What do 1997’s Perfect Blue and 2000’s Scream 3 have in common? Simple – they feature a film within a film; which is a particular way in which a story is told by having one film within another. While some view this as a fourth wall breaking concept, the ‘film within a film’ style can sometimes confuse the audience and turn out very wrong. However, Jee-woon Kim (A Tale of Two Sisters 2003, I Saw The Devil 2010) explores this concept in his 2024 film Cobweb… and it works out exceptionally well.
Hitting theaters and VOD on February 9th through Goldwyn Films, Cobweb is based in South Korea during the ’70s within an age of heavy censorship that is imposed by the government. The film follows a director – Kim (Song Kang-ho: Memories of Murder 2003, Parasite 2019) – who is haunted by dreams and desires to reshoot the ending of his already completed film Cobweb. Unfortunately, he is surrounded by chaos and turmoil with censorship authorities, actors, and producers who do not understand the ending.
Coweb begins with Kim’s (Kang-ho) last scene of his film as what he describes a nightmare. Once awake he is in a state of anxiety to change the ending. As he battles through the legalities to get back to the studio for a two day reshoot, Producer Mi-do (Jeon Yeo-been: After My Death 2017, Night in Paradise 2020), reads the rewritten script and immediately tells Kim he can begin filming. Along with the arrival of the actors and actresses, comes drama and turmoil. Questions about the revised script and confusion begin to emerge. Drama begins to emerge between Mi-do, Actress Han Yu-rim (Krystal Jung: More Charming by the Day 2010, Crazy Love 2020), and Kang Ho-se (Oh Jung-se: Into The Mirror 2003, The Call 2020).
There are several factors that stand out about Coweb in general. First, the whole movie was filmed entirely on sound stages. There were not several locations in the filming as there are in most films, it was all sound stage. Another striking feature is the way that Kim’s film is distinguished from reality and is unique and inspiring. Kim’s film is in black and white, meanwhile, reality is in color. These two things make this film very intriguing within itself. Furthermore, the feeling in this film is portrayed powerfully and keeps the audience engaged in the different characters personally. At times the emotions can be overwhelming but in all, they are rightfully done.
For succeeding with ‘film within a film’ concept, creating color distinguishing uniqueness, and for great storytelling with believable characters, plus for powerful emotional chaotic elements, Cryptic Rock gives Cobweb 5 out of 5 stars.
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