (part student, part cast-offs from the commercial Korean movie industry), technical snafus, crippling inexperience, and scrutiny by a visiting VIP (a top Korean director whom Mu tactlessly criticized in class). As with Living in Oblivion, the character types and movie-insider humor of Let Me Out will appeal more to film-set veterans than disinterested civilians, although the Asian environment is appealing and the K-pop theme song is awfully catchy. Recommended, overall. (C. Cassady)