Review of Cobweb / 거미집, directed by Kim Jee-woon

The one thing that has always annoyed me, as someone who speaks a decent amount of Korean and loves watching movies from Korea, is that there has typically been a lack of access to these kinds of movies. Ever since the success of Parasite and Train to Busan though, it has been getting better.

I was ready to watch Cobweb as soon as it was announced as being one of the films that was shown at Cannes Film Festival the year it was made. It sounded right up my eccentric alley in terms of content, but I knew there was going to be a while before I could get my hands on it.

First, I was asked to watch and review the movie for my former job as a film critic. Well, the PR person ghosted me about that and never sent me a screener. I was so sad about it because I was supposed to interview Song Kang-ho for the movie’s press, too.

I ended up watching the movie when it was added to Kanopy randomly one day. And man, it felt like ripping a Bandaid after so long waiting for it.

Here’s my review!

A film director becomes obsessed with remaking a movie he’s already finished.

Our main character in this movie is portrayed by Song Kang-ho, and his name is Kim Ki-yeol. He’s a film director who just recently wrapped up the production on his movie Cobweb, but one day he comes to the revelation that he needs to fix the ending of the movie.

So he rewrites the ending of the movie, but when he goes to the film production studio, they tell him there’s no way this production can be redone. One of the biggest problems is that Kim is going to need to send the revised scrip to the censorship board of the government.

His new script is not going to pass the checks for the government, and they don’t want to officially take a risk. However, Kim manages to get himself a closed set where no one would know they’re filming inside of this warehouse situation.

The producers also don’t understanding the new ending and why they should finance it, but Kim has a vision and he’s going to do it no matter what the other people around him say.

Thus begins the drama of actually getting the ending of this movie redone. He gathers all of the actors, including Han Yu-rim, who has such an attitude and will have a bit of a hissy fit in the near future. She’s temporarily replaced at one point, but proves that she needs the role.

The actors also really don’t want to be there either, which creates even more friction as Kim becomes more obsessed with his vision. Later in the movie we learn he witnessed a fellow director burning to death to get the perfect shot, which becomes a mirror to the final scenes of the movie.

As all of this goes on, we shift between the actual movie, which is quite dramatic and seems a bit avant garde with the little context we’re given at times, and then the reality of filming this.

Things become even more tense when a censorship agent shows up at the warehouse, and in an attempt to hide the set from him, he sees it. They then decide to tie this guy up and hide him in the attic of one of the sets.

Which goes horribly, as Kim’s vision is that he wants to burn that set. It’s quite the dramatic scene as the actors are in a burning set, then this guy comes crashing through the floor as he’s tied up in a burning set.

Overall Thoughts

I could see how someone could seriously dislike this movie, but I enjoyed it a lot. It’s got that perfect eccentric energy, especially when it comes to how Kim is obsessed with getting this movie made.

It’s giving peak artist energy, and I love a good story about an artist going made in the name of their craft in fictional worlds. It’s quite sad to see in the real world, though, so let’s keep it a fictional archetype.

Song was one of the best parts of this movie. He plays this role so well—I feel like I say that about a lot of his movies, though. I’m not quite sure if I’ll revisit this movie though in the near future, even though I enjoyed it.

Go watch it if you’re interested! You, too, might find it worth it.

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