Pig (2021)

Pig (2021)

2021 R 91 Minutes

Drama | Thriller

A truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregon wilderness must visit Portland to find the mysterious person who stole his beloved foraging pig.

Overall Rating

8 / 10
Verdict: Good

User Review

  • WHAT I LIKED: Michael Sarnoski's 'Pig' is a film that clearly and masterfully paints the picture of a man as he is now, and then slowly unravels who he used to be.

    Today, he's a truffle farmer called Robin who doesn't care about anything except his own simple joys since his partner died; choosing to live out in the wilderness with nothing except his menial tasks and the close relationship he has with his prized pig. Like the brilliant Tony in After Life, he's one of those characters who we instantly know has no time for the banal or unnecessary because he accepts the finality of death, and lumbers with an enduring and deflated physicality as a result. But, if that wasn't enough, at one point he even spells it out; "we don't have to care, we're all doomed anyway. What's the point?"

    Pretty soon into the film though, his pig is stolen, and he ends up in Portland with his pretentious young buyer (Alex Wolff) to get it back, and we slowly understand from the people he knows and the way that they treat him that he's an old legend in the restaurant trade. What's fascinating about that isn't so much the backtracking of his past though, it's more so the way he bulldozes through the uptight, society and money-obsessed traders he used to sit shoulder to shoulder with. That's partly because it's amusing to watch, but mainly because he rather brilliantly puts into perspective what is - or rather isn't - important. That only transcends so successfully though because on the one hand Cage's performance is so captivating and honest, and also because Sarnoski uses his camera to do so much of the talking; capturing small moments to paint a larger picture like only the most confident filmmakers do.

    WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: All the ominous reveals in the second act about who Robin used to be aren't all that interesting, because we know how he got to where is now from the moment he plays a tape from his late partner in the first five minutes.

    VERDICT: 'Pig' sees a fascinating character who lives his life by what's really important wade through what we slowly realise used to be his old, pretentious world. That's both amusing, and thematically poignant to watch.