'Pig' Review: Nicholas Cage Delivers One of His Best Performances In This Slow-Burn Thriller
Nicholas Cage in Pig. Photo: David Reamer/NEON
Michael Sarnoski’s culinary, genre-bending ‘Pig’ is a delicate yet ruthless depiction of loss and revenge. While the film’s premise may play into the cult of Nicholas Cage, its outcome is certainly unexpected, allowing him to deliver a truly compelling performance. Full of silent facial expressions with a sprinkle of “Cage Rage”, ‘Pig’ once again reminds us of his talent, while also ushering in a new directorial voice.
Pig follows a reclusive truffle farmer, Rob (Cage), set up in the wilderness with his beloved sow. He spends his days tracking the forested areas, and his only contact comes in the form of Amir (Alex Wolff), an up-and-coming supplier of luxury ingredients for high-end restaurants in Portland. Rob’s isolated world comes crashing down when he is assaulted in the middle of the night and his pig is kidnapped.
Covered in blood and clambering into his beat-up truck, the revenge saga begins. His first call of action is to question the truffle farming industry through Wolff’s character Amir. When the two of them discover that the pig was stolen by impoverished drug addicts working for a restaurant in downtown Portland, Rob must reopen past wounds.
Cage and Alex Wolff as Amir
Down the trail the pair go, and the film begins to descend into the ruthless world of culinary backstabbing. Sarnoski begins to ramp up the tension as Rob and Amir infiltrate an underground fighting ring run by an old acquaintance of Rob’s. Still covered in the blood from his first assault, Rob now exchanges another beating for information about his pig, and we soon come to realize that his relationship with the animal goes much deeper. This also points to the remarkable visuals throughout the film as Cage is always caked in his own blood, unbale to wash it away until his quest is complete.
With the early pacing of the film, we may predict that Cage’s character harnesses a past life of violence, waiting for him to explode on screen and deal with anyone in his path. The aura and ambiguity of Rob plays into that sort of ‘Taken’ narrative, and this is where Sarnoski ultimately subverts our expectations. It turns out that Rob is not a former hitman or champion underground fighter. Instead, he is Robin Feld, a legendary chef of the Portland area that lost his wife some years previously. The story then slowly turns the screw and reveals its protagonist as less hell bent on vengeance and more broken, trying to salvage the last thing he cherished in life.
By tapping into this grief and anguish, the character of Rob brings Cage’s talents to the fore. The silent persona with almost glazed-over eyes seem to look past society. Yet, he is also capable of insightful monologues that pierce those who come into contact with him. When watching Pig, Cage appears less concerned with externalizing an image of violence and more restrained, sincere with the material. It’s clear from the first ten minutes that Cage isn’t going to have much extended dialogue, and this seems to suit him down to the ground in this film. His facial expressions harness the ability to translate several different emotions at the same time.
This could be seen as a career defining performance from Cage, one that should be measured against his roles in ‘Adaptation’, ‘Raising Arizona’ and the recent visually stunning ‘Mandy’. Measured and self-controlled, Cage brings his all to capture the brokenness of Rob, delving deeper into his painful past to retrieve a glimmer of his humanity.
It is not just Cage that steals the show. Sarnoski’s choice to pair him with Wolff pays off, and their relationship is the key both to Rob’s past life and finding his stolen pig. Having confided in Rob about his mother’s suicide that has left her in a permanent coma, Wolff’s character is also a wounded individual. Wolff brings that false and shallow confidence to the character. On the outside he may appear flashy, stylish and successful, but it is clear he is carrying an insecurity that can be traced back to the relationship with his father (Adam Arkin). Amir’s father, Darius, becomes the missing piece, but any more details about the film’s final act would surely ruin the delightful payoff of going in blind.
A lot of praise must go to first-time director, Sarnoski. With a premise that taps into the popular successes of ‘John Wick’ and ‘Nobody’, Sarnoski uses the clichés of the revenge thriller to his advantage. With its slow pacing and dark atmospheric cinematography all signs point to a final showdown with an explosion of violence. Instead, Sarnoski delivers a subtle yet sentimental punch that chooses emotional vengeance over simple physical payback. In the end, Rob does use a “very particular set of skills” to track down his precious pig, but they are of the culinary variety not those of Bryan Mills that we are so used to.
Pig is a masterful portrait of human fragility and the potential memories we find in cooking, while its theme of loss is lyrically paced and honestly portrayed by its leading stars.