By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Starring: Alex Wolff | Cassandra Violet | Elijah Ungvary | Julia Bray | Nicolas Cage
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2021
Running time: 92
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11003218/reference
Brett says: “They had a Cook with them who stood alone
For boiling chicken with a marrow-bone,
Sharp flavoring-powder and a spice of savor.
He could distinguish London ale by flavor,
And he could roast and seethe and broil and fry,
Make good thick soup, and bake a tasty pie.
But what a pity–so it seemed to me,
That he should have an ulcer on his knee.
As for blancmange, he made it with the best.
“The introduction to ‘The Cook’ from Chaucer’s General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales has always been, for me, a delicacy among the buffet of literary cases of irony. The humorous punch behind Chaucer’s ‘culinary master’ who mixes a lack of hygiene with his meal preparation and cooking prowess has always been a standing monument to the act of pulling the rug out from under readers’ expectations, albeit a seemingly single-dimensional comic payoff. In viewing Nicolas Cage’s portrayal of former mythical level chef Robin Feld in the film PIG, the mix between a grimy and unkempt naturalist and the art of fine dining serve up a new layer to the absurdity of two very different sets of social class expectations that Chaucer once examined.
“One might imagine how a pitch for such a film might have played out. A team of producers hearing writer Vanessa Block and writer/director Michael Sarnoski walk them through the summary of the plot and eventually meeting the two presenters with a somewhat unsure-of-themselves exchange of glances followed by a slowly domino’ing explosion of laughs, giving the writers their due for an out-of-left-field attempt at humor. Yet, even as the laughter belts out among the listeners, the exchange would only be greeted with a still, stoic deadpan stare back at the producers from the pair of writers, cueing the producers’ silence and soon followed with a variety of expletives added to the producers’ exclamation, ‘You guys have got to be kidding me!’
“Yet here we are, a film in which a secluded truffle hunter is separated from his fellow truffle-sniffing pig, which leads to a dangerous yet unyielding hunt for reunion between man and pig among the criminal underbelly of the fine dining pseudo-mafia of Portland, Oregon. (If you need to imagine a dead serious set of eyes staring back at you as you ponder the summary, now’s the time.)
“PIG is a film clinic in how nearly any concept can be turned into a work that achieves tremendous success with the right vision and assembly of all artistic working parts to make the concept come to life in a compelling way. I have always believed that virtually anything can work in film if the tone is established in such a way in every shot, sequence, and scene so that open-minded audience members have no choice but to follow the siren song presented before them. And tone is where PIG excels above all else. The rest falls right into place thereafter.
“Laid before us in the film is a relationship—albeit unusual—established through pure cinema visual storytelling during the exposition. Nicolas Cage’s depiction of a secluded, troubled, and somewhat lonesome woods-dweller is more than enough to warrant the question of how he ended up in such circumstances and what led to his adoption of the simple life in a manner that draws parallels to the transcendental Walden. However, it also lets us into that world in such a way that it’s not only about what led him here, but an acceptance of his current contentment and peace of mind with this way of life.
“Had Walden come with a plot suitable for cinema, it might have followed Sarnoski’s line of thinking as the world of “over-civilization” in the form of high class old money and new money yuppies encroach upon this life of seclusion. Cage’s character Robin becomes laser-focused on returning his porky woodland companion after being assaulted and having the pig taken from him by unknown intruders. Robin’s singular remaining link to the outside world up to that point had been in supplying young entrepreneur Amir (played by Alex Wolff) with perfect truffles discovered in Robin’s daily nature quests, truffles that Amir purchases weekly in an attempt to establish his own claim to culinary excellence in the dog-eat-dog business world of cuisine. (Keep those dead serious sets of eyes staring back at you in mind as you read that.)
“After contacting Amir as a means to begin his search for his lost companion, Robin’s adventure now pits his grizzly and untamed demeanor against the city landscape of Portland where refinement and propriety trump the bare essential facts of life that Robin has sought in his woodland refuge. The gritty and raw Cage delivering minimalist dialogue channeled as if it were from a Clint Eastwood-esque drifter in a Western when he states ‘I want my pig’ and ‘Where’s my pig?’ elicits an ironic tendency to laugh with delight. However, the evolution of this journey takes on a real sense of sentimentality and—at its core—it becomes an examination of love in its purest sense. The same notion of the viewer laughing at the seemingly trivial and absurd pig search is a way of reeling us toward an alignment with the villainous elites, trampling over anyone beneath them with no consideration for their base tendencies. Sarnoski masterfully slow-plays this realization, turning something quite absurd into a meditative study on what truly matters versus what is excess.
“Alex Wolff, who has appeared in roles ranging from HEREDITARY to JUMANJI puts in a considerable awards-worthy supporting performance here, helping balance the maniacal Cage and illuminating the overarching themes in the end for a surprisingly powerful and emotional climax.
