Pieta (Ki-duk Kim, 2012): South Korea

Reviewed by Mikael Myggen. Seen at the Metro theater, Santa Barbara Film Festival.

You know that one kid in your classroom from way back when, who didn’t quite fit in with the others? The one with the jet-black hair who torched anthills with a magnifying glass and seemed somewhat suicidal? That kid is this movie.

Pieta was probably the most unique film I saw during my time at the Santa Barbara film festival this year, mostly due to the incredibly dark subject matter and how out of place it seemed. The story follows a young male debt collector, Mi-san who’s taken a dark turn with his life. His job is to visit people in their homes or businesses and get the money they owe through any means necessary, which usually ends up with him breaking their limbs and/or permanently crippling them for insurance money. If the person dies or commits suicide before he can collect their money, he takes a picture of the body as proof. When the film starts it’s implied that he’s been doing this for a while, but he’s eventually forced to change his ways when a woman claiming to be his birth mother appears.

One thing I liked about the movie is that it knows how to handle it’s genre. Before anything truly violent happens, the audience gets to see a few slightly discomforting things first before it starts to throw the heavy stuff, such as when the main character drops a piece of beef on the ground and the camera zooms in, or when the supposed mother shows up, and her fingers and slammed on by a door several times.

Another thing I liked is that this isn’t really a snuff film. Sure, you see the main character do some violent things to people early on, but that’s only there to show you that he’s capable of doing these things, which causes suspenseful scenes with certain potential victims later to actually be suspenseful. The main character also doesn’t seem to enjoy the things he’s doing, but he doesn’t seem to be opposed to it either. The supposed mom is an interesting character too. She mimics the main character in that she shows little to no emotion at any given moment, but she occasionally alludes to a backstory, and casually mentions something about revenge every now and then. It’s interesting, and you end up wanting to keep watching to see what kind of character she’s going to be. Also, if you’re planning on seeing Pieta, look up what the title of the movie represents at some point for some really interesting stuff. All that being said, there certainly is a lot of violence throughout the film, so people with weak stomachs probably won’t enjoy it so much.

Mi-san’s victim’s are actually pretty entertaining in their own right too. They seem to be sort of exaggerated caricatures, but I think that makes them more memorable and interesting. They all seem to have these little personality quirks that keep them interesting, such as a drill owner who is terrible at the guitar.

I feel it’s worth mentioning in it’s own paragraph that in addition to the violence, there is also a somewhat lengthy rape scene, as well as a couple of other mature gross-out parts as well. I don’t think mentioning it ruins the surprise to those interested in seeing the film, as when it comes, it’s pretty unexpected. I obviously have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it’s awesome to be able to see something so real in a movie, but on the other, this isn’t the kind of thing I would go to the movies to see to begin with.

The film uses a ton of grey and lots of shadows, and part of me thinks that this was done on purpose, to sort of show that the main character is in a moral grey-zone, so to speak. Red is a primary color used often in the film, and I don’t think I have to explain why at this point.  The film has several themes sprinkled throughout, a big one being that of money, and the evil that comes with it.

The ending to Pieta, without ruining too much, is both literally and figuratively a drag, but I feel like it had the perfect ending for the kind of film it was. To those who want to see darker and grittier movies while avoiding the horror genre, look no further than Pieta. To everyone else, there are rainbows and unicorns in the other direction, and those might be worth checking out instead.