Aug 6, 2021
So first things first, The King of Pigs is not a happy or uplifting movie. At all. It's relentlessly violent, has almost no morally good characters, and offers no salvation or reprieve from the suffering that takes place. With that said, is The King of Pigs still worthwhile? Well... it's not that easy.
Overall, The King of Pigs is a story about class struggle, and how dehumanising and inescapable class discrimination is.The story is largely told through violent altercations in a middle school between the rich kids, the "Dogs," and the poor ones, the "Pigs." The most similar example I can think of to this film
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would be 2019's Joker, which engages with a similar message of "The world is fucked and the only thing you can do is get violent and show people that you're not someone to be messed with." Except King of Pigs is even more fatalistic than that, and shows that people who act out like that only end up getting punished and that the situation only ends up getting worse than it was before. The only successful rebellion against the system anyone is able to make in this story is a self-destructive show of defiance that ultimately ends up changing nothing. The film portrays the process of the "Pigs" getting bullied, lashing out in anger, and then being punished for it as an endless cycle with no solution.
And if that wasn't depressing enough, there are almost no characters in this film that are portrayed as good or likable people. The "Dogs" are all complete assholes who enjoy tormenting those with less power than them, the main cast are prone to outbursts of anger and violence, and the movie starts off with the aftermath of one of them having recently murdered his wife for unexplained reasons, even the adults in the side cast are portrayed as caring about money above all else and exerting what little power they have over those with less than them. Furthermore, there's almost nothing in the way of healthy relationships either. The friendship between the two leads is tenuous at best, and their mutual admiration of Chul Kim is greatly tested by the later events of the story. Even the familial relationships they all have feel notably loveless. No one in this movie is a good person, and no one really likes anyone else. The prevailing emotions in this film are bitterness and anger and hatred.
On a lighter note, let's talk about the visuals! ...They're not very good. The character designs are horrendously ugly which is probably by design, but also the animation feels noticeably cheap, like they're trying to keep the number of actual frames of animation as low as possible. Movement is stiff, frame rates are low, and it's these elements along with the almost complete lack of lip sync to the dialogue that make it feel somewhat like an amateur production. The film also uses CGI models for its characters any time there's a mid shot or a long shot, and those models DO NOT blend in with the backgrounds in any way. It's not all bad though, as the usage of 3D backgrounds in some parts look pretty neat, and there are some pretty inspired artistic shots that use light and shadow to great effect.
The King of Pigs is a bitter, angry and miserable movie, but is it good? It's definitely not enjoyable or likable in any way, but I can't help but respect how relentless it is in its portrayal of its message, how it doesn't try to sugarcoat things for the sake of the viewer. I'm normally not a fan of stories such as this, as they often just feel like doom and gloom and violence for its own sake, but this movie actually feels like they're being put to use to show the injustices of inequality. I still can't call myself a fan since I prefer stories to have at least some measure of levity amidst all the despair, but I do think there is something to take away from this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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