Cobweb

Parasite’s Song Kang-ho stars as a 1970s filmmaker-in-crisis in this chaotic comedy from the director of I Saw the Devil.

In the great tradition of comedic films about filmmaking, the latest from South Korean auteur Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life, MIFF 2006) stars Song (Broker, MIFF 2022) as an ambitious but beleaguered director desperately trying to finish the movie – a black-and-white melodrama entitled ‘Cobweb’ – that he’s convinced is going to be his masterpiece. The project is rife with chaos: censors are interfering, bewildered actors and producers struggle to make sense of the rewritten ending, and everything else that seemingly can go wrong does.

Working together for the fifth time, Kim and Song delight in orchestrating the mayhem of a film shoot run amok, in the process revealing a considerably more playful, impish side of a screen storyteller best known for his dark, twisted thrillers. With its embrace of artifice – from the stage-bound sets to Decision to Leave (MIFF 2022) lenser Kim Ji-yong’s stark photography – and its freewheeling comic tone, Cobweb makes for an entertainingly sharp, stylish and sometimes silly showbiz satire that will be catnip for cinephiles and movie fans alike.

“Entertainingly affectionate … Kim satirises the egos and insecurities of those who work in front of and behind the camera, delivering a delightfully silly portrait of the filmmaking process.” – Screen Daily