Courtesy of Neon Pictures
Pig stars the great Nicolas Cage in one of his best performances ever. Cage plays a man named Robin Feld, who is searching for his pig after it was kidnapped. The film also stars Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin. This is one of Cage's best performances of his career. He is going to get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Cage has been having a career renaissance lately. With roles in Mandy, Spider-Man: Into The Spider Verse, Willy's Wonderland, and now Pig, Cage is proving he is a great actor once again.
Pig is directed by Michael Sarnoski. This is Sarnoski's feature film debut and he smashes it out the park. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and sets the tone for the film. The color gradient also gives a vibe to what the movie is about. This is a movie about love, loss, and grief, and how you move on from that. Cage's character lives in the middle of the wilderness, in a log cabin. His life wasn't always like that and you find out why he lives like this. You find out why he loves that pig so much. I won't give anything away, but the movie is heartbreaking. It makes you think about life and what's really important. You see this with the character Amir, played by Alex Wolff. In the beginning of the film, Amir is a successful, slick asshole with a nice car. He treats Robin with disrespect and only uses him for his product. Robin uses Amir to help try to find his pig and Amir is reluctant at first, but as the film goes on Amir starts to realize how much Robin needs his pig. He finds out why Robin lives the way he does and sympathizes with him. Amir is going through something similar and they start to build a real friendship. Watching their friendship progress was a highlight for me. The best scenes were between Robin and Amir, revealing their hardships. This leads to fantastic acting which helps the movie.
I can see people complaining about this movie. It is very slow paced and if you are not invested in the story, it can be boring. Some people might be expecting a John Wick type movie because of similar circumstances, but this is not like John Wick at all. The film features little to no action, but offers fantastic acting. If you have someone you love (which I hope everyone reading this does), you will relate to this movie. That is what kept me invested. Robin loved his pig and would do anything for her, and I know if I was in a situation like that, I would do the same thing.
This movie is going to be nominated for multiple Oscars in 2022. I can see it being nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Achievement in Cinematography. The Academy loves films like this and it's not hard to see why.
Pig is definitely one of the best movies 2021 so far. The fantastic acting combined with a story everyone can relate to in one way or another is a recipe for success. It's finally time to give Nicolas Cage another Oscar.
Rating: 4/5
What did you think of Pig? Should Nicolas Cage win an Oscar for this performance? Leave it in the comments below.
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