Friday 6 June 2014

"Pluto" (The Guardian 06/06/14)


Pluto **
Dir: Su-won Shin. With: David Lee, Jun Sung, Sung Ha Jo. 114 mins. Cert: 15

This plays like a restrained, somewhat redundant live-action rejoinder to the ferocious vision of last year’s animated The King of Pigs. Again, it’s a tale of murderous rivalry in Korean school corridors: by having bookworm-that-turns June (David Lee) take an elite group of scholars hostage, writer-director Su-won Shin presumably intends to put a ruthlessly competitive system on trial. Yet her approach remains studious to a fault: the awkward performers huddle in passive-aggressive formations, while relentless crosscutting between time schemes deprives the siege set-up of any tension. Mostly academic: the work of a directorial new kid stammering over her own best ideas.

Pluto opens in selected cinemas from today.

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