Pig
Nicolas Cage’s performance in “Pig” feels like one of those late-career movies where an actor just lays out everything on the table, all in search of that last “great” star turn. I know we have more ahead from Cage, and he will no doubt give more great performances, but that’s what Robert Feld felt like from the wildman actor. It’s easy to get caught up in the “insane” Nic Cage persona, but to do so makes one forget just what a phenomenal, low-key performer he can be. Writer-director Michael Sarnoski gets the latter from him, and it might be his best performance in over a decade.
Robert Feld lives isolated in the backwoods in Oregon, just outside of Portland. He has a grizzled beard, and doesn’t look like he’s showered in weeks. He is a truffle hunter, and he goes searching with his pig, who has a real nose for finding them. His business associate is Amir (Alex Wolff), who drives out to pick up Rob’s supply every week; there’s no other way to get a hold of Rob. One night, people come and attack Rob’s cabin, and steal his pig. When his truck breaks down, he walks to a nearby diner, and calls Amir, who will be his ride as he goes searching for his pig.
What seems like a setup for a ridiculous, heated performance from Cage as he searches for his pig actually is something more down-to-Earth and emotional. As Rob must return to civilization, and the life he left behind after his world was rattled by tragedy, he finds himself faced with the challenge of preserving the life he’s built for himself, which seems to be in danger of being lost with his pig being taken. Sarnoski is wise in his story construction, making it as straightforward as possible, as well as keeping Cage in his mountain man garb even as he finds himself in high class restaurants; he’s using the Cage iconography of what we “perceive” he does as an actor as a setup while giving him a dramatic role that allows him to play a normal character a la “The Weather Man” and “Joe.” There are a few moments where the wild Cage comes out, but it is a means to an end for the character as much as a deliberate choice on the actor’s part.
The final impact of “Pig” hinges on two revelations that, when combined, turn the film into something more than what we expected at the start. It also sets up Rob as a character who might be able to pick himself up from tragedy moving forward, because while left in sadness, his life doesn’t have to change quite like it did before. The final image of Rob, back in his cabin, might be one of the most substantial of any movie we’re likely to see in 2021, and a reminder that Cage is a world-class talent when given a role he can sink his teeth into.
