La Piedad
Director: Eduardo Casanova
Writer: Eduardo Casanova
Cast: Ángela Molina, Manel Llunell, Ana Polvorosa, Antonio Durán ‘Morris’, María León, Songa Park, Alberto Jo Lee, Daniel Freire
Part of: SLASH 1/2 Filmfestival
Seen on: 4.5.2023

Plot:
Lili (Ángela Molina) and her son Mateo (Manel Llunell) are an almost inseparable duo. Any attempts at independence on Mateo’s part are quickly and thoroughly stalled. Their relationship starts to shift, though, when Mateo is diagnosed with cancer.

La piedad is an eccentric film that tells an old story – but in such an aesthetically interesting and humorous way that it becomes something more than you expect. It’s definitely worth seeing.

The overbearing mother is a staple of many movies, more often than not accompanied by a subjugated son. So, this part of the film felt a little too much been there, done that, although it was largely very well executed. Especially thanks to the cast – Molina and Llunell are a spectacular duo and are always, always fascinating to watch.

Almost as fascinating, that is, as the production design itself that is dominated by pink and gray and such a visual pleasure, I felt my chin drop more than once. It’s a film that has a very unique style that I found incredibly attractive (though I would never want to take interior design advice for my home from anybody involved).

The part where the film fell flatest for me were the parallels drawn to North Korea. The film seems to suggest that the relationship between a dictator and his people is similar to the one between the mother and son here, and that was a hard sell. It also often remained a little unclear about what is actually the same about it.

But the film more than makes up for it with its sly sense of humor that is always present, and yet manages to take you by surprise every once in a while. The few outright (body) horror elements were also well-handled and were pretty gruesome. In short, while I didn’t love everything about the film altogether, I was always engrossed and along for the ride.

Summarizing: interesting enough to be worth seeing despite some flaws.