Pig

In Pig, Robin (Nicolas Cage), a truffle hunter, has his truffle pig stolen. Rob goes looking for his pig, helped unwillingly by truffle buyer Amir (Alex Wolff). Rob’s search takes him from his hermit-like existence, off the grid in the Oregon wilderness, to the seedy side of Portland’s up-market restaurant subculture.

The film’s opening sequence has shots of the Oregon wilderness, and Rob and said pig’s life there, from the air, underwater, at ground level and sweeping through the trees as our protagonists forage for truffles. There is very little human speech in these opening scenes, very little music, and the sounds of living things in the forest, and the earth itself, claim our attention. I found this to be very moving and for best results listen through headphones as I did.

Rob’s contact with the outside world is Amir who visits Rob once a week to exchange food and supplies for Rob’s truffles. Amir is a shiny, slick example of 21st century vapidity, while Rob seems to rarely change his clothes or bathe. Rob never speaks a lie and Amir never says anything that is true despite not lying very much. Nothing profane passes Rob’s lips but Amir mistakes profanity for vocabulary and true feelings.

Rob wanders through the film like Jesus on the way to Golgotha and like John Michael McDonagh’s film Calvary, there is an element of the ‘stations of the cross’ to his journey. Eventually Rob meets the thief (Darius played by Adam Arkin) and there is a showdown.

This is a film about redemption, grief, the possibilities of grace and forgiveness, the need for functional fathers, and the intrinsic value in good things and decent work.

Generally speaking there are two violent scenes in the film: The first is mainly hidden by darkness which intensifies the scene and the other is at a fight club. If this concerns you, reasonable warning is given via the flow of events and these scenes can be skipped in need.

© The Grumpy Old Dilettante, 2021