 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 | 🎙️ EPISODE 450: 04.21.22 Starting in 2020, I decided to watch & review the entire Nicolas Cage filmography in alphabetical order. This is 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔞𝔤𝔢 – Chapter 16*. Pig has enjoyed a wild ride in its relatively short existence. When the trailer dropped, people were weary. After all, in the eyes of many, Nicolas Cage's recent run of movies has been nothing short of inconsistent, to put it lightly. The one constant seems to be his dedication to acting like a crazy person. Now, as something of a Cageian expert, I know that's not the whole story. I've been able to find the good in the otherwise atrocious. And maybe this is a Me Problem, maybe's there's something wrong with ME. I'm not trying to say Cage doesn't phone it in sometimes because he clearly does. My theory revolves around the idea that when he isn't really trying, a different type of magic is born. I'm still putting it all together, honestly. |
In reality, this is nothing like the Wick franchise. Its an understated, slow-moving indie film about a sad man looking for his truffle pig. Its general premise and backstory is almost too restrained. And, wouldn't you know it, a funny thing happened. The movie got RAVE reviews. To the tune of 97% at Rotten Tomatoes, making it the BEST reviewed live-action film of Nicolas Cage's entire career (by that metric). Its gotten to the point where it feels like you can't really discuss Pig without bringing all this up.
But where I landed, as someone who is roughly 10% through a full Cage filmography watch/re-watch – featuring the good, the bad and the ugly – is that while – yes, this is a good movie – it's far too flawed to be a great one.
I can get into a slow burn like it's nobody business, but at times the pace of this felt off, like its deliberateness was forced. This is a tricky critique to level; I get that. It's not like I can't readily vouch for films (see also: Reichardt, Kelly; or the early work of Alverson, Rick) that I feel do this successfully. It's a feeling. The difference between a movie that wants to do this simply to do this (as an aesthetic) and one that uses a glacial pace to create tension is small. But I feel like I've earned my eye for it over the years and it doesn't fully pass the test in my view. Now, that being said, the film excels in the moments coming in and out of these stretches: when Cage, who doesn't have a ton of dialogue, unpacks a scene in an intensely methodical way with one of his quasi-soliloquies. These are odd moments where Cage, looking as deranged as anything we've seen onscreen short of Mandy, comes off almost like a peaceful shaman or monk, expounding on concepts big and small. They took me aback at first, but thinking about it now, I really liked them.
That's why the worst scene in the film feels even more horrendous in retrospect. Spoiler alert, I'm talking about the goddamn FIGHT CLUB. Yup, there's a fight club in this only it's a fight club explicitly for PORTLAND OREGON RESTAURANT WORKERS (?). Just typing that feels wrong. Nothing else feels too unbelievable in this so I don't get this weird plot departure. I've seen others state that its meant to function as a bait-and-switch; to make you think that maybe you are getting into some kind of John Wickian world, but I can't buy that. Why do that? Who is that trick for? What possible purpose could it serve? It simply felt like a bad idea. Cage gets his ass kicked at a fight club in exchange for some information that moves the story along. It never comes up and again, nor is there any more violence.
My only other complaint would be that Alex Wolff/Adam Arkin's relationship isn't quite flushed out enough to warrant what turns out to be the central landing spot for the narrative's closure. Wolff is tremendous in this but Arkin's character is underdeveloped. I can, on some level, appreciate getting in and out in ninety minutes flat, but this had me wanting more.
Conversely, the look at Cage's backstory (or lack thereof) is done masterfully. That story is told on his face and his demeanor; we don't need extraneous information. And I'll never quite think of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" in the same light again. A really wonderful ending.
So yeah, I'm the guy giving this a slightly worse score than he did Between Worlds. Perhaps, when it comes to Cage flicks, I'm Armond White. And you know what? That's fine by me.
THE VERDICT: 8 CAGES OUT OF 10 • CLICK HERE for all 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔞𝔤𝔢 Chapters + Ongoing Rankings.*This was the 2nd "Out of Order" CAGE review, as I saw this when it came out and didn't critique it in the traditional 𝔜𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 ℭ𝔞𝔤𝔢 manner.
CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 449 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 450B ⫸
⫷ EPISODE 449 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 450B ⫸
Pig is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Michael Sarnoski (in his feature directorial debut), from a story by Vanessa Block and Sarnoski. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness and must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped. It also stars Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin. It was released on July 16, 2021.
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