Worth: $13.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Song Kang-ho, Jang Young-nam, Jeon Yeo-been, Oh Jung-se, Krystal Jung, Lim Soo-jung
Intro:
… there are certainly laughs to be had. It’s just a shame that the final product leaves you as exhausted as its lead character.
It’s the ‘70s and Korean director Kim (Song Kang-ho from Parasite) is having a rough old time of it. Having blown away audiences with his debut many years earlier, he has never been able to recapture that magic. Indeed, when Cobweb, directed by Kim Jee-woon, starts Kim is being hounded by a pack of giggling critics, who accuse him of having never even written his debut in the first place. Resigned to making potboilers for studio boss Baek (Jang Young-nam), a sudden flash of inspiration hits Kim, and he realises that his latest film could actually be a masterpiece. All he needs to do is regroup his cast and crew, rewrite half the script and get two extra days of filming.
Unfortunately, with production on the film now considered complete and the actors dispersed to new projects, Baek balks at the idea. Plus, there’s the little issue around South Korea’s Yusin System, an extremely authoritarian document that restricted the country’s cinematic output to promoting government ideals. With Kim’s rewrites looking ‘anti-government’, his film could see both him and the company blacklisted for life.
From here, Cobweb essentially becomes a dark farce as Kim takes advantage of Baek’s important two day trip to Japan to remix his future masterpiece, and keep the censors in the dark.
Central to this subterfuge is Mido (Jeon Yeo-been), the supposedly rightful heiress to the studio over Baek, who adores Kim’s work. In fact, she’s probably a bit too enamoured with the project, dubbing it Kafkaesque and willing to punch out anyone who disagrees with her assessment.
Mido is the highlight of the numerous characters Kim Jee-woon throws on screen. And that is where the director makes his biggest misstep. There are so many threads and characters to keep track of that Kim becomes an extra in his own story.
As well as Mido, we have lead actor Ho-se (Oh Jung-se) trying, and failing, to hide that the fact that he’s gotten his co-star, Yu-rim (Krystal Jung), pregnant. Elsewhere, an extra decides to go full method playing a detective to the annoyance of many, the censors eventually end up on set concerned about production, actors spit the dummy about their roles and, if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the mystery of what really happened to Kim’s mentor, and husband of Baek, Shin.
It feels fair to say that at times, Cobweb is excessive and even with a runtime of 2 hours, there never seems time to breathe. Once the dial is turned up to 11, there’s nowhere else to go. Given everything Kim Jee-woon brings to the table, in what is clearly a love letter to the joy and frustration of filmmaking, the strongest parts are Kim’s film within the film. Also called Cobweb, we’re only ever given glimpses of what the film is about, but it’s a joy to behold whenever we get to see another piece of Kim’s vision. Shot in stunning black and white, and played utterly straight, Kim Jee-woon is clearly having a lot of fun aping the tropes of melodrama and horror.
Overall, Cobweb shows Kim Jee-woon (The Age of Shadows) flexing his comedy muscles, and at times, there are certainly laughs to be had. It’s just a shame that the final product leaves you as exhausted as its lead character.
