Review #918 - Pieta (2012)
THE SCOOP
Director: Kim-Ki-duk
Cast: Jo Min-soo, Lee Jeong-jin, Woo Ki-Hong
Plot: A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.
Genre: Drama
Awards: Won Golden Lion (Venice).
Runtime: 104min
Rating: M18 for mature content and sexual scenes.
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
“I am sorry I abandoned you.”
The pain of torture,
the pain of loss. Kim Ki-duk is back in
the game with this vengeance art film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice
Film Festival under unusual circumstances over the more coveted P.T. Anderson
picture The Master (2012).
In Pieta,
Kim fashions a film with tragic underpinnings as it explores the themes of
revenge and family, often in the same breath in this quite affecting drama that
features an intriguing plot and superb performances from the two leads.
In particular, Jo
Min-soo, who plays a well-dressed middle-aged woman who one day mysteriously
appears in front of Gang-do (Lee Jeong-jin) claiming to be his long-lost
mother, functions as the emotional anchor for Kim's film. Surprised and nonchalant, Gang-do continues
his violent ways as a debt collector, torturing his victims so that they can
claim an insurance payout to pay their outstanding debts.
Pieta is uncompromising in its depiction of
torture and incomprehensible violence, although most of which are implied
rather than explicit, but they hit you in the gut nevertheless. Kim uses violence as
a counterpoint to fate and loss, two sub-themes intertwined in the film's
twisted concept of family. The
characters are imbued with a sense of uncertainty, regret and guilt, and this
is one of the key strengths of Pieta.
While they are
psychologically motivated, it is a tall order to try to decipher what these
characters are actually thinking (or planning).
The mystery of the mother character reveals itself poetically in a
tragic sense: the questions asked do not provide categorical answers; instead they
bury us into a conundrum in which we emerge disturbed and provoked.
The implications of
these questions are monumental as the notion of a mother-son relationship
conjures up ideas of unconditional love, child nurturing and individual
sacrifice. In scenes early on when they
have just met, Gang-do rapes Jo’s character and makes her eat raw
animal entrails. But we eventually see
a drastic transformation in Gang-do's personality that Kim manages to bring
across with believability.
Yet the twisted and twisting nature of the narrative brings us unexpected surprise and shock, and also back to the circle of bloody violence, culminating in a final shot that is best described as morbidly beautiful.
Yet the twisted and twisting nature of the narrative brings us unexpected surprise and shock, and also back to the circle of bloody violence, culminating in a final shot that is best described as morbidly beautiful.
Verdict: Kim Ki-duk is back in the game with this
bloody yet poetic revenge drama about family, fate and loss.
GRADE: A-
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