Pieta (2013)

Who ever give to this excellent movie less then 10 stars - he would be not fair. --- This is one of the movies I would remember hole my life. I would not enter in analytic mode here - anyone here, deserve to look movie in his own eyes. I think - it's a rare master piece

It's a dark and brutal morality tale of guilt and redemption, the movie "PIETA" tells a story of a debt collector Kang-do(Lee Jeong-jin) works as a debt collector for some loan shark, and he is someone you don't want to mess with especially if you happen to borrow the money from his boss. Even if his poor debtors really have no money to pay back, he gets the money back by any ruthless means necessary. These unfortunate debtors usually work at the metal shops located on the narrow alleys of Seoul, so they are forced to get their hands or feet injured by their machines for paying him back through the insurance money they will acquire. During one comic but cringe-inducing moment, one debtor nervously asks him to cut both of his hands instead of only one hand because he needs more money to pay his debts and support his baby to be born.Kang-do's life is as barren as his debtors'. While his home looks a little more comfortable, he has lived alone in his apartment. He cooks for himself, and he usually brings live animals to his home for his dinner. To represent his beastly nature, he prefers to buy a live chicken and then butcher it instead of just purchasing a dead one. On one day, his life is disrupted by the sudden appearance of one mysterious woman(Cho Min-soo), who claims to be his mother and apologizes to him for abandoning him not so long after he was born. Resentful toward his mother he does not remember, he does not believe any of her words and brusquely rejects her, but she keeps coming to him. She slowly insinuates herself into his daily life while behaving like a mother who tries to compensate for her unforgivable fault in the past. Though he harshly treats her, she sticks to him while doing what mothers usually do for their dear sons. She cooks for him, and she says genially to this detestable man who has probably never experienced love or kindness for a long time.There is quite a disturbing scene where Kang-do cruelly attempts to violate her with his own twisted logic, and you may wonder how much she can tolerate him, if she is indeed who she seems to be. Induced by her love without condition, Kang-do slowly reveals a vulnerable child with lots of hurts inside him; he eventually finds himself depending on her care, and they momentarily have a nice time together as a mother and her son.The tension in the drama largely depends on the simple but fearless performance by Cho Min-soo, who deftly maintains the elusive side of her character even at the most emotionally anguished moment. Their characters may look silly when they behave like a mother and her little son, but we come to accept the emotional bond forming between them.And later scenes become very intense and heart touching. Overall I do not think it is one of his best films because of its several flaws, but I must say it is nice to see that this talented director is still capable of making a movie with conviction, power, and several interesting things to talk about.

Essentially I'm a great fan of Kim Ki-duk since I was fifteen and a teacher brought my literature class to see Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring, so when he won the golden lion in Venice I was really excited that finally this great film-maker earned the praise he deserves from the western world. Unfortunately in my humble opinion he earned it with the wrong film. Pietà is shallow, weak, the cinematography is awful and annoyed me a lot. This film tries hard being something new compared to the previous production of Kim Ki-duk but misses unbelievably the spot. It's predictable, prosaic, and it owns Park Chan-wook too much without being able to reach his poetic peaks; the squalor, the violence are faked and almost for their own sake. The major twist is clear from the beginning and the entire script could have been handled in a better way. Jeong-jin Lee (Gang-do) had one facial expression all film long, he looked like someone injected him with botox few minutes before the shoot. Min-so Jo struggled to make some efforts but unfortunately the Italian dubbing killed her performance for good (by the way dubbing is going to kill me too). This film is overrated, plagiarized and also boring. Don't waste your time : choose to watch and prepare yourself to love instead one of the great works of Master Kim such as 3-IRON, The Bow, or the Samaritan.

I did'nt enjoy this movie at all.The story was extremely boring to me. It took ages for something to enroll.Silly unbelievable things that suddenly happen between the main characters.I can see the Kim Ki Duk is a creative filmmaker.Although he's not a real favorite of mine, I'v seen several (much)better movies by him,However.. I DID enjoy the sparse camaratechnique's he made use of in this movie.It shows that it's perfectly possible to tell a story on 'film', that's been shot in the simplest way possible.(it looked like) only one camera,a few actors, sparse lighting and a story.The 'amateuristic'look of this movie added i.m.o to atmosphere of this story, and was a creative move... A pity that the story-told did'nt convince & captured me at all! And i do believe that a good plot or story make's these kind of movies.