Pig (2021).

“I don’t fuck my pig.”

Directed by Michael Sarnoski

Written by Michael Sarnoski

Starring Nic Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin, and a pig that looks like Ron Swanson

The Stage.

A secluded truffle farmer named Rob is assaulted and his cute little foraging pig is stolen. With the help of his buyer, Amir, he heads to Portland to get his pig back.

The Review.

I don’t watch trailers, all I’d heard is that Pig was going to be like some John Wick-style story in which a person who has way more to them than you’d realize goes to get an animal back from the bad guys. So I sat down to watch this film and that’s definitely the plot, but instead of being some kind of badass assassin, Cage plays an ex-chef, and instead of using guns to get to the bottom of things, he uses words and relationships. Never did I think that I’d get teary eyed by the end of it.

Nicolas Cage is Rob, a man who lives out in the woods with his pig. Together, they forage for truffles, a rare fungus that grows under the soil, which they sell to Amir every Thursday so that he can sell them to local restaurants. Rob is a recluse. We find out early on that he’s got some trauma in his past and he seems to have no friends or connections to anyone aside from his swine. Nicolas Cage’s performance in this is his best in years, I would not be surprised to see him nominated for an Oscar for this role. If you’re coming for the patented meme-worthy freak outs, you’re not going to find those here. You’re instead going to find a nuanced, subtle performance as Rob is forced to go through various layers of the truffle trade to find out who has taken his friend.

At first, it feels like Pig might get into exploitative territory but it quickly switches direction to a much more cerebral place. This isn’t an action movie and it sure as hell isn’t a revenge story. It’s a tale of dealing with grief by three different people. Rob is an ex-chef, one who cared less about the food he was serving and more about the people he was serving. He never forgets a face and never forgets a meal, and he uses these skills to find who took his pig by tugging at heartstrings and having real conversations with people that he used to know.

There’s a brilliant scene in which Amir and Rob find themselves at a fancy, upscale Portland restaurant. The waitress is spouting off about the complicated food, a truffle, deconstructed scallop combo flash frozen as the sea and forest meet, blah, blah, blah. Afterward, Rob calls over the chef, who recognizes him and sits down. See, he worked for Rob for two months fifteen years ago…but Rob never forgets a face. It’s in this scene that we know all we need to know about Rob. He speaks to the chef’s heart, asking him why he does what he does. And in the scene, we see this chef cracking before our eyes as he realizes that what he’s doing is all bullshit. Every actor is pitch perfect in this scene - David Knell as Chef Finway is trying to keep a smile on his face to fool the customers who ultimately don’t give a damn about him as his soul is quietly crushed on camera. Rob, staring into his eyes spouting truth and Amir, awkwardly watching this all go down. It’s one of my favorite scenes this year.

Speaking of Amir, Alex Wolff is so perfect in this role. At first he seems like your typical big city hipster douche, and as we go through the story we learn so much about why he’s the way he is and we begin to empathize with him. He’s going through his own tale of grief while trying to measure up to a father that he shouldn’t be looking up to in the first place. Who knew there would be so much power in simply turning a radio off. His father is played by Adam Arkin as a gangster who evokes menace, but at his core is also just working through things in his own way. I loved how everyone in this film is layered in shades of gray. No one is as one-dimensional as movies often portray.

The End.

In a way, I think that Nicolas Cage’s performance in Pig is an allegory to the film itself. Cage is a man who seems like the butt of Hollywood jokes, and many people probably only say they like him ironically for those performances like The Wicker Man or the DTV crap he’s been in, just as those who see Rob make fun of him as they drive away. But at his core, Nic Cage is a fucking great actor with an Oscar on his mantle, and just as Rob comes out of the woods to show Portland he’s still here, Cage comes out of the woods to show you what the fuck he can do. This is acting, and all that other bullshit doesn’t matter.

Pig is fucking awesome. It’s a tour de force of acting and an example that even a simple story, if written and acted well, can have a big impact.