The King of Pigs (uncertificated) 97 mins ***
This
bracing Korean animation persists with a theme familiar from the country’s more
extreme live-action exports: brutally angry men trying to work out what it was
that made them mad in the first place. Two unhappy thirtysomethings meet for
the first time since their schooldays, and start discussing the bullying they
suffered at the hands of rich classmates. These bitter reminiscences cue an extended
flashback that often resembles Napoleon Dynamite as redrawn by extremely alienated sociopaths: a never knowingly
understated outpouring of high-school traumas that extends to cat murder,
glue-huffing, multiple suicides and casual sexual humiliations. Writer-director
Yeon Sang-ho places his sympathies firmly with the victims, deploying
deliberately jerky, scratchy animation to describe the brute, animalistic
ugliness of the world his characters skulk through: it’s a vision of sorts, but
one you’ll need a strong stomach to see out.
The King of Pigs opens in selected cinemas from today.
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