Films

Pig – 5 Stars

A surprisingly calm turn from Nic Cage anchors this aff ecting drama of one man and his truffl e pig.

ROB (Nicolas Cage) is a truffle hunter in a Oregonian forested area. Rob is reclusive, and in fact only keeps his truffle pig as company.

His only visitor is Amir (Alex Wolff ), a young truffl e dealer who is trying to make a name for himself in the industry and break out of his father, Darius’ (Adam Arkin) shadow. Th ings go wrong however when Rob is att acked in his hut one night, and his pig is stolen.

Enlisting the help of Amir, he heads into the city on the trail of his lost pig. In the process, this former famed and lauded chef has to confront the grief of his past, and the grief of those around him.

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, who was also part of the writing team, PIG is a beautiful surprise of a fi lm.

A lot of the DNA of this, particularly the trailer, has a sort of lower budget John Wick feel to it–you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a revenge thriller, with a pig the loss rather than a dog or a wife. But that isn’t what this fi lm is at all.

While Rob searches for his lost pig, and there is a brief spurt of violence when the pig is taken, for the most part this is a beautiful, entrancing and introspective fi lm.

Cage turns in a truly phenomenal performance. He is weary, emotional, kind, engaging and angry, all at once. Physically, his costuming is dirty, ragged and blood covered, but his movements are so slow and deliberate, and his emotionality so placid and thoughtful, that the whole performance feels off -kilter, transformative and engaging.

He’s matched by a somewhat manic, self-conscious performance from Wolff as a young man so insecure in himself, and with such a desperate need to prove himself.

Th e fact that almost every character here is dealing with grief in some way, shape or form–whether it’s the death of a loved one, the long hospitalisation of a parent, the loss of a pig or the fading of a dream–gives the fi lm, and the acting talent, a lot to work with from an emotional landscape perspective, and it turns the narrative of this fi lm into something more important and ethereal.

Visually, the fi lm is stunningly shot. Th e cinematography, on such a low budget, is a triumph, and creates mystical worlds out of dense forests and underground hotels alike. It’s a dark fi lm, but the mood never overtakes the story.

In the end, PIG is a triumph not in spite of the disparate and challenging elements that embody it’s make up, but because of it.

Th is fi lm probably wouldn’t work as well if it wasn’t made with such a low budget, and if it didn’t have Nicolas Cage in it, and all the preconceptions that his presence forms in viewers before they watch the fi lm.

Nevertheless, Sarnoski has created a truly enjoyable and uplift ing piece, that deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience.

Reviews by Jacob Richardson Creative Director | Film Focus www.filmfocusau.com

Ride Th e Eagle – 3 Stars

A meditative comedy, with a huge but largely misspent cast, nevertheless off ers an entertaining reprieve from the day-to-day.

LEIF (Jake Johnson) is a going-nowhere musician, playing bongos in a band composed of people 20 years younger than him, and living in a small studio cabin set up on another man’s land.

When his mother, Honey (Susan Sarandon), dies, Leif discovers that she has left him the cabin they used to live in; but conditionally. To get the cabin, Leif has to complete a list of tasks she has set out for him.

Travelling to the cabin, he has to set about learning the lessons his mother never got the chance to teach him, from rekindling old romances, to learning to ‘be the predator’ and focus on his own love of music.

Jake Johnson picks really interesting fi lms when he isn’t swanning around as mainstream comedic sidekicks. Some of his work in lower budget fl icks is tremendous, and here too we get to see a soft er, more nuanced and dramatic performance from the man.

Th at being said, the fi lm is still very funny, and Johnson’s work stands out as the most comically mature and engaging by far. Some of the other characters and actors don’t fare quite as well.

While Sarandon is quite touching in her role, JK Simmons is saddled with some truly cringeworthy dialogue disguised as humor but too crass when compared with the rest of the piece.

Intriguingly, the structure of the fi lm lends itself to a presumably very covid-safe production. All of these characters largely only interact via video, over phones or from afar without. Most of the shots are oneshots, with Sarandon and D’Arcy Carden in particular very evidently not working on the same sets as Johnson.

Simmons plays a longer role throughout the piece, but with early appearances shrouded and likely a stunt-double, it seems more like Johnson’s show throughout. And honestly that’s not a bad thing.

Visually, Ride Th e Eagle is set in some stunning wilderness, and the big panoramas are played to great eff ect. So too are some of the litt le moments, like the fi shing scene where Leif tries to prove his manliness by catching a fi sh with his bare hands.

It’s nothing new or shocking, but it certainly provides a welcome, almost nonchalant sort of wild, back to the Earth mentality to the piece that complements the overarching narrative conclusion.

Ride Th e Eagle, as a fi lm, under-utilises some of its name brand talent, but fundamentally hits on a winner with a calm, endearing story about loss, regret and enjoying the simple moments in life.

Reviews by Jacob Richardson Creative Director | Film Focus www.filmfocusau.com