Myeong-wang-song

Film4 did well by showing a double bill of this with THE KING OF PIGS, a similar South Korean story of high school bullying, albeit an animated one. PLUTO seems to be a rather overlooked film judging by the lack of reviews and commentary about it on the Internet; that's a shame, because it also happens to be very good. Yes, it's long and slow, but it's never less than quietly gripping with plenty of great cinematic moments.

The plot is complex and non-linear and requires the viewer's complete attention to make sense of what's going on. It begins with some harrowing filmed footage before moving into a typical police procedural murder investigation with an obvious suspect. However, the majority of the storyline then plays out in flashback as we build up to the crime and see the reasons for it.

As is the norm for Korean cinema, PLUTO is a very well crafted production with exemplary direction and high class acting throughout. It's also an entirely dark film that plumbs the depths of human life and explores topics including bullying, stress, suicide, peer group pressure, and plenty more besides. The performances from Da-wit Lee and in particular Sung-Jun are really impressive with the latter underplaying it for all his worth. I'd recommend it for all fans of edgy, mature, international film-making.