No wonder Cathy Yan was chosen to direct Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), the way she handles an ensemble cast in Dead Pigs is incredibly impressive. Each character we follow brushes up against the other if not already a present part of each others’ lives. Each storyline in turn explores different aspects of the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, from an American expat and a daughter of a wealthy CEO to a pig farmer and his son who does odd jobs and waits tables. Yan easy detangles the many-headed hydra of such a story to great effect, not once losing touch of the simultaneous tragedy and comedy of the whole situation.
Not a single moment is wasted and every single cut from scene to scene is thematically set up rather nicely. The use of montage could have easily worn out its welcome, but for Dead Pigs, with its many dual protagonists, it fits rather nicely. The whole picture is rarely given, but rather drip-fed to us. While full connections between characters are given to us, the overall netting of the corporate structures that pin all of them down are not, giving us room to draw our own conclusions through the tangled web.
No wonder Cathy Yan was chosen to direct Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), the way she handles an ensemble cast in Dead Pigs is incredibly impressive. Each character we follow brushes up against the other if not already a present part of each others’ lives. Each storyline in turn explores different aspects of the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, from an American expat and a daughter of a wealthy CEO to a pig farmer and his son who does odd jobs and waits tables. Yan easy detangles the many-headed hydra of such a story to great effect, not once losing touch of the simultaneous tragedy and comedy of the whole situation.
Not a single moment is wasted and every single cut from scene to scene is thematically set up rather nicely. The use of montage could have easily worn out its welcome, but for Dead Pigs, with its many dual protagonists, it fits rather nicely. The whole picture is rarely given, but rather drip-fed to us. While full connections between characters are given to us, the overall netting of the corporate structures that pin all of them down are not, giving us room to draw our own conclusions through the tangled web.
