Pig Review

 

I'm always very fascinated by whatever new film Nicolas Cages comes out with. From powerful dramas like Adaptation & Leaving Las Vegas to disasters like The Wicker Man & Season of the Witch, the man's career has been wildly inconsistent to say the least, but when he finds the right roles, he's always been one of the most interesting actors to watch and even easily one of my favorites. You simply don't know what kind of performance he's going to bring next and I guess that sort of unpredictability is one of the biggest reasons why I'm such a huge fan. His new film Pig has garnered a lot of praise in the past month, which certainly raised my interest. But having not even watched a trailer beforehand, I went into this film almost completely blind and I'm so glad I did because this film was nothing at all like I was expecting in any way. 

On its surface, Pig very much sounds like a John Wick revenge style tale starring Nicolas Cage that's about a guy hunting down the bad guys that stole his pet pig. I was very much anticipating a faster paced, ultra violent revenge drama, but what I got instead was a much more harrowing and intimate character study that left me honestly quite shaken. This is a surprisingly much more beautifully understated and even emotional drama that got under my skin on several times, very much so in a good way. It's even thought provoking in ways I didn't expect, and continuously subverted my expectations for sure. It is a bit of a dark film, but in a much somber and haunting manner than a violent one. I have to also give a huge shoutout to Patrick Scola's beautiful cinematography work and the somber musical score from Alexis Grapsas & Philip Klein. This also marks the directorial debut feature for Michael Sarnoski and it's one of the most impressively confident debuts I've seen in recent memory. There is a great amount of unnerving suspense all throughout this film, but most of all it's a human drama with a beating heart.

The performances here are just staggering, and obviously that begins with the man of the hour himself, Nicolas Cage. This might be a huge statement to make, but Cage gives both the best performance I've seen this year and also his best performance in as many as two decades. As a fan of Cage's, I'm always down to see the guy go bat shit crazy with often very cartoonish performances, but it's nice to be reminded that the guy is actually a brilliant actor and to see him play a real human being again. It's a much more restrained performance where Cage is able to say so much by saying so little. In a long established career with already some incredible performances, this will go down as one of his greatest overall, and one that should absolutely be in the conservation come Oscar season. His young co-star, Alex Wolff also deserves plenty of credit here and delivers one of my favorite supporting performances of the year. Wolff is honestly becoming one of my favorite young actors working today and with his work here, he continues to display an impressive amount of range. The chemistry between him & Cage is very much the driving force of this film, and how this relationship grows adds a surprising amount of heart. The best moments are between these two, and in particular a scene they both share with an also excellent Adam Arkin is one of my favorite scenes from any film this year.

I'm finding it very difficult to pinpoint any noticeable flaws with Pig. The film does move at a very deliberately slow pace, one that I can imagine will frustrate some viewers, but not really for this viewer. For the story that is being presented on screen, I found the pacing here beautifully done and fitting which ultimately made for an even more absorbing experience that certainly had me reflecting quite a bit. It does require some patience for sure though, and in my eyes that's never really necessarily a bad thing, not with a story that is this powerful.

Pig is a film that I knew next to nothing about when walking into it, and I'm thankful about that because I definitely feel this is one of those films where the less you know, the better. There's no better feeling than walking into a film almost completely blind and then being left not just surprised, but shaken by everything you just saw. This is without a doubt the most surprising film I've seen all year, but also far and away one of the absolute best films I've seen in 2021 thus far and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this even managed to stay in my Top 10 when it's all over. Regardless, it's a standout film with two incredible performances at its center. A film that will certainly be sticking with me for a long time. It's playing in select theaters right now, so if it's in a area near you, please don't miss it.

Final Letter Grade: A-