Pieta

  • 104'
  • South Korea
  • 2012
This feature by Kim Ki-Duk, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice film Festival, is closer to harsh, strange and morally confusing predecessors like Samaritan Girl and Bin-jip/3-Iron than to his modest contemplation Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. Unlike the breathtaking natural beauty of that Buddhist reflection, Pieta is dark, nerve racking, urban and coarse.
Yet the theme is just as existential. An unscrupulous sidekick in Seoul, who cruelly maims people who don’t pay their debts to a usurer in order to claim insurance money, is suddenly confronted with his long-lost mother. She pursues him until he allows her into his solitary, immoral life. And that brings him doubts about what he’s doing and who he is. In addition, Kim mixes the Christian symbolism of the pietà (Mary mourning over the dead Jesus on her lap) with black humour and sexual tension between mother and son.


  • 104'
  • South Korea
  • 2012
Director
Kim Ki-Duk
Country of production
South Korea
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2013
Length
104'
Medium
HDcam
Language
Korean
Producer
Kim Soon-mo
Production Company
Kim Ki-Duk Film
Sales
Finecut Co, Ltd
Screenplay
Kim Ki-Duk
Cinematography
Jo Yeong-Jik
Editor
Kim Ki-Duk
Production Design
Lee Hyun-Joo
Sound Design
Lee Seung-Yeop
Music
Park In-Young
Cast
Cho Min-Soo, Lee Jung-Jin
Local Distributor
Contact Film
Website
http://www.finecut.co.kr/renew/library/synopsis.asp?num=150
Director
Kim Ki-Duk
Country of production
South Korea
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2013
Length
104'
Medium
HDcam
Language
Korean
Producer
Kim Soon-mo
Production Company
Kim Ki-Duk Film
Sales
Finecut Co, Ltd
Screenplay
Kim Ki-Duk
Cinematography
Jo Yeong-Jik
Editor
Kim Ki-Duk
Production Design
Lee Hyun-Joo
Sound Design
Lee Seung-Yeop
Music
Park In-Young
Cast
Cho Min-Soo, Lee Jung-Jin
Local Distributor
Contact Film
Website
http://www.finecut.co.kr/renew/library/synopsis.asp?num=150