Piggy

This is a delightful, grim tale of a lone fat girl who is bullied by everyone around her except her dear, sweet dad - and the killer. Great cinematography and acting are well directed; it is all encapsulated by a beautiful countryside. Sara tries her hardest to just live her life but she's bullied when she goes out and berated at home. After a particularly harrowing version of the daily insults she endures the very girls who were tormenting her a moment ago are now snatched up by the serial killer who watched as they belittled and tortured her. Sara knows. Sara saw them in his van. And he stops the van and leaves her a towel to cover herself because the bully girls stole her clothes. Her dilemma is whether to tell what she knows and therefore save their wretched selves or keep mum and keep her admittedly evil savior.

Rented this movie on Amazon Prime and I had no choice but to rent the dubbed version of this film because the only other option was to buy the Spanish version. Avoid the dubbed version at all costs. One of the worst English dubbing of a film I've ever seen/heard, so it was difficult to fairly judge this movie. The voiceover actors should never be allowed to ruin someone's film like this again. It was worse than a 1960's Godzilla movie. If I were to walk down the block and grabbed strangers off the street, they would've done a better job. I'll have to watch this film again when I can see it for free and possibly revise my review then.

Not everything works (the 2nd act is a bit too long, some characters' decisions are a bit questionable too), but this is really well done.

The first act is as uncomfortable as necessary and the most engaging part of the film IMO. Without it, you wouldn't get the motivations, the internal doubts, and the grey areas of our main character.

Even if it drags a bit in the middle, the third act is strong and the finale delivers. After being seen for the first time, everything changes, and now even her calls for help are heard.

Great performance by Claudia Salas and confident direction by Carlota Pereda.

From technical point of view, the movie is probably 6 stars movie. However, the movie does small and little things right and it does the basic stuff right. After the final act, it almost feels like I want to give it 8 because the movie concludes everything what is required considering what the movie gives at the first act. Story gets captivating to follow that what is going to happen next. It's actually brilliant in that sense.

The movie is cruel in places but I suppose that it is the purpose of the movie and thus it delivers what it's expected. What comes to violence or gore, I think that it's managed very well. Not too little or not too much but good balance in right places.

Laura Galan (Sara) makes actually superb performance. She plays her part very well and I think she manages to kind of trick the viewer by the end of the movie. Too bad that the villain is not that convincing since it's almost like a the beauty and the beast kind of story. I also did like Carmen Machi (Sara's mother). She plays her part very well. I think she actually turns some things in the movie to comedy but at the same time she's very convincing.

The movie would be totally 8 starts or even 9 with a little bit of bigger budget and little bit of refinement in the overall production. Go and see it.

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"PIGGY is the right type of film to be one of the last movies in an event such as the Sundance Film Festival. Carlota Pereda takes advantage of the terrific lead performance from Laura Galán, and delivers a shocking, violent, frighteningly grounded story about bullying, fat-shaming, and self-acceptance.

Despite taking a more revenge-driven approach, the filmmaker beautifully develops the moral concepts at hand. The romantic subplot doesn't really work, though, and the film would have benefited from a stronger atmosphere. In addition to this, just a couple of impactful dialogues surrounding the main themes would have drastically improved the overall piece.

Still, it's definitely a must-watch."

Rating: B+