‘Pieta’’ is the newest masterpiece of sex and brutality by South Korean wild man Kim Ki-duk. Winner of the top prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, it concerns handsome Kang-do (Lee Jeong-jin), a Seoul loan shark’s enforcer whose sadism knows no bounds. Don’t pay up and you’ll spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair.
One day, a woman (Jo Min-soo) shows up at Kang-do’s home and sets about washing the dishes. She announces she’s his mother and begs forgiveness for abandoning him at birth. She may or may not be Mom, but she brings about a major change in Kang-do’s life. He quits his sicko job and seeks redemption. But that feat is not as easy as it sounds.
“Pieta” is Kim’s 18th film. Nearly all revel in perversity. In “3-Iron,’’ for example, the lead character utters not a word, preferring to use a golf club to get his point across. “Pieta” is one of Kim’s most complex and mature efforts, melding violence and humor into dark entertainment.