Pieta

The biggest addict for festival welcome drinks, Ki-duk Kim, is fondling the Golden Lion again and I'm getting the feeling that the guy’s got a punch clock on the scene. It's all here – raping his own mother, lying in a grave, suicide, a mother masturbating her son, tears, penance, semen, animals. To top it off, all the characters act so independently demented that in real life they would never survive so much as buying baked goods at a convenience store. What's absolutely fascinating is how the director is unafraid to put the film in front of you and tackle all sorts of formal challenges. It just doesn't worry about them, and anything that reeks of someone having to take five minutes to accomplish is resolved by editing or by the film not showing it at all. SYMBOLISM!!!!!! is the credo of the entire film, manifested, for example, in the hero's alleged mother sitting beneath the painting of the revealed bust of a woman the hero is throwing a knife at. So deep!!! A true festival, art, all-destroying evil. Then again, the reveal wasn't totally totally stupid (though logically totally WTF) and there are worse things in the world. Like the holocaust. PS: I read the other reviews after mine and I refuse to rewrite it. (05/03/2013)

I want a better put together Hollywood remake. Really, no joke. Somewhere, deep inside, this lengthy Kim Ki-Boring is hiding a fine thriller. Please, someone dig it out. (12/14/2012)