Director: Jee-woon Kim
Writers: Jee-woon Kim, Yeon-Shick Shin
Stars: Park Jeong-su, Krystal Jung, Oh Jung-se
Synopsis: Described as an experimental and genre-defying drama shot entirely on sound stages in support of a film-within-a-film narrative.s.
Cobweb can easily be viewed as another exercise in filmmakers’ self-importance in the world around them. And on the surface, it can be. However, as Jee-woon Kim’s black comedy unfolds, the filmmaker’s subversive film experience begins to poke fun at the establishment while simultaneously challenging the establishment about why truth is essential in any entertainment art form. Kim’s South Korean tale of obsession is a darkly funny and skillfully crafted work of meta-cinema.
The story follows Kim (Parasite’s Song Kang-ho), a director obsessed with finishing his current film. The director’s career has been on a downward slope since his acclaimed movie, which was made after the death of his mentor. The production company funding his project is under strict budgetary restrictions and also under the eye of the South Korean government’s censorship program (known as “The Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation,” created by President Park Chung Hee, known as the authoritarian Yusin System).
The movie, AKA Cobweb, is finished, but suddenly, a reworked ending develops inside his head, and he asks for two more days. The company’s owner, the widow of his mentor, Chairwoman Baek (Jang Young-Nam), refuses to give Kim extra time. In part, her staff is also worried about how the government may react to such a daring ending. That’s until the daughter of his late mentor and co-owner, Shim (Jeon Yeo-been), a staunch supporter of Kim, reads the rewritten ending and thinks it’s a masterpiece. She grants the days while Baek is out of town.
Kim’s script works because of the supporting characters he draws, one of the best ensembles you may see this year. There is Kang (Oh Jung-se), a Hallyuwood star who never met an actress he shared the screen with but didn’t sleep with, even though he’s married. He gets Yu-rim (Krystal Jung) pregnant and smothers her, to her dismay, when she only cares about returning to being the star of her K-drama. Some of the movie’s best scenes are between Jung’s Yu-rim and Yeo-been’s Shim, who have a legendary feud, while the latter acts like a tyrant to keep the cast in line.
Kim’s Cobweb isn’t a composite of a group of directors but obviously of himself. His obsession offers a dark (sometimes playful) commentary on filmmaking. You learn a lot about the process from the film. In particular, the third act’s climax is how the scene would be shot in one glorious tracking shot. Almost all the actors are offered their moments to shine comedically. In particular, Young-Nam and Yeo-been have often hilarious deadpan deliveries.
Cobweb will remind you of films like Black Bear and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in the way you may question what’s real or not. (Kim has several compelling scenes from his film shot in stunning black and white.) Also, there is an obsession with an artist’s vision. What was striking is how Kim’s film puts truth on trial in Cobweb, which is revealed in the film’s highly entertaining third act. For example, someone like Shim could not possibly be an actor, and Yu-rim could find truth in her character, even in salacious scenes. While, by the end, showing the subversive veracity of what truth means to the central figures themselves.
That makes Cobweb a story of redemption seen through the eyes of Song Kang-ho’s interpretation of Kim’s moral and professional character. The film is a filmmaker’s journey of self-discovery and reinvention of themselves.
