Jessa Crispin

An intensely quiet and soulful performance from Nicolas Cage: Pig reviewed

The film is ultimately a story of revenge, but it plays out in unexpected ways

An intensely quiet and soulful performance: Nicolas Cage as truffle hunter Robin Feld [Altitude] 
issue 21 August 2021

What use does a fallen and corrupted world have for a man of integrity? This was not the question I had anticipated walking away with after viewing the new Nicolas Cage indie Pig, but much of the film, from Cage’s intensely quiet and soulful performance to the new ideas it has to offer a very old narrative, was a satisfying surprise.

The film is ultimately a story of revenge, but it plays out in unexpected ways. Cage is Robin Feld, a man living off the grid with only a truffle pig and a recording of his deceased wife for companions and a trade in the luxury food item as an income. But when his cabin is invaded and he is attacked and his pig is abducted, he’s forced to con-front his old life as a chef in Portland to get her back.

Feld’s revenge is an act of generosity, and all the more devastating as a result

Truffles are wild things of great value, in huge demand from luxury diners, but they resist cultivation and therefore control.

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