A film that completely overturned my expectations. After reading the synopsis for Pig, the debut of Michael Sarnoski, I imagined some kind of arthouse oddity with Cage in the lead role. After all, the plot — “a man living in the wilderness has his pig stolen and sets out to find it” — doesn’t sound very serious. To take that bait, you’d have to be either as hopeless a cinephile as I am, a Nicolas Cage fan, or both.

But instead, I got one of the best films of 2021. And Cage proved that, since Joe, he hasn’t lost his grip on serious dramatic roles.

Warning: this text contains spoilers!

Having moved from the city to the forest 15 years ago, Robin Feld (Nicolas Cage) has completely isolated himself from people and civilization. In his cabin there is no television, no radio — only an old battery-powered cassette player, so that he can sometimes listen again to a recording of his now-deceased wife’s voice.

The only thing that disturbs this harmony with nature is the occasional visit from young upstart Amir (Alex Wolff), with whom Robin prefers not to talk, simply handing over the truffles he has gathered in exchange for supplies. But one day civilization still catches up with Robin — and takes away the only thing dear to him: his pig.

Classical music is perfect in terms of form: it was beautiful 200 years ago, it’s beautiful today, and it will remain so 200 years from now.

Robin Feld’s return to Portland — a brilliant chef searching for his stolen pig (against the backdrop of his beloved’s death) — evokes the plot of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In that story, the legendary singer and lyre player descended into the underworld after the death of his beloved wife (Robin even notes that Portland once lay 120 meters below water). There, Orpheus enchanted Hades and Persephone with his music (Feld, in turn, recreates for Amir’s father, Darius, the finest dinner of his life) so that they agreed to return Eurydice to the living (a moved Darius reveals the truth about the pig’s fate). By retelling the Orpheus and Eurydice myth in a modern way, director Michael Sarnoski reinforces the idea that true art is immortal.

A funny detail: Feld, watching a show-off like Amir — with his ridiculous yellow Camaro — trying to pose as an art connoisseur (a common phenomenon these days) while listening to an intellectual podcast about classical music, irritably turns off the car’s stereo.

In Darius’s restaurant, the chef, describing the menu, talks about a trendy concept — deconstruction, the creation of unusual dishes from familiar ingredients. In fact, the same concept is applied in Pig, which deconstructs popular revenge stories (the most obvious examples here are Mandy, also starring Cage, and John Wick), imbuing them with new meanings.

This concept perfectly suits Nicolas Cage, who, to his disappointment, has acquired the status of a meme — yet here portrays an intelligent and very restrained man. That didn’t stop many reviewers from writing headlines for Pig along the lines of “Crazy Cage Gets Back His Stolen Pig,” as if the actor was once again indulging in his famous “Cage Rage.” But in the scene where Cage’s character learns of the pig’s death, Sarnoski deliberately cuts the sound: we see the hero’s pain, but don’t hear it.

There’s also a nod in Pig to another famous film — Fight Club. The peculiarity of the underground fights between restaurant workers lies in the fact that one participant must not resist and must endure the blows for a full minute. And the more prominent the name of the beaten contestant, the higher the prize he can claim.

There aren’t that many things in the world truly worthy of our attention.

A name is one of the key notions in the film. It is part of the social contract, implicitly concluded between the bearer of that name and society. If what you do has value and people notice you, it brings money and respect from others. But behind the polite smiles and manners lies complete indifference — in this sense, the underground fights are an honest reflection of that very social contract. The bearer of a name is beaten, but in return is given a sum of money proportional to his status.

The idea of a name is closely tied to reputation. Reputation is earned by looking to others’ opinions and comes with a burden — but only by remaining true to yourself can you create something genuinely valuable. Most people fear ruining their reputation because, in their view, it would mean ceasing to exist. Edgar, Feld’s old acquaintance who organizes the underground fights, believes the same, but he’s wrong: Robin’s name hasn’t lost its weight over the years, as proven by the fighters’ reaction to Feld’s unexpected appearance after fifteen years away. Robin disappeared at the height of his fame, which gave him the status of a legend — something society holds in high esteem.

Feld himself couldn’t care less about others’ opinions. Throughout the film, he walks around in dirty clothes with a battered face, ignoring any flattery directed at him. All that interests him is his beloved pig. But it wasn’t always this way, as hinted at in Robin’s conversation with Darius: apparently, the death of his wife opened Feld’s eyes to the true nature of society. He had devoted his life to serving people, remembered every person he’d ever cooked for, but the only one truly worthy of his attention was his beloved. And when she was gone, Robin chose to retreat into the woods and live as a hermit, continuing to practice the culinary art for its own sake.

Robin’s wife bears a rather unusual name — Lori, short for Lorelei. That’s the name of a heroine from German folk legends, who appeared as a river nymph-enchantress. The name itself goes back to a steep rock on the right bank of the Rhine near the town of Sankt Goarshausen in Germany. According to legend, at dusk and in the moonlight, a maiden would appear on this rock, “singing so enchantingly that she captivated all who listened.” In the film’s finale, we hear Lorelei’s singing in honor of her husband’s birthday.

The image of a river is also used in the film — Pig even opens with a shot of one. Portland itself lies on the banks of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, where Robin arrives in search of his pig. There we hear him tell a story about an impending earthquake and the flooding of the city. This serves as a metaphor for inevitability, in the context of how people waste their lives on things unworthy of attention, losing themselves in the chase. At the same time, it can be seen as a kind of warning to all humanity about the forces of nature.

The city’s most prestigious restaurant, owned by Darius, embodies a large and soulless corporation. Corporations take whatever resources they see fit — as much as they want, from whomever they want, whenever they want. Nothing personal, just business. People who work for such corporations often become less human themselves. Only threats to their business interests can provoke any emotional response in these entrepreneurs. For instance, the owner of a truffle farm named Mac helps Robin not because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, but because she believes the thieves are digging up truffles on her land with the stolen pig.

Corporations driven by a production line for profit (shown briefly in the scene at Mac’s truffle farm) are contrasted with Cage’s character: a master of his craft who remembers every dish he’s ever cooked and the person it was meant for. He is motivated not by profit but by love for creation and art. Notice the reverence with which Robin treats every ingredient in the cooking scenes — the close-ups and music only amplify this feeling.

It is precisely to this sense of beauty and love that Feld appeals when he recreates for Darius the most memorable dinner of his life — and he succeeds. This is what distinguishes Sarnoski from someone like Soderbergh: in the director’s view, behind every system are living people with their own weaknesses, which means there’s a chance to reach them. In this sense, art becomes a universal key for everyone. Thus, Robin, appearing as a wise mentor, heals Amir, who has been deprived of fatherly love for years, and by the finale we see his tears. As for Cage’s character, having once again lost what he held most dear, he may have found a worthy student.

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