Film Review: Pig
Images courtesy of Neon.
Robin Field is a chef in self-imposed exile. In his spare time Rob goes truffle hunting with his beloved pig. What happens when the dark underworld of truffle farming bites back and steals the best pig on the market? Nicolas Cage has had more eccentric roles in the past, but Pig is still a highlight in his impressive catalogue.
Pig’s premise is definitely a potential reality in 2021: a hipster lumberjack bereft of dependence on money, who cooks exquisite delicacies in his wood hut with Miss Piggy burrowing enough product to pay rent for a penthouse in Dubai. That doesn’t mean it’s not still absolutely silly when shown on the screen. In a tense reunion with a former employee, Rob presses the now highly successful, high-class chef on why he didn’t start a burger shop instead.
These kind of silly punchline premises sit at the core of Pig and offer some of its best moments. On paper this movie screams overtures of John Wick, but in practice Cage masters his art of the awkward to subvert expectations wherever possible before crashing gripping emotion onto the audience.
The sudden flashes of emotion, usually depression but sometimes fury, create a level of tension throughout the film that keeps viewers in a suspended state of emotions. This compliments both Pig and Cage as their shared flare for the weird hits harder when we don’t know whether tears or laughs are arriving with each scene.
Themes of grief and redemption are entertained throughout Pig as Rob struggles to recover from a former loss and his city slicking truffle-buyer, Amir, yearns for approval. Rob’s unadulterated confidence contrasts well with Amir’s crippling self-consciousness as the two hit the mean streets of Portland, where Amir has a struggling reputation to uphold. Rob’s own diminished reputation on the concrete streets helps him adapt to the new, 21st century truffle industry.
My infatuation with the truffle schtick is the absurdity in it. Like I said, sure, this could certainly happen today. But how twisted is director Michael Sarnoski, in his directorial debut, to make us even use the phrase ‘truffle underworld’. Couple this with the running gag where Rob doesn’t shower, so we get to see him slowly disintegrate into the human equivalent of a mashed potato throughout the movie, and I’m hooked.
Pig highlights the importance of destruction in the process of restoration. Only when life has reached its absolute limits can a humbling acceptance be reached, upon where peace can finally be restored.
Pig is showing in select cinemas and streaming online now.