Ruben Rosario

You wish they'd give an inch, but then you come to admire their tenacity, their bullheaded drive to reach their goals. The trio of protagonists in two recent independent productions now playing in theaters and a recent film that made its Video on Demand debut this week won't take no for an answer. They refuse to give up, whether their quest involves the fulfillment of an oath during the Middle Ages, the search for a beloved porcine companion in the Pacific Northwest, or a long walk across a small Ohio city that turns into a stroll down memory lane.

 

Stubbornness is a state of mind that is near and dear to this critic and, as the filmmakers behind these stories discover, it's a character trait that gives their narratives interesting contours, even if that doesn't always give them a forward thrust. 

“The Green Knight”: The latest oddity from “A Ghost Story” filmmaker David Lowery is a cavernous chamber of a medieval tale. Sure, the A24 release features men driven by a code of honor, moments of great peril and a not inconsequential amount of swordplay. But this Arthurian yarn unfolds with all the logic of a fever dream, and it plods along at a glacial pace that appears designed to alienate viewers expecting a more conventional slice of sword and sorcery.

And yet, days after seeing this dark odyssey on the big screen, its imagery keeps coming back to haunt me, and its dialogue, full of portent and ill omens, still bounces around in the deeper recesses of my mind. So this puts me in the peculiar position of crediting Lowery for following the beat of his own drum and kindly asking him to get off his high horse.

The film, based on a late 14th century “chivalric romance” told in verse, opens on Christmas, and Gawain (a shrewdly cast Dev Patel), young and ambitious, attends a feast thrown by his uncle, King Arthur (Sean Harris), in a hall that could certainly use more candlelight. The titular character (Ralph Ineson), looking like one of “The Lord of the Rings'” Ents in miniature, shows up unannounced in a way that will remind Disney fans of Maleficent in “Sleeping Beauty.” His request sounds simple enough: anyone who has the courage to strike a blow against him will need to pay him a visit next Christmas so he may, um, return the favor.

It sounds like a trap, this “game,” as the Green Knight calls it. Surely no one would be foolhardy enough to humor this proposal. Cue Gawain, eager to please his uncle, accepting the terms of this creature of wood and moss, as he uses Arthur's iconic, easy-to-recognize sword to lop off the knight's head. “One year,” the knight says as he grabs his severed head like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow's” Headless Horseman and evil-laughs his way out of Camelot.

If you're already facepalming over Gawain's choice, “The Green Knight” is not the movie for you. Those convinced that there will be a taut buildup to a climactic confrontation will be sorry to hear that's not the way things play out here. What follows is a meandering trek through treacherous terrain that lays bare Gawain's all-too-human fallibility. (One stop along the way involves a lord, played by Joel Edgerton, with a proposal of his own.) The film's depiction of Gawain's shortcomings and imperfections are both its most striking asset and its most maddening trait, next, of course, to its sluggish rhythms.

There's no doubt “The Green Knight” is more than a little full of itself, but Lowery infuses Gawain's uphill climb toward becoming a man worthy of armor with earnest conviction and a meticulous attention to the way it looks and sounds. Lowery's obsessively crafted mise en scene occasionally brings to mind the work of director Robert Eggers (“The Witch,” “The Lighthouse”), though movie buffs will likely also detect the influence of trippy midnight fare like the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky and cult curios like Jim Jarmusch's black and white Western “Dead Man.”

To put it in layman's terms, “The Green Knight” is weird stuff. Lowery's judgment is somewhat clouded by delusions of grandeur, but his artful impulses yield some rewards for the (very) patient viewer. The committed cast and immersive production values go the extra mile. I'd be lying if I said I did not smile when I discovered what the director is ultimately up to here. Call his brooding foray into period masculinity “Excalibur” on downers.

“Pig”: A decidedly less lofty but just as ornery arc grounds this absorbing character study starring Nicolas Cage. The Oscar winner plays Rob Feld, a slovenly truffle hunter living in hermit-like anonymity in a forest outside Portland. But this recluse is not completely alone: he has his foraging pig to keep him company. “I'm okay,” Rob tells her, and that's all that needs to be said. Rob's only link to a world beyond his verdant surroundings is Amir (Alex Wolff, most recently seen in M. Night Shyamalan's “Old”), a sharp-dressed, fast-talking urbanite who runs a truffle resale business. In other words, he enables Rob to make a living off his mouthwatering wares.

The inciting incident that kicks director Michael Sarnoski's debut feature into gear happens when a couple of junkies break into Rob's cabin and steal his pig. The animal's wails sound almost human, giving the scene a visceral pull. All of a sudden, Rob becomes a man on a mission, and he asks for Amir's help in finding his four-legged friend, in the process triggering some amusing odd-couple friction.

“Pig's” early scenes suck you right in like a short story by “Brokeback Mountain” author E. Annie Proulx would. (At just 92 minutes, it lets brevity lead the way.) And then what promises to be another Cage vehicle that brings out the actor's more unhinged side becomes something more unexpected, though not as surprising as some of its champions would have you believe: a portrait of Portland's hidden underbelly.

Rob may be a disheveled mess now, but back in the day, he was a bit of a legend. What kind of a legend is something you're better off finding out for yourself, but it does lead to an adroitly staged and acted scene that shows the protagonist coming face to face with a former employee in a restaurant setting. The pointed exchange showcases