The King of Pigs is not a nice movie. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad one, but director Yeon Sang-Ho’s offering is not a movie that will leave you feeling good about yourself. The story itself starts at the end. Two grown men, one that may or may have not just strangled his wife and one that just lost his job, meet for the first time in years to reminisce about their childhood and one very disturbed and violent friend they used to know. As it turns out, everyone in this story will end up disturbed and violent.
Their childhood is not cute, or innocent by a long shot. Instead we get introduced to a high school society in Japan where the rich kids rule the school, the dogs of this hierarchy, and the poor people left to be bullied, ridiculed and sullied as the pigs. In this dog-eat-dog world, two kids used to be bullied around meet a violent, troubled kid that strikes back. There is no heroism about it. It’s just ugly and raw. Although the animation quality is never top of the line, it is adequate for the cold world that the characters must face every day. I’ve never been in a more silent theatre than watching this film.
There’s a lot of heavy thoughts once the movie reaches its end. A really well done and developed plot with no cute stuff and a lot of raw emotion, this is not a Sunday matinee. Leave the popcorn outside.
Stay tuned 🙂
Coming up!
- July 27: Dragon (Wu Xia)
- July 28: Arjun The Warrior Prince
- July 31: A Fantastic Fear of Everything
- August 4: Space Battleship Yamato
- August 7: Painted Skin: The Resurrection
- August 9: A Boy and His Samurai
(Sources: Fantasia Film Festival)
Never Think Impossible 
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