You better believe it—this is Korea’s enfant terrible Kim Ki-duk’s (Breath, Bad Guy) best film yet. The winner of 2012’s Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival (edging out Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master) is an unflinching, twisted and flawless excursion into the darkest realms of the human condition.
Gang-Do (Lee Jeong-jin) is a lonely, merciless hustler for a loan shark agency who extorts debtors (mostly lowlifes or manual workers) to gimp their own bodies for insurance payouts when they are unable to pay off their debts. Redemption (or is it karma?) arrives in the form of Mi-Son (Jo Min-soo), a teary-eyed woman who suddenly appears at his doorstep, begging for forgiveness and professing to be his long-lost mother. Hard-pressed for love and company, Gang-Do soon gives in to Mi-Son but not before he rapes her in a torrid scene (“Did I come out from here?” he says while he feels her up. “I’d like to go back in.”) Soon, the newly-united mother-and-son develops an uncomfortable fondness for one another as Gang-Do decides to give up his hustler day-job. But all hell breaks loose when Mi-Son disappears and Gang-Do goes on a rampage to find her, tracking down past victims whom he believes hold grudges against him.
To reveal more of the plot will take the joy out of watching the consistently compelling Pieta (translated as “mercy” or “sympathy”), inspired by the statue of the same name in Rome. Director Kim Ki-duk effortlessly toils with heavy themes like salvation, death, money and modern ruin in his home country through characters that are as repulsive as they are believable. The brutal chemistry between the two characters also acts as the perfect conduit and metaphor for Kim’s observations of South Korea today—derelict with forlorn individuals who will do whatever it takes to get out of their meaningless and mundane existence. His first film to be shot on digital format is also surprisingly beautiful, thanks to cinematographer Jo Young-jik, who uses the handheld method to get up close to the characters, adding a voyeuristic layer to some of the film’s rawest scenes, coupled with wide-shots of South Korea’s rarely seen ghettos to lend the film further dimension. The film’s parting shot, where Gang-Do finally reconciles his mortal sins, is worth the ticket price alone. Unforgettable.
