Sean Penn once referred to his longtime friend, Nicolas Cage, as a former actor. After a string of varying degrees of goodness and straight-to-video pictures over the years (except one magical magnificent one called Mandy), the Oscar-winning actor has largely gone unnoticed by the populous at large. That should change with Pig. He turns in an epic performance that is easily one of his best and is definitely his most subtly raw and real.
Cage is Rob, a man whose pig is not only the key to his livelihood (she’s a truffle pig), but his attachment to her is also stunningly charming and heartwarming. One night, some junkies break into his woodsy Oregon remote cabin, smack him over the head and bag the hog and take her into the night. When Rob awakes, his world is essentially ruined.
He enlists the help of Alex Wolff’s Amir, a friend who buys truffles from him. He and his sportscar are a stark contrast to the live in the woods Rob (and hardly ever showers Rob). But there is something about these two that connect. They drive each other crazy, but their working relationship is fruitful, and the Pacific Northwest-based duo is about to dive down a rabbit hole of mystery, danger, and yes, a pig.
The Oscar winner firmly is Rob. One can feel the coldness of his remote cabin emanate off him and into the air. You can also sense the deep adoration for the friendship and camaraderie of his pig—not to mention her uncanny ability to find the delicacy known as truffles. With Amir’s help, Rob takes off to Portland in search of the man behind the stealing of his best pal, his pig. He is not so much interested in justice. He simply wants his pig back. He even at one point states that “I don’t need the pig to find truffles. The trees tell me that.”
This is not about a man and his pig whose lucrative gift is certainly attractive. That’s not what makes this film so compelling and endearing. Pig is a love letter to anyone who has ever had a pet. Period. By love letter, it truly is more of a celebratory cinematic experience about camaraderie between animal and humanity. This is a relationship that has gone back millennian. The bond between animal and human is the closest connection we have.
A child or a spouse may have unconditional love for you, but in the end, there are issues that will arise over a marriage or a relationship that might challenge the “un” in unconditional. Not so with beasts. If you treat them right. Feed them, shelter them, and litter them with love, there is no greater adoration in the world.
That is Pig. It’s barely a 90-minute movie, yet Cage says so much with so little. His Rob is a loner if there ever was one. The remote cabin that inhabits merely him and his swine is the perfect abode for this guy, as Cage plays him. It is baron and seeps of simultaneous loneliness and loss.
We learn things about him as he and his lone pal (and truffle buyer) Amir make the journey to Portland, where they have a lead on the very person who may know where Rob’s hog is located.
Another spoke in the wheel of awesomeness that is Pig is how it doesn’t wrap it all up with a nice bow and fireworks. Its conclusion is as piercing as life itself, yet there is an abundance of hope that stems from Cage’s performance.
The actor’s Rob moves slowly, speaks slowly and generally moves at a much more sedate pace than anyone we come across in Pig. Yet, he is firmly determined on getting his beloved pig. Rob never shows violence or threatens a soul.
He simply asks about his pig and the desire he has for returning his beloved swine to his life is exemplary. Although he may not seem like the brightest bulb on the tree, he possess an innate and quiet intelligence that can appear threatening to some and supremely compelling to others.
Cage has crafted a character that the actor tackled from the ground up and inhabited as an individual who is as real and authentic as your nicest neighbor.
Some of Pig, would not work if it not for Wolff. The young actor “puts up” with Rob’s eccentricities because they have a business relationship with that fruitful. Besides, Amir’s father isn’t exactly the warmest fireplace in the mansion. He is not allowed to see Rob, yet he does anyway in an effort to prove to his father he is capable of being his own man.
Director Michael Sarnoski makes his big screen narrative debut with Pig, and it more comes off as a powerful cinematic achievement rather than a freshman narrative. He co-wrote the story with Vanessa Block and the pair have crafted a simple, yet a profound slice of storytelling that should have some serious legs.
Most movie fans love Nicolas Cage and are pulling for the award-winning actor to make movies again that are worthy of his immense and G-d given talent. It is tales such as Pig that arrive out of nowhere and remind us that in Hollywood, anything is possible. Who knew that a terrific tale about a man and a pig would serve as the triumphant return of one of our great actors?
How Pig wraps itself up is not into the neatest bow you have ever seen. But like the rest of the film, it is as raw and real as life itself.
Grade: A