Medieval epics are pretty standard fare in Hollywood history, but there is something exceptional of Green Knight—out now on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital formats. The 14th-century take on the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight presents a cornucopia of issues from self-doubt, familial obligations to honor itself. Think of it as a cousin to the Knights of the Roundtable and our hero comes from the most unlikely of sources.
Dev Patel (Hotel Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire) stars as Sir Gawain, who is the nephew of the king of his kingdom and someone the royal believes in as continuing their principality’s future. In the middle of a Christmas celebration, a monstrous tree-like creature on horseback enters the room and lays down a challenge, fight me here today, then one year from this day, come to my church and battle me. Then, he kneels and allows Sir Gawain to cut off his head.
Patel’s character knows that even as love has found him at home and safety surrounds him, he gave his word that he would venture seven days travel to the north to hold up his end of the bargain. What waits for him (and why) is one of the film’s great mysteries and as the narrative progresses, absolutely nothing is black and white—and that’s exactly how it should be portrayed. I’d say guessing is the name of the game in The Green Knight, but one is too wrapped up in the forward momentum of the plot that the act of trying to predict where filmmakers have us heading on this quest doesn’t even cross the mind. We don’t have the mental time and space for such follies.
Sir Gawain is a headstrong man of honor and one who keeps his word. Since the Green Knight knelt before Sir Gawain and essentially allowed his head to be severed, this entire endeavor has felt a tad askew. Also, the fact that there is a room full of knights sitting around a circular table directly in front of their king and not one of them volunteers for the initial fight, well, that says a whole lot about the knights, but mostly about Sir Gawain.
There is a fantastical element to The Green Knight, which is congruent of this medieval timeline, and it tends to rear its head at the most unlikely of moments and is also one more thing that Gawain has to take in as he attempts to remain focused on what could be the struggle of his life. He has seen much in his several decades on this planet, but nothing can prepare him for a sword and the stone level of fate, action, and richly crafted dialogue.
An epic fantasy adventure, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Patel), and everything he goes through from a slightly timid royal nephew to someone whose own story could rival King Arthur’s. It’s a treacherous trail he undertakes, and one made all the more challenging by the reveal that Sir Gawain is in fact, learning along the way about everything.
King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom.
Writer-director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon, Ghost) has a personal passion project on his hands and it comes through on every frame of film. He is a magnificent storyteller. That is evident with the ever-developing layers of drama, familial entanglements, and the overall progression of the narrative throughout its 125-minute running time. Lowery also illustrates his command of the art of film with who he chose to head the various departments that are integral to his film working, being compelling, believable, and most important… resonant.
The filmmaker has taken the 14ty century Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and given it a bold and fresh take on a seven-century-old tale. It will leave audiences staring at their screens as the credits roll facing a seemingly endless spat of welcomed introspection that speaks volumes about what has just been witnessed. Daniel Hart’s score will rip your heart out with its uncanny ability to not only transport a soul to a different time and space but also adding heaps of emotive layering to Lowery’s visuals and prose. Meanwhile, director of photography, aka cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo effortlessly put the emphasis on that “bold” take on a 700-year-old tale, all while moving his audience in every sense of that word. For just over two hours, the viewer is firmly on a movie magic carpet ride to another plane and time. It is mesmerizing how The Old Man and the Gun filmmaker has taken his gifted artists across a myriad of creative corners and united them in such a way that greatness emerges onscreen, but also off-screen as well.
Female protagonists in films of this era could easily be afterthoughts given the reality of those days. Yet, Lowery keenly knows about those trailblazers of that time who he encapsulated by penning brilliant female characters for his ensemble’s triumphant performances. Such as Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Essel and “The Lady,”), Sarita Choudhury’s mother (of Gawain), Anaïs Rizzo’s Helen, and Noelle Brown’s Madam command the screen as intensely as the King (Sean Harris) and Joel Edgerton’s The Lord.
Vikander continues her tsunami of talent expression that won her an Academy Award for The Theory of Everything, illustrated her action vigor expressed in Tomb Raider and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and furthered her breadth of command of period pieces with The Danish Girl (classical) to the more modern and equally as important The Glorias where she inhabited none other than Gloria Steinem.
Edgerton is fabulous as The Lord. He is someone who gives Gawain shelter and a place to rest before his fateful clash. As Lowery crafted him, he is a soul who is full of knowledge but not necessarily restricted to swords and shields, and that may be his greatest gift for the collective known as a motion picture.
Since Patel wowed us in Slumdog Millionaire, his resume looks like a laundry list of the spice of life, variety. He earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the stunning Lion in 2017 and his superb work in Hotel Mumbai should have also been accomplished with a little Oscar love. His drama-driven comedic work in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel) showed that there is nothing the London-born thespian cannot achieve. In fact, his work in The Green Knight suddenly has this Dan Stevens for James Bond thinking that perhaps Patel is exactly who producers should be looking at.
There’s an art to commanding the attention of an audience as an actor for over two hours. He did it in Slumdog, more than achieved that elusive excellence in Hotel Mumbai, and with his gift that is his work in The Green Knight has proven he is one of the best performers of his generation. His arch in his latest film is such that a lesser performer would have floundered at best and drowned in the character’s weight at the most.
A terrific “making-off” leads our look at the bonus features of the Blu-ray for The Green Knight. Boldest of Blood and Wildest of Heart: Making The Green Knight. At 35 minutes, finally a film’s “how did they do that” featurette is given the proper time to enlighten while it wholeheartedly entertains. Interviews from the set that are featured on bonus features, can sometimes feel a tad rote. Not so with The Green Knight. The insight provided by the cast and crew about the making of this Medieval-set masterpiece enhances the entire experience by multitudes.
Practitioners of Magic: Visual Effects rightfully puts the spotlight on the supremely talented group of individuals who brought what only existed in Lowery’s brain to vivid life. What’s especially fascinating about this featurette is how the use of green screen was kept to a minimum, thus adding so much to the palpable reality of those days that Lowery brought to life in The Green Knight. Instead in the name of keeping it as “real” as possible, effects personal added CGI to live-action elements. It’s a unique method, but the payoff is huge.
Last—but not least—Lowery smartly adds a featurette to explore the title designer, Teddy Blanks. Illuminating Technique: Title Design is an almost 18-minute interview and behind-the-scenes shots of Blanks doing his thing as he educates the viewer in the finer arts of title sequence creation. Now, that’s something we sadly don’t get to experience with most home video products.
Leave it to the insightful, inspiring, and all-out adventurous The Green Light to possess that kind of foresight.
Film Grade: A
Bonus Features: A