This year’s first “exotic film” “Pig” appeared. Why is it strange? Because of its starring role, Nicholas Cage. The Hollywood king of the past, now the king of bad movies.
Nicholas Cage has almost no movies above the passing line in the past ten years. However, this new film has a huge reputation.
The freshness of rotten tomatoes directly hit 97%!
Even more curious is still to come, Nicholas Cage’s partner in this film is actually…a pig.
That’s right, Nicholas Cage, who is nearly 60 years old, is about to stage “the wonderful fate of man and pig.”
What kind of film is this?
Today, let’s take a look at the truth-“Pig”
This film really shows the temperament of a wonderful movie everywhere, even the title.
Cage is very close to Keanu Reeves’ temperament in the film, always with a shaggy, bloody look.
Related Post: Nicolas Cage starred in “Pig” first exposure Trailer .
And the former has pigs and the latter has dogs, both of which are designed by people who love animals.
Naturally, many people think that this is an imitation of “John Wick”.
For 92 minutes, Cage didn’t fight anyone at all. The only action scene was when he was beaten.
His face is full of color, and the blood is not someone else’s, it’s his own.
Everyone was looking forward to a bloody revenge story, but it was a low-key literary film that was waiting for it.
Rob, played by Cage, lives alone in the deep forest. His daily activity is to find truffles in the forest and make a living from it.
The only companion is his truffle pig, a pig that can find truffles by smell.
One person, one pig, just like the one person, one dog match in “John Wick”.
From a distance, it doesn’t feel so easy to provoke.
The next development is indeed a bit like “John Wick”. Rob’s house was broken into in the middle of the night by two strangers.
He was beaten to the ground, and could only watch his pig being snatched away. The only companion was snatched away, how could Rob bear it.
He found Amir, the middleman who bought truffles, and embarked on a pig-hunting journey.
Why must I find this pig back?
On the one hand, because this is not an ordinary pig. It has a good smell and can find the best truffles in the woods.
Good truffles can often be sold at high prices.
So when the truffle buyer heard that the best pig had been robbed, they blew up.
On the other hand, this truffle pig is the last thought left to Rob by his deceased wife. To snatch the pig is to snatch the only memories left by his wife.
No, you must get it back.
Amir originally thought that Rob was a truffle seller, but this time he gradually realized that this man was very difficult.
Rob knows the most secret hotel in the city, where he can get all the information he wants to know.
The premise is that as long as it is sufficiently resistant to beatings. And Rob is a hidden tough guy.
Going up and directly writing his name on the wall, everyone was discouraged. Few people dare to challenge him, and most people are in awe of him.
The two came to the top restaurant in the city, and as soon as they sat down, they asked the chef for questioning. Unexpectedly, Rob knew the chef and treated him arrogantly.
It came up as a general saying: After so many years, your cooking is still so unpalatable and soulless.
It turns out that Rob was a master chef in the dining circle many years ago, and he even fired the chef’s squid.
At the end, Rob found that it was Amir’s father who took the pig.
The pig robbing was not because of any old grudges with Rob, but because he wanted to disturb Huang’s son’s truffle business.
In this way, if his son fails to start his own business, he can honestly go home and inherit his family business.
To put it simply, Rob is just an innocent person who accidentally dripped into the muddy water.
Seeing this, the audience could not contain their excitement. After so long, is it finally about to start?
Maybe Cage will roar in the next second: I didn’t provoke you to provoke you, why are you fucking my pig?
Immediately opened the “madness mode” to kill for his own pigs.
Unexpectedly, Rob moved out another set of special skills-cooking.
This way of revenge is really fresh and refined.
How does “John Wick” take revenge?
You move my dog and I kill all of you.
How does “Pig” take revenge?
You move my pig, I will make a meal to help you.
In this way, Rob moved his enemies to a mess with the power of food.
What about pigs?
Sorry, the pig was accidentally killed a long time ago.
After watching the film, the audience was also a little confused.
That’s it?
No play, not cool enough. It’s not revenge, not enough to burn.
After reading it, I realized that this is not the same type as “John Wick” at all.
In fact, this film is more biased towards a literary film.
The overall dullness, slow pace, and a lot of unspoken lines, which directly led to a very few audiences who could really finish it.
But as long as you finish watching it, you will find that this film is not the same as the traditional art film.
It has been doing one thing-subversion.
First, the formal subversion
The title has “pig”, but the role of the pig is very rare. Looking for pigs is only the motivation, and the food is the clue.
Food connects the emotions between people and forms an unbreakable bond. With this, we can get a glimpse into the inner world of the character.
