PIG reminds us that Nicolas Cage is still terrific
Nicolas Cage delivers his best performance in a decade in this character-centric film.
I won’t lie, upon seeing a movie titled PIG starring Nicolas Cage, I giggled once. OK, I may have laughed a little more. This enigmatic actor has involved himself in quite a few curious roles over the past decade, including a slew of direct-to-DVD movies. Yet, a supporting role in SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is also on his resume. So, he can make good choices, they just have not sprung for a bit.
Naturally, that kept me hesitant on PIG. Was this just another Cage film among the 10 he’s appeared in since the start of 2019? Was this destined to become the internet’s next big meme?
Well, it turned out to be much more than that.
Interested in seeing an audio/visual version of our PIG analysis? Watch the video below and subscribe to my YouTube channel!
PIG is a hunt; a journey to find Nicolas Cage’s Rob’s truffle pig, which is used to locate truffles in forests. Truffles are kind of, sort of, a delicacy, so they are expensive add-ons when used towards a restaurant’s dish. Thus, Rob’s pig has value and is stolen from him within the film’s first 10 minutes in the most action this 90-minute feature sees, beyond #NicolasCagefury kicking in a car door.
Rob is a layered character, and PIG sets out to unravel him. Attribute that to Cage’s nuanced performance, staying subtle but direct when speaking and using his exterior to show the hell he has been through. That’s while Alex Wolff’s Amir is the audience’s outlet, telling us along the way what he’s learning about Rob’s uncomfortable past.
Some figures appear, and some do not. Some represent the best of Rob’s life, while others represent the part of his life he left behind, to his choice or not. In any instance, these figures are important towards the overall goal.
One particular scene shows Cage’s Rob going head-to-head with an ex-employee. He creates tension by shredding this man to pieces with words from the past, belittling him into providing information. Rob tears this man down to the point of chugging a glass of wine, moving on to the next part of his plan.
To extract a crucial piece of information on the pig, Rob pulls a similar act, instead he doesn’t use words but food to enact a tension so dense, so uncomfortable, that he makes the film’s antagonist cower to drinking heavy liquor and spilling the truth.
Give a round of applause to director Michael Sarnoski for routinely finding unusual ways to harbor tension in a very abnormal film.
While the ultimate mission is finding the precious animal, PIG is more than just searching for a path to a truffle fungus. It covers grief and how we conquer or shutter in it, and the complexities of the spotlight, since the film uncovers who Rob is and what he does beyond appearing as a defeated, aging man.
Rob has a unique connection with the pig, defying just hunting for truffles. It’s getting difficult to avoid spoilers at this point, but to be as vague as possible, the pig is a replacement, and potentially losing the pig brings Rob to a crossroads of finding peace because he is clearly a troubled man from his time in the spotlight and from no one by his side.
PIG is more than meets the eye. Sarnoski gently places pieces to the puzzle on the board as the film rolls, and Cage is the look and feel of everything to it. Plus, Neon lands yet another unique movie to build its archives. It’s a good movie, with a performance potentially sneaking Cage into the 2022 awards conversation. Given the treatment of DA 5 BLOODS last year, however, I just wonder if PIG arrived too early.
Awards aside, Cage’s 2021 slate is over. He returns with THE RETIREMENT PLAN and THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT, featuring Cage playing a fictionalized version of himself. I’m not kidding. I have no idea what to expect from that, but if I had to assume, Cage will return to his usual ridiculousness.
You know what? That’s just fine. Keep doing your thing and, sure enough, the next PIG will arrive.