Cobweb

A director (played by the great Song Kang-ho) is plagued by dreams of reshooting the last scene of his upcoming film. If he can pull it off, the film will be a true masterpiece. So he sets off to the studio, and we meet our cast, both in his film and in ours. There’s the producer whose husband – the director’s esteemed mentor – has died, leaving her to run the show. There’s the well-educated niece that buys into the director’s vision so wholeheartedly that she tries to run the lead actress off set so she can do the character justice herself.

With the intensity of trying to pull off the impossible, COBWEB is an homage to the filmmaker-as-troublemaker and the joy of the film set. Haze lazily floating in front of hot lights as the director calls “go.” The triumph of an actor nailing a take. Getting a camera to move with all the cogs turning just right.

All of this is summed up by a delightful actor with a minor role as a detective, committed to staying in character for the entire shoot. He asks questions, lurks in shadows, and takes notes on the goings on about set. Because there is a dark mystery afoot amidst the chaos and mounting challenges to complete the film. And what might that mystery have to do with censors banging on the studio doors, the nervousness of the cast and crew, and a director harboring his own doubts? And as everyone packs up at the end, one of the crew asks the detective, “so did you solve the mystery?” And he shrugs, “oh I don’t know, I’m out of character.” For director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life SDAFF ’06), it’s all for the love of film.

– Neha Pearce

Spotlight Sponsor: Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles (KCCLA).