Pieta (2012)

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Pieta (2012)

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… The story of the film is about lone wolf, self-absorbed: masturbating, crazy moralless man who lends money to desperate workers of the industrial slum of Cheonggyecheon. He charges ten times the borrowed sum in interest. If his clients don't pay up, Gang-do cripples them, taking the insurance payments on their injuries to make up for the difference. His character is a metaphor for extreme capitalism. Kim commented: "…but not the money itself, you can change the face of money. Money is the third character."

Then a women shows up at his doorstep, claiming to be the mother who abandoned him as a baby. He tests her in some gruesome ways, before he acknowledges her presence and even begins to show signs of affection towards her. Mi-son also proves herself to him by being just as ruthless as him. They form a frightful but also strangely intriguing duo. The grim story finds some more breathing space for the audience towards the end, but a bitter aftertaste remains.

What makes Kim Ki-duk an excellent storyteller is that most of the graphic cruelty is not shown, but actually takes place in the viewer's imagination. He is able to show real life images that can represent abstract ideas. He can make an audience relate to his characters even though they are immoral and almost heartless human beings, doing this with so much ease is remarkable. It is a rare quality to be able to find beauty in the most harsh places and to somehow convey this strange beauty to the screen. To make you believe in the story, without realizing it is perhaps an absurd one. And maybe most important: to make the viewer emotionally gripped, while talking about universal human issues, emotions and ideas even though there are cultural differences that separate audience and filmmaker. Kim Ki-duk: "(Pieta is) an embrace to the whole of humanity. The movie is dedicated to humankind."

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Pieta (2012)

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