Na Teia da Aranha

Kim Jee-woon's film blends satire, meta-cinema, and homage to classic Korean cinema, pulling the viewer into a chaotic film shoot where reality and fiction blur constantly.

Visually striking and laced with dark Korean humor, the film is ambitious but suffers from tonal inconsistency and a slightly overlong runtime. Its reflections on censorship, artistic obsession, and the director's ego are intriguing, though often overshadowed by caricature. Song Kang-ho delivers yet another magnetic performance, anchoring the film even when it falters.

Cobweb may not reach the brilliance it hints at, but its originality and cinematic love make it a bold, worthy watch.

I mistakenly bought tickets for the session with Danish subtitles in the Copenhagen Cinematek. Fun fact: I don´t speak Danish, nor Korean. So my impression about it is rather limited.

Cobweb is a comedy, the tale of a director trying to produce his masterpiece in the South Korea seventies. During the production, he has to manage actors, staff conflicts, censorship, and ghosts from the past. All situations presented in a light way.

Ultimately, it is a movie about movies and there are many opportunities during the film to nerd out about photography and production. Most of it takes place on a film set and there are several moments when you can enjoy this atmosphere. This happens, for example, in a very-well made and interesting climax scene.

Cobweb cast is high level. The main character is played by Song Kang-ho from Parasite, and there is some great acting from the supporting characters, especially Krystal Jang and Jeon Yeo-been, both performances won awards in Korea.

Overall, the movie is a nice, not pretentious comedy with a good story behind it. I was able to follow in spite of my language barrier. I absolutely recommend it, especially if you speak the language that it is being played in, and if you don´t, you can still watch it for the pure joy of the cinema.

Attention, two films with the same name are circulating from 2023. In this one, Korean heavyweights Kim Jee-won and Song Kang-ho work together again after a long time. That's promising and the result successfully fulfils any expectations. We get a film-within-a-film construct that certainly contains autobiographical traits. A director's lament about the difficulties of a production. Anyone who has ever dealt with the subject will have realised that filming can be hell. Stress, both physical and psychological at all points, constant time and budget pressure, trouble with producers, actors' sensitivities and general problems on set. And here in particular, we are in South Korea in the 70s, dealing with state authorities. All at the expense of artistic freedom! But don't worry, the film is far less heavy and dramatic than it is humorous. Subliminal humour, but very catchy despite the cultural differences. The highlight is certainly the grand finale, which also provides the most interesting part in terms of insights into the making of a film. Nevertheless, there is a catch and that is the length of the film. I can't even specifically accuse the film of having much potential for cuts, but around half an hour turns a pen into a stone. There's no such thing as perfect, and director Kim has to realise that all the time. And after the film is before the film. For us viewers, too, this film is amusing, but quickly forgotten.

1) Current Metascore rating: 52/100. This is a travesty, a sick joke. COBWEB is not a masterpiece and there will be moviegoers who find it mediocre or boring, however if you are a professional movie critic, you should be objective. Thank God, this is an artistic creation, not a Holywood propaganda piece obeying to guidelines which have no relation to the Art of Cinema.

2) Kim Jee-woon is a great director. If you don't know him, take a look at his filmography. There is a big chance you have watched some movies of him. COBWEB is not amongst his best movies, nevertheless, it's a good movie as long as you know a few things about what you are gonna watch.

3) So, COBWEB is something like an offbeat comedy. You may call it a comedy/drama, but there are not dramatic moments here. To be more precise, this is a farce, a satire, in the veins of "Day for Night" (1973, François Truffaut). A movie about making a movie. Plot is not complicated, it is easy to follow, there are signs of brilliance, at times it was even hilarious. Overall, it is not a great movie though. It should have been at least 15 minutes shorter and i can't say Jee-woon always succeeds regarding of what he tries to achieve. It's not that sharp nor exciting. Nevertheless, it was interesting all the way until its ending. I enjoyed every scene. Nice acting performances and well directed.

4) COBWEB is a love letter to the Art of Cinema. Lighthearted for a Korean movie, funny, never boring. Don't expect a masterpiece and you will enjoy it as well.

No pun intended - this can be seen as a love letter. I would argue not just for Korean cinema (movie making that is), but any all over the world. But of course there are certain things that may be particular and just more on point there. It does play in the 70s, so I assume some things may have changed since then - one would hope so at least.

All that said, great acting - within acting - and movie within movie and all that. Though as is true with almost all movies that have a movie as central theme ... you have to suspend your disbelief ... as in making it non existent, if you catch my drift.

You could argue that we do not see the movie, but a spectator perspective ... fair point, but you mostly do not see the work that has to be done between shots. But that would kind of make the movie a drag ... this is about something else ... about a dream .. about showing critics that things are not as easy as they may think they are. Plus a lot of personal stories of course! May be a bit too long - and I was a bit surprised with the ... let's call it addition in the end ... but I reckon it was necessary ... to give us something back.

Well done to say the least - and realistic in a way (relationship wise), in a very unrealistic way - gotta love it. Also not to be confused with the American Cobweb ... renamed Knock Knock Knock in Germany ...