Some might term this the decline of his career, that he is slumming it, but to Cage it's just another gig. He has been starring in more and more direct-to-DVD low-budget thrillers, as have John Travolta and Bruce Willis, who both rarely seem to attach themselves to theatrical releases at this stage of their careers. The man owned his own island and named his son after Superman's birth name. Nicolas Cage has long been an actor defined by excess to the point that he has a catalogue of outsized performances with ironic air quotes attached to them. To that end, you can see the parallels with the main character and Cage's own career. Maybe he won't, but Rob reminds him and us how little time we have and to really spend it on the passions that positively consume us. Maybe this man will proceed with his dream of opening a pub.
It still is, and the fact that this man not only remembers him but also remembers his exact dream and calls him out, it's like having an intervention from someone who you never knew cared as much as they did. The man is initially defensive, citing the local market, but then he has to sit and think it over. He does, and Rob asks this man about his old dream, which was to open a pub-style restaurant, and why he capitulated.
It takes a moment but the chef recognizes Rob and is starstruck and asks if Rob remembers him working in Rob's own restaurant. There's a standout scene where Rob and Amir are dining at a fancy restaurant and Rob asks to meet the chef. This movie, called Pig, is bracingly sincere. There is no irony to be found here, folks. It's very much about different people dealing with pain and sorting through heartbreak, disappointment, disconnection, and taking stock of one's delayed pursuit of happiness.
But this movie isn't a gonzo Cage irony fest. There's a reason the tagline for the film is, "We don't get a lot of things to really care about." If you're expecting a gonzo Cage irony fest, this sincere summation will seem completely mismatched. It's about loss but ultimately it's a movie about chasing your dreams. There is an elegiac tenderness that permeates the whole experience. This movie feels deeply personal for Cage. This is unlike any Cage movie and, in its own way, feeds on the culmination of his own career of movies great and far from great. There are deeper themes and messages here, and the fact that they're attached to a movie starring Nicolas Cage where he must find his stolen pig is all the most bizarre and exciting. Pig is really more a meditative and reflective character study to unpack slowly.
The missing pig is the catalyst to bring Rob (Nicolas Cage) back from the outskirts of Oregon and to retrace the old haunts of his old life, but the pig is more a symbol of companionship and traces back to his time with his deceased wife (another John Wick nod?). There is no real action in the movie at all. On the surface, it appears like it's going to be another John Wick clone, with criminals stealing the beloved animal of a loner who happens to be a dangerous man who unleashes a path of vengeance. Whatever you may think Pig will be, chances are that you will be wrong. At risk of sounding Dad-jokey, the only thing that hogs the scenery is his porcine friend. He deserves the highest praise for committing to such an oddly touching, gorgeously quiet story. It's a shame the trailer elicits laughs when Cage utters lines like, "Who has my pig?" Clearly they want to sell the actor's neo-gonzo persona, but Cage brings so much depth and seriousness to this project, only raising his voice once. The film finds beauty in a bite of food, a breath of air, or simply the compassion between two main characters who have seemingly little in common. It's a great calling card, not only for Sarnoski, but also for his talented cinematographer Patrick Scola, who brings a painterly quality to every single image. He asks his only connection to the outside world, Amir, played wonderfully by Alex Wolff, to drive him through Portland's dark underbelly to retrieve his pet companion.Īlthough the film takes us to a rather unbelievable "Fight Club" moment, it generally holds its mood with credibility. Caked in dirt, blood and looking not so much like a homeless man but as a person who died inside a thousand times over, Nicholas Cage gives one of his best performances ever as a man who seeks the truth at all costs. Writer-director Michael Sarnoski makes an auspicious feature debut with the story of a man searching for his stolen truffle-hunting pig.