'Pig' A Review

Pig is a drama about a truffle forager Rob(Nicolas Cage) who lives in the wilderness outside Portland with his truffle pig. The film opens on Rob and his pig living simply in a rustic cabin, gathering truffles, and quietly going about their day. Once a week Amir(Alex Wolff) brings supplies and comes to collect that week's haul. The evening after one of Amir's visits Rob is attacked and his pig stolen. Rob has to return to the Portland culinary scene, which he was once a luminary of but has since rejected, in order to track down his pig.

Cage gives one of his most subtle, quiet performances in years but still maintains his operatic "neo-shamanistic" style. It's very restrained but incredibly emotional, and he picks and chooses key moments to provide the character some kind of compassionate crescendos. His talent has never been in question but some of his role choices(many of which one has to assume have been financial) have been. But this is not only a return to form for Cage but a continuation of his vast, varied, and fascinating career. The film could have so easily become a rote, revenge drama, it's even being marketed as "John Wick with a pig" and it couldn't be further from that, it is distinctly it's own very compelling thing and Cage is a big reason for that. Wolff is decent as Cage's foil and has a couple nice moments but there is a sense that he is struggling to keep up with Cage's presence, Cage's confidence, which mostly works given their dynamic. The other stand out performance is Adam Arkin as Darius Amir's father, he's only in the film briefly but there is a climatic dinner scene towards the end where both Arkin and Cage give truly ecstatic performances.

Visually lush with intimate camera work the production is effective without being intrusive. The culinary aspect of it is considered and highlighted but falls far short of food porn, insuring that the performances and the story take center stage. There are a couple stunning set-piece scenes(a psuedo confrontation at a high end restaurant, the dinner referenced above, a bizarre underground fight ring) and a myriad of other smaller but equally effective scenes the serve so perfectly, so succinctly to show Rob's character and his journey. There is very little exposition, much is inferred through context and Cage's performance. It's a real minimalist film that serves big emotional payoffs.

One of the best film's of the year.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't Miss It.