For Chef Rob, food is his way of expressing emotions. Don’t look at him being unsmiling, in fact, he poured all the love into the food.
For example, he would share the food made by himself with Truffle Pig because he regards the pig as his family.
The pig is not only the sustenance of his current emotions, but also the memories of his past and his wife. In this way, the pig has an unshakable position in his heart.
After returning to the city for pigs, it became logical.
There is also a scene where Amir’s father is impressed with a burning bird at the end. Amir’s parents always quarrel, only one day the family is particularly harmonious.
They went to a restaurant that day, and the roasted birds were extremely delicious.
Now, the time has passed. Amir’s mother was ill in bed, and the relationship between father and son was disagreeable, and the family was already broken.
The only good memory I have is that meal of burning birds. And it was Rob who was the chef.
After a lapse of more than ten years, Rob once again reproduced the delicacy of the year and made up for the rift in the relationship between father and son.
Instead of calling it a literary and artistic film in general, it is better to call it a gourmet film that tells family stories.
Second, the subversion of the characters.
Without seeing the end, it is impossible to guess the true identities of the characters.
For example, Rob in front has always been covered with mist, making people unable to see through. His speech was fierce, and his sloppy clothes couldn’t hide his rough temperament.
In the underground hotel, he was like a former gang boss. Who would have thought that he was once a famous chef.
In addition, the large amount of blank space in the film also leaves too much room for the audience to imagine.
For example, Rob has been listening to his wife’s video tape, but he has never listened to it completely. But more introduction, let the audience realize that this is a man who can’t get out of the pain of his wife’s death.
With this method, the film retains the faint sense of sadness to the end.
Everyone was looking forward to a hearty fight, only to wait for the calmest dinner.
When I learned that the truffle pig had died. Rob, who had been expressionless before, finally broke down and cried.
It was supposed to be the climax of the whole film, but it was silenced, and it became a silent heartbreak.
The anti-climax ending design makes the whole character more vivid. He is not a fighter, just an ordinary person who can’t get out of his memories.
Finally, emotional subversion.
Although not another “John Wick”, but this film has a very heavy core.
How can people who have lost their loved ones reconcile with themselves? This is the core issue of the film.
It is not so much a pig-hunting journey as it is a road to redemption.
There is no revenge in the film. All we can see is the process of salvation for a man.
Going out of the forest to rescue pigs is actually opening a closed atrium. No longer evade the fact that his wife has passed away, but gradually accept it.
It’s like the end of the film crying when he learns that the pig is dead. Rob was crying a pig, and at the same time he truly admitted that his wife was dead.
When he returned to the dying hut again, he finally listened to his wife’s videotape.
“I want to return to the pig so much, just because I love her.”
In fact, there is another detail in the film that is easily overlooked-Rob only washes his face once at the end of the film.
Before that, there was always color on the face. The blood gradually coagulated into blood scabs, and the face became more and more dirty.
He even finished a big meal with this dirty look.
Finally, washing off the blood stains meant that he had reconciled with himself.
If you connect with reality, you can find that Rob is almost a contrast to the protagonist Nicholas Cage.
It was once famous for its infinite scenery. Now he has fallen to the edge, fighting against the trapped beast.
As we all know, Nicholas Cage became famous when he was young and won the Oscar trophy. Because of being too extravagant and divorced several times, he owed huge debts.
In order to pay off the debt, so many bad films were shot, so that they were called “box office poison” for a long time.
So that every time a new film is released, some netizens ridicule: “Has the Cage debt been paid off?”
However, although Cage made bad films, his acting skills have never been improved. As long as it is a show-faced movie, the one who gets the most praise is definitely “The Treasure Sword Is Not Old”.
For example, “Mandy” contributed very crazy acting skills.
“Willy’s Wonderland”, you can still see the strength without saying a word.
Today’s Cage has no glory in the past. But as long as it is his role, there is still no shortage of things to watch.
Just like Rob in the film, although the scenery is not there, his culinary skills can still amaze everyone.
It is estimated that many viewers hope that Cage will return to the mainstream vision as soon as possible.
Films like “Pig” are destined to only spark discussion in the niche circles. After the hustle and bustle, like Rob in the movie, he went back to the little room that no one cares about.
It is a pity that talents are not fully displayed. Fortunately, the current Cage has some “rejuvenation” trends.
Not long ago, the documentary “History of Swear Words” made its debut on the small screen and received good response. Later, he played his own “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”.
And “National Treasure 3: The Mystery of Star Rock” 15 years later. According to this trend, it is a matter of time for Cage to stand up.
Hurry up, old man!
Related Post: Nicolas Cage and his wife appeared at the premiere of “Pig” .
