A film about Nick Cage and a Pig. Doesn’t sound great does it. With Nick Cage, you can never quite tell what to expect though. I’m pleased to report that this isn’t as bonkers it might sound or could be with Cage. Here he plays Rob, a frazzled looking outdoorsman living with his truffle hunting pig in the Oregon wilderness. Now let me say right at the start, this is one very cute pig. She’s covered in sandy coloured fur and has bags of personality… for a pig. We’re engineered to like her and Rob. We don’t like Amir (Alex Wolff), at least I don’t. He brings chaos, more than he realises, but he’ll have chance to redeem himself. When Pig is stolen, it’s genuinely gut wrenching and Rob finds himself back in Portland, facing his past to restore his future. Rob is slow, purposeful, methodical. The film matches his tempo and it’s full of surprises. Without ever losing its authentic edge we skirt through the seedy underbelly of the city and a world that Rob needs to navigate in his zen-like way to restore his peaceful and tranquil existence. For all it’s dark and dirt, it’s beautifully shot. Appreciative of its location, it’s colour, it’s climate. Cage is brilliant. Impressively understated where required. Adam Arkin as the bad guy nemesis almost steals the show, but this is Cage’s film and despite its twists the goal is simple, “We’re getting my pig back”. Bleak and dramatic, never really funny but oddly entertaining. It’s full of heart, I mean full to the brim… and the pig is cute.
7/10
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