Holy Death [Film and TV Commentary]

This film won the highest Golden Lion Award at the 69th Venice Film Festival and is Kim Ki-duk's 18th film. Li Jiangdao (played by Li Tingzhen) is a heinous loan shark. He has no family or lovers. The focus of his life is to collect debts from debtors every day. He has a cold nature and cruel methods. He often threatens others with violence and even beats everyone who owes his debts to disability. Those families whose debts were collected by Jiang Dao have since then lived a broken life without dignity. But suddenly one day, a middle-aged woman named Jiang Meishan (played by Zhao Minxiu) came to Jiang Dao and claimed that she was his biological mother, and Jiang Dao was her long-lost son. Jiang Dao, who longed for family affection, started a special "mother-child relationship" with this woman under dubious suspicion. Jiang Dao gradually tasted the warmth of family affection, but he didn't know that a conspiracy was waiting for him...