Karl’s review published on Letterboxd:
10th Anniversary!
Possibly one of the bleakest and angriest films I’ve ever seen (definitely of an animated one). The King of Pigs is unrelenting in its portrayal of bullying and classism. I almost turned it off when a cat enters the picture. Even if it’s animated and the cat is vicious, it’s still very hard to watch a drawn out scene of said cat being slaughtered. I recognized that there’s a thematic purpose and I was interested in the story so I kept going. I imagine this has to be a very personal film. There are scenes of characters crying and yelling in complete emotional agony. It’s as if the filmmaker was exercising his demons through art which I respect. I think the animation allows for going deeper than live action would.
If you’re looking for affirmations and redemption, look elsewhere. The only lesson here is that life sucks, you can never get ahead and then you die. Disney this ain’t.