Pig (2021)

Review

92min

Genre:       Drama, Mystery

Director:     Michael Sarnoski

Cast:         Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin…and more

Writers:     Michael Sarnoski and Vanessa Block

-Synopsis-

When his companion and prized truffle pig is kidnapped, a reclusive forager is forced to leave the peace of the Oregonian wilderness for the bustle of the city and is plunged back into his difficult culinary past to find her, only to be faced with the reality of his identity and a past never forgotten.

After garnering a dedicated following and cult reputation with couple of prolific decades filled with thriller fare and genre films of varying quality, the singular Nicolas Cage returns to his acting roots and replaces quirky ticks, extraordinary facial expressions and his legendary ‘Cage rage’ with a little more subtlety and emotional range—teaming up with debutant writer/director Michael Sarnoski to forego over-the-top characters and surreal tales for a reflective and traditional indie character drama, with unexpected poignancy and pain.

Cage stars as scruffy isolated outdoorsman and wild truffle hunter ‘Robin’, living wild and simple in the lush wilderness of the Pacific Northwest with his trusty companion foraging pig, maintaining no contact with the urbanites of nearby Portland save for a weekly visit from his brash city slicker truffle buyer ‘Amir’ (Alex Wolff). But when his pig is suddenly taken by force, Robin sets out to recover her and reluctantly recruits Amir to guide him through his food industry contacts. Plunging them into his own abandoned culinary past and the city’s underbelly, forging a difficult and unlikely friendship while dredging up painful memories, reminding them of the little that matters in the grind of an indifferent world—on the way to unravelling the mystery of his beloved missing pig.

In this midst of this bizarre new era of lockdowns and social distancing, it’s easy to forget how detached we were already becoming from each other, thanks in no small part to the haze of celebrity culture and technologies like social media and immersive virtual environments, which have given new generation the illusion of connection while dragging them away from a real world which keeps on spinning. And with ‘Pig’ Michael Sarnoski reminds us of another form of detachment, that voluntary yet seemingly inescapable isolation brought on by loss, trauma and a hopeless view of society, all blended with a love letter to cooking which eulogises the pursuit and art of fine cuisine while simultaneously skewering the pomposity and vacuous self-importance of the industry.

This is also a poignant and sobering meditation on passion and the pursuit of what really matters in the face of distractions, epitomised by one of the film’s most memorable lines and its tagline of “we don’t get a lot of things to really care about”.

Filmed between the lush beauty of rural Oregon and the medium city bustle of Portland in quick time and on a modest budget, ‘Pig’ is subtly but beautifully shot by cinematographer Patrick Scola, who gives the film a hazy twilight feel befitting both its location and the sombre tone of the drama, in what is essentially a tale of loss and internalised pain. And the visuals are complemented by the occasional sounds of a subdued and wistful but atmospheric score from Alexis Grapsas and Philip Klein.

Much has been made about how ‘Pig’ signals a return to form for Nicolas Cage, which is a tad unfair given his scenery-chewing turns in recent and memorably stylish surreal genre fare like ‘Mandy’ and ‘Color Out of Space’, yet also understandable given some of the films which came before, in between and after—flicks which at one time might have been classified as straight-to-video. But it’s clear here that with Sarnoski’s writing and direction, the Coppola clan’s biggest on-screen star relishes returning to the more subtle traditional drama of his early years, reminding us of the more personal and introspective qualities of his acting seen in previous films like crime/drama ‘Joe’.

It’s also no surprise that Cage himself has said he identifies most personally with his character in David Gordon Green’s aforementioned 2013 drama, and indeed this film too. As he uses his own demons combined with an understated grace and a melancholy emotional range to bring to life a stoic and broken character defined by loss and grief, detached from a world in which he no longer has a stake but forced to confront it to reclaim the only soul with which he still has a connection—even if it is a charmingly fuzzy truffle pig.

But that journey inevitably forms another connection, with his truffle buyer and occasional reluctant visitor Amir, a bond which graduates him to Portland culinary guide, and eventually something more. A kindred character and fellow broken soul brought to life by a finely judged supporting turn from Alex Wolff who transforms an initially unlikable young character into someone more empathetic—as the young New Yorker continues to walk an impressive line between Hollywood and indie cinema, forging a screen career worth following closely.

‘Pig’ is certainly a soulful little picture, setting up to slowly unravel the mystery of its protagonist without ever completely doing so, which may be welcome or not depending on your cinematic taste, but it is occasionally a tad too subtle for its own good. And that’s not the only issue here in terms of narrative and execution. The film promises something akin to ‘Burnt’ meets ‘Fight Club’ without ever delivering, while the 3^rd act’s conclusion proves a bit mechanical and anticlimactic—but it does at least avoid a predictable happy ending . . . which again comes down to a matter of taste whether that’s a good thing or not.

Yet ultimately the merits of Sarnoski’s movie far outweigh its shortcomings, adding up to a wistful little character study and a moody human drama with something to say about passion and pain, about how we live our lives . . . and for whom.

The Bottom Line…

Elevated by one of Nicolas Cage’s most subtle and nuanced performances in recent memory and anchored by a soulful supporting turn from Alex Wolff, ‘Pig’ proves to be a poignant and wistful little character study and a melancholic indie human drama, about passion and loss in a culture that has lost its perspective and a society that’s losing its way—all-in-all a distinctly promising start to a feature film career for Michael Sarnoski.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Burnt (2015)

Bradley Cooper stars as a former fast-living celebrated prima donna chef, high-strung but reformed and trying to resurrect his career with a re-location to London, reaching for the goal of revitalizing a top restaurant while attaining the almost mythical 3-star Michelin rating . . . and in the process atone for past sins.

Directed by John Wells and starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller and Daniel Brühl among others.

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