Pig (4/5 Stars)

 

The “John Wick” franchise stars Keanu Reeves as an assassin retired from the life whose dog is killed. So he comes back and kills a lot of people. “Pig” is sort of like that. It stars Nicholas Cage as a chef retired from the life whose truffle pig is pignapped. So he comes back and devastates a lot of people emotionally.

This is a simple movie. The setup is as described above. Nicholas Cage lives alone in the woods with his pig. He strolls the woods looking for perfect truffles which he sells to a young wanna-be restaurateur (Alex Wolff) for big money. The truffles are then used to enliven the dishes of pretentious Portland restaurants. Nicholas Cage speaks little and does less. He has no technology, no electricity or even a phone in the woods. Then one night, a couple of junkies break into his shack and steal his pig. Nicholas Cage goes into the city to search for it. The movie is competently made has some sublime moments and a few confusing scenes.

Since there really isn’t much action and the plot is bare boned, the movie relies on the acting. And here Cage and the supporting actors put in fine work. Nicolas Cage is well cast in the main role. The man himself has been sort of in the movie wilderness for over a decade now as well. He does about five films a year almost all of them straight to video (I hear they are terrible, but admit I have not seen any of them). As an explanation, he says that he needs the money (he has made bad financial decisions before like buying a castle in Bavaria) and that he likes to work (he says that when he does not have the structure of a work day, he can be pretty self-destructive on his own). So it works to see him come in from the woods, walking around the city and refusing the take a shower or put on a fresh set of clothes. In one particularly good scene he explains to his anxious co-star that none of this matters. Every 200 years the Pacific Northwest suffers a catastrophic earthquake, the last occurring approximately 200 years ago. Those that survive the earthquake will die in the resulting tsunami. Cage delivers this line in a perfect monotone. It’s pretty funny.

Playing the foil is Alex Wolff, who I have seen several times before (Hereditary, Jumanji, Patriot’s Day, Bad Education) but still did not immediately recognize. I think it might be because his skin color seems to vary wildly depending on the lighting. I’m sure to recognize him next time. He does a serviceable job of not really holding his own with the Nicolas Cage character.

Pig has some sublime moments usually consisting of two men in a room talking to each other about meaning, grief, and pigs. It also has some confusing scenes. At one point, we are transported into an underground fight club for restaurant workers. Except it isn’t really a fight club. The fights consist of one person tied up and the other just punching them a bunch of times. I’m still not sure what that was about. But overall, I would recommend this movie. It’s likely better than the other four Nicolas Cage starred in this year. (Although I must admit I am generally intrigued by a movie coming out next year called The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent in which Nicolas Cage plays an actor named Nic Cage. That sounds fun.)