Pig

Now Nicolas Cage plays a recluse who goes in search of his pig in a surprising character study.

Pig is a first feature by Michael Sarnoski who both wrote and directed it. With his previous directorial efforts being either short films or contributions to series on TV, his name is not one on which you can promote a film. However, there is another name to hand to sell this piece and that comes in the form of its star who is also a co-producer, Nicolas Cage. But even here a qualification needs to be made: Cage is such an idiosyncratic figure these days, an actor seemingly enamoured of over-the-top performances that are relished by some of his admirers, that the news that Pig is his most serious work in years will excite some but may well disappoint those who adore him in manic mood.

Sarnoski’s film is a consciously off-beat work that finds Cage playing a bearded recluse named Rob Feld who for some years has been living in a shack in the woods. This is in Oregon and the man’s sole companion is a pig that he has come to love - and not just because it is so adept at finding the truffles which Rob sells. He deals regularly with a young man, Amir (Alex Wolff), who supplies restaurants in Portland, the city that had once been home to Rob. However, the quiet life is shattered when the pig is stolen and Rob himself receives injuries, yet this incident leaves him determined to pursue the criminals and to that end he persuades Amir to help him.

If you judge things by Cage’s recent movies, you might well expect that Rob would be on a vendetta to kill those responsible, but instead his sole purpose is to rescue the pig on which he dotes and to bring it back home. That his aim should be just that and no more counts as the first surprise in a narrative which revels in taking a route which again and again follows a course that cannot be easily predicted. Once Rob and Amir reach Portland it becomes clear that the now dishevelled Rob is still remembered and respected. That’s so despite his having been gone for a decade or more, but the sphere in which he had made his mark is hardly one that you would anticipate. Similarly, we are alerted to a love lost years before yet we are kept wondering about the extent to which this was responsible for his taking up a rural retreat. There is no doubt but that Rob remains a formidable presence but, despite some violent moments, this is not an action picture.

If I refrain from saying much about the plot development, it is because the film seems to delight in leading the audience they know not where. As director, Sarnoski shows a good ear for using both natural sounds and music in a way that sustains atmosphere and at least one sequence (the initial arrival in Portland by car) shows real visual imagination. Most importantly he gets good performances from his cast: it’s not just the case with Cage, who plays with the same careful judgment that he showed back in 2013 in David Gordon Green’s Joe, for there’s equally assured acting from Alex Wolff whose role is almost as central as Cage’s. On the margins there is a notable cameo from Gretchen Corbett who comes across strongly.

At 92 minutes the film does not outstay its welcome and the originality to be found in Pig is admirably illustrated by a verbal confrontation scene in a posh restaurant involving Rob and a chef (David Knell). On the other hand, the film’s tone is sometimes less than certain: thus, the second of its three sections is entitled ‘Mom’s French Toast and Deconstructed Scallops’ which could be regarded as either pretentious or jokey and a recurrent talk on classical music heard on the car radio might be a running gag albeit that an extract from Verdi’s Requiem heard on the soundtrack is undoubtedly a serious moment. As for the film’s ultimate aim, that comes across in a way that avoids falling into sentimentality. Even so, there is a sense that Sarnoski is so caught up in developing his off-beat story that he fails to express fully the emotional core of the work. But, regardless of these qualifications, Pig emerges as a genuine curiosity and more than a footnote in the unusual career of Nicolas Cage.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin, David Knell, Darius Pierce, Gretchen Corbett, Kevin Michael Moore, Dalene Young, Julia Bray, Nina Belforte, Beth Harper, Davis King, Dana Millican.

Dir Michael Sarnoski, Pro Vanessa Block, Dimitra Tsingou, Thomas Benski, Ben Giladi, Dori Rath, Joseph Restanio, David Carrico, Adam Paulsen, Steve Tisch and Nicolas Cage, Screenplay Michael Sarnoski, from a story by him and Vanessa Block, Ph Patrick Scola, Ed Brett W. Bachman, Music Alexis Grapsas and Philip Klein, Costumes Jayme Hansen.

AI Film/Neon/BlockBox Entertainment/Escape Artists/Pulse Films/Saturn Films/Valparaiso Pictures/Endeavor Content-Altitude Film Entertainment.
92 mins. UK. 2021. Rel: 20 August 2021. Cert. 15.