PIG: Nicolas Cage Movie Review

Pig 2021 Movie

If I tell you there is a movie, in which a  reclusive, aging man lives alone with his pet, but his peace is disturbed by intruders who mess with a said pet, so now he is so determined to find these people that he’s willing to come out of his exile and make his name known once again...

Hey, everyone! I’m Maheshwari, this is Modmax, and I actually had full intentions of talking about M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old” today, but honestly, that movie wasn’t great, and I cannot stop thinking about “Pig”. The last thing I was looking forward to was a movie where Nicolas Cage was looking for his stolen pork truffle to shake my heart, but ... here we are!

Let me start by telling you what “Pig” is not. Despite what it sounds like, “Pig” is not a “John Wick” movie that subs in Nicolas Cage and his truffle pig - rather this is an anti “John Wick” movie that gives you a familiar setup only to subvert your expectations.

Where “John Wick” offers vigilante justice and expertly choreographed fight sequences, “Pig” is almost a healing experience that challenges you to pause and consider what you truly care about, and how pain might have changed your worldview.

Now, if you weren’t aware that truffle hunting can be a cutthroat business with a dark side - you are not alone. The film’s writer-director Michael Sarnoski was also surprised by this discovery, and the story about a man so attached to his pig that he would be willing to go out searching for it after what is essentially a home invasion episode soon began to take shape.

But, as I mentioned, do not expect this to be a revenge story with another over-the-top performance from Nicolas Cage - “Pig” is, surprisingly, a lot more introspective than that. In his feature film debut, Sarnoski wanted to explore the way grief and loss can shape a person’s worldview.

He mentions he was particularly interested in grief’s “long-term, perception-defining aspects that weave into our lives and the bedrock of our consciousness. How can we build walls around us that separate us from others”. All that being said, “Pig” is not a downer - a lot of it has to do with healing and realizing what actually matters, with processing that pain and coming out on the other end.

Our main character’s quest is not about payback - it’s about restoring the peace that’s been disturbed. The opening of the film is almost a meditative experience and by the way, if you’re looking for a beautifully shot film - this is the one for you. We see a man coexisting with nature, and we feel that peace and harmony with the help of gorgeous cinematography, sound design, and camerawork - nothing about Rob’s routine is hectic or rushed...

That is, of course, until we meet Amir - a young truffle seller, played by Alex Wolff, whose chaotic presence immediately clashes with Rob’s world. Even the way these guy talks feels out of place, while Rob doesn’t utter a single word during this encounter.

"You know, animals are like shit here ..." And then the peace was really broken - Rob's house was invaded by strangers, and his pigs were stolen, which leaves him no choice but to rejoin the world he left behind, and search for his lost companion. For this task, he recruits the only person he’s been in contact with - Amir, and the pairing of the two opposites is nothing short of hilarious.

But of course, this is also where the young man learns some important lessons from Rob, realizing that the two have more in common than it might seem, and where we get another Oscar-worthy performance from Nicolas Cage. Seriously, the man deserves another Academy Award nomination for this one.

Nicolas Cage is a fascinating actor, and while many of us expect to be entertained by his over-the-top, extremely charismatic acting style, it’s no secret that he can also deliver powerful, emotional performances, and with “Pig” that is exactly what we get.

Throughout the film, we slowly begin to see the man behind the recluse - we piece together who Rob is, the pain and loss that haunt him, and how he got to this life he now leads.

What completely disarmed me were the moments that could only be described as quiet intensity, the scenes where Rob’s character could have used force to intimidate the people he was talking to, but instead, he refused to play their game and challenged them to drop the bullshit, to remember what caring and filling your life with meaning feels like.

It is during these scenes that I found myself tearing up, cathartic moments be damned, and they are the emotional core of the film. Nicolas Cage staring into your soul, telling you “we don't get a lot of things to really care about” is what makes “Pig” the special, subversive experience it is. And I loved it.

This might sound dramatic, but it’s been a while since I had a film ground me and affect me as much as “Pig” did, and that is not at all what I expected from it. So yeah, “Pig” is an anti-John Wick film, and it is a must-watch.

It’s a character study and an exploration of grief and pain. It’s intense, introspective, subversive, atmospheric, and powerful. Its moments of peace and silence are a juxtaposition to the noisy, superficial world we live in.

These days we are surrounded by countless things fighting for our attention, and telling us how to define success and happiness. We give our time away to these things as if it is limitless. We shut down, we build walls to protect our emotions, we distance ourselves from others, and we often turn to get more… stuff, as if that is going to fix our problems.

But “Pig” challenges us to look back at what made us build those walls, to examine whether or not we really care about the things we're doing and why we do them. It’s a film about finding connection and meaning, about accepting that nothing is permanent, which makes caring about someone or something even more important.

And only through facing our pain and allowing ourselves to care can we restore our inner peace. Thank you friends for reading this article till the end. I hope you enjoyed it, and I really do hope you give this film a chance.