“It’s the best and, well, only existentialist film about a savage forest chef and one that many audiences will find themselves drawn back to for multiple viewings. Emotional wounds, the burden of capitalism, family ties, and a pig, Sarnoski’s debut feature-length film delivers a series of unexpected reflections that even Chaucer’s dinner guests at The Cook’s table would find shocking.
“A very portly set of 4 cats, bordering on 5.
“Recommended for fans of finding unexpected themes that unfold slowly over the course of a film
“Recommended for even the slightest Nicolas Cage fan
“Recommended for anyone interested in a Top Chef episode based on FIGHT CLUB”
Chris says: “Few recent films have utilized Nicolas Cage this well–he could be a Harry Dean Stanton in his old age at this rate. The film itself is most effective whenever it’s a meditation on grief and more than a little silly when it delves into the truffle-hunt culinary underworld. 3.5 cats”
Jeff says: “Nicholas Cage redeems himself. I thought I was getting John Wick, but instead got a meditation on food and the lives of those who prepare it for the rest of us, appropriately set in Portland. Rapturous.”
Julie says: “If you have a pet cat, dog (or pig for that matter) you will appreciate this movie. If you are a foodie you’ll appreciate elements as well. Excellent story. Powerful. Also some wonderful set / location production work. Nic Cage is perfect in this role. Excellent raw acting (okay so this is his thing yeah it is true). I thought the other actors in this movie do an excellent job as well, a nice balance. I won’t say more as do not want to reveal anything about the story.
“Michael as to truffles I agree the ones I’ve had over time are often very rich and need to be added ever so carefully to the dish. Truffle wild mushroom mousse pate is a good one I do love.
“I bet that fresh shaved truffles are very different especially those white ones they showed in THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS.”
Michael says: “I said I wasn’t going to watch it because I was just finish with Nicholas Cage, but I had one more film to watch before nominations, and I just happened to be listening to the Brattle podcast and their conversation about the best films of 2021. With all four of them singing PIG’s praises, following fairly good notices from my fellow Chlotrudis members, I decided, I’d rather be informed of my own opinion, rather than just assume I wouldn’t like it. First off, not knowing much of anything about what the story was, I was surprised to find that it wasn’t anything that I was expecting. Gently satirizing foodie culture in uber-hip Portland, OR, while powering through with an offbeat crime thriller, what surprised me the most, and pleased me the most was the fact that PIG is basically another story about grief. (Why didn’t you just tell me that, Diane?) Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t love the film, but Nicholas Cage didn’t completely turn me off. There were even a couple of moments that moved me enough for me to get choked up. Just goes to show, if you want to have an opinion about a film, you’d better watch it first. 3 cats”
Thom: “This is a huge first feature for Sarnoski as he has created a delicate but dark feature that radiates in understanding and depth. The surprises here are not earth-shaking, but they manage to subtly move the viewer in unexpected ways. The biggest shock for me was having my pre-conception of the film shattered to bits. Over the past 20 years or so Nicholas Cage has truly made a surfeit of movies, many of them rather sleazy B-pictures, often horror, science fiction, or over-the-top violent action genres. So here you are offered a film titled PIG, what was I supposed to think? Cage at his best (as in the brilliant BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS) is usually indelibly manic, able to explode at the slightest provocation, complex and shocking. But in PIG he is a hermetic truffle hunter, Rob, living deep in the Oregon woods, reclusive to a fault, & except for his business meetings with an enterprising businessman (Amir) from Portland, who comes to collect the gathered highly valued truffles, his only connection is with Brandy, his beloved foraging pig. One day upon returning to his hovel he is brutally attacked and left battered and bereft as the odious attackers have stolen Brandy, apparently for her truffle-hunting abilities. He contacts Amir and cajoles him to take Rob off to Portland to discover who has stolen Brandy and to seek her safe return. We learn that Rob was one of the leading contributors to the burgeoning Portland haute cuisine before a personal tragedy led to his complete withdrawal from normal human contact. Still, after the rather unsettling kidnap scene I naturally expected Cage to erupt in lethal, horrific retribution, once he discovered the nefarious culprits, through Amir’s connections to the food scene. Instead, his performance, is so measured, intelligent, smooth, but possessed that it is easy to embrace his love for the filthy Brandy. In a great conceit, after gaining consciousness after his heinous bashing he is covered in blood, cuts & bruises that he carries through the entire rest of the picture. There is little that is uplifting about the grim story but there is a rarity of truth that embraces love in its purest form. I found it slightly peculiar that Cage was nominated for a Chlotrudis Award for his work in the far freakier WILLY WONDERLAND, but snubbed for his more refined and memorable work here. Don’t get me wrong, I quite liked WILLY WONDERLAND. 4.5 cats”