The drastic reversal of fortunes for two Sardinian third league teams, the corruption scandal that destroyed an international referee’s career and the ancient codes of sheep breeding are among the stories woven around each other in The Referee, a genre-bending football comedy-drama. The Referee is a unique comedy that describes corruption in Italian soccer in an unexpected way. Each story of the two Sardinian teams and the referee unfolds in parallel. The two meet with each other at the end as the star referee falls into the bottomless pit. His sacred and religious-looking rite is a prelude to his future corruption; behind his ridiculously excessive rigidity resides a subtle perversity. Consequently, the film seems to make fun of both sports and religion. The film’s last outstanding scene uniquely expresses the illusion of soccer, a national sport to which Italians “risk their life”. The director’s brilliant first feature comes to Busan after being introduced during the Venice Days of the Venice Film Festival this year. (RHEE Soue-won)