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Apr 21, 2023 · In this video, we take a closer look at the John Pork meme, a hilarious take on the iconic action hero John Wick. With a pig's face replacing John Wick's, this meme has taken the internet by...
- 2 min
- 191
- GS 2000
Jan 22, 2022 · The movie is more than a man on a mission to commit violence or revenge, although yes, he wants to find his pig. It’s more cerebral and thoughtful. Sarnoski: It’s not John Wick with a pig.
Given Cage's recent output, I went in expecting an ironic John Wick knockoff. It was so much better than that. Plays it completely sincere and it works beautifully.
Get an extended 30 Day free trial of MUBI: http://mubi.com/thomasflightFilms Referenced:Pig John WickNobodyMandyThe Wrath of ManThe EqualizerMUSIC CREDITS:"F...
- 16 min
- 237.6K
- Thomas Flight
- This little piggy went missing.
- Best Reviewed Movies of 2021
- Verdict
By Siddhant Adlakha
Posted: Jul 12, 2021 4:00 pm
The premise and trailer of Pig have a distinctly John Wick vibe, swapping out a well-groomed Keanu Reeves for a scraggly Nicolas Cage, and a murdered puppy for a kidnapped truffle hog. However, writer-director Michael Sarnoski has something more intimate in mind. While Reeves’s former hitman and Cage’s retired gourmet chef share a similar DNA — they’re both men seeking solace in animals, and in isolation, after the deaths of their wives — Pig functions as the film equivalent of a deconstructed dish. It separates the key ingredients of the action-revenge genre and plates them to perfection, focusing on the richness of each element as the fundamental flavors offer whiffs of nostalgia.
Pig is divided into three chapters, and while the partitions may be arbitrary, they’re each named for a specific, delectable dish that illuminates something about the characters. The film has food on its brain and in its bones, to the point of reading like a fancy menu. Cage plays the reclusive Rob, a former superstar of the Portland restaurant scene, who now lives in a forest cabin with his trusty sow. She responds to his whistles, sleeps by his side, and shares the wholesome meals he prepares in his rustic skillet. Together, they hunt for truffles, a rare, expensive prized ingredient in western gourmet dining. Rob sells these aromatic mushrooms to a young entrepreneur, Amir (Alex Wolff), who rolls up to Rob’s lonely abode in his bright-yellow sports car. Rob doesn’t speak to Amir. He doesn’t want to be bothered. The only words he’s spoken in a decade seem to be tender, comforting whispers to his loyal companion. His pig is the only thing he cares about — the only living thing anyway, since all he has left of his late wife is an audiotape marked “Robin,” a name he’s long since left behind.
Within a handful of quiet scenes, the film establishes how vitally important this pig is to Rob. So, when he’s assaulted one night and she’s taken by force, little time is wasted on explaining why she matters or why he’s so driven to find her. With the help of Amir (Rob’s only real ally, since he has a vested financial interest in finding the pig), Rob begins tracking down possible suspects, until a trail of breadcrumbs leads him back to Portland, and to a strange underground network of chefs and restaurants that functions like secret crime ring.
The film, though it exists in the body of an action thriller, is a moving reflection on loss, with its small handful of action beats dispensed with upfront. It’s led by a performance that, in turn, deconstructs Cage’s whole career as he offers hints of the unhinged, direct-to-video psychopath of various memes and compilations, buried under the more nuanced Cage whose eyes harbor an alluring sadness. These are, of course, one and the same Cage, but they can’t help but feel like entities at war in a film that intentionally separates the anger and violence which drive the action genre, from the underlying vulnerabilities that send men on suicide missions for our entertainment.
The film moves like an enormous jungle cat, at once ferocious and agile; Mandy editor Brett Bachman balances heavy contemplations with breakneck momentum, as Rob moves up the chain of suspects quicker than you’d expect. He isn’t trying to exact revenge in the traditional sense. Some characters are willing to help him because they know and revere the man he used to be; when others need more convincing, the tools he uses aren’t knives or firearms, but his culinary acumen, lending credence to the notion of cooking as a unique art form. When Rob questions the chef of a fine dining establishment — who seems to know more about the pig than he lets on — the scene takes on an absurdist bent, turning discussions about molecular gastronomy into an emotional interrogation. Rob takes aim not at the chef’s body, but his heart and soul, unearthing insecurities about the way he expresses himself through food.
The John Wick films use fancy dining as code for more sinister things; The Sommelier in John Wick: Chapter 2, for instance, speaks about guns and ammunition as if they were fine wines. Pig, in turn, brings this concept full circle by having Rob and Amir’s gear-up scenes center around gathering literal ingredients, as they prepare to confront the party responsible for the kidnapping. The result of this particular “battle” isn’t the opening up of physical wounds, but emotional ones. Rob finds the most ingenious way to negotiate with the villain: by connecting with them on a spiritual level, through food and memory.
The film, which brings utilitarianism into conflict with natural harmony, paints a haunting portrait of Rob’s discomfort in the modern world. He’s a man who feels at one with nature and with the sounds of flowing water. The moment he enters the halogen-lit realm of urban structures, the film’s cool, naturalistic visual palette is usurped by a piss-colored wash. The bridges and buildings surrounding Rob begin to feel enormous; shots of them fade into one another, creating an overpowering fabric of metal and concrete.
Although the film is Sarnoski’s feature debut, he doesn’t let these visual flourishes overwhelm his secret weapon: Cage’s subdued performance. The first time Rob speaks to another human being, his determination to retrieve his companion is hampered by the shudder in Cage’s voice, an uneasiness with conversation, as if he’s no longer used to human contact. The only way he seems capable of communicating is through food — in itself a melancholy idea since the film ties food directly and inexorably to nostalgia for a rose-tinted past. For instance, Amir, even though he comes off as business-like, holds on desperately to a rare, unattainable happy memory of his parents, the result of a particularly memorable meal many years ago (which ends up the center of its own surprising subplot).
Pig subverts the expectations of the average revenge-thriller and accentuates the deep emotional scars that often underscore these stories. It features a measured, meticulous performance from Nicolas Cage, who turns his usual explosiveness inward as he searches for his kidnapped truffle pig, resulting in a melancholy John Wick for the Portland rest...
- Siddhant Adlakha
Aug 21, 2021 · John Wick, Pig, and You Were Never Really Here each reflect different ways we're shaped by what matters to us. In Michael Sarnoski’s Pig, Nicolas Cage delivers a crushing monologue that serves as the thematic tentpole of the thriller movie.
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Pig is one of my favourite films of all time. Such an unassuming film that grows into an incredibly emotional third act. I love how it seems to be about a very specific John Wick-esque story but then, like you said, creeps up into a story about love, loss, family, grief and authenticity.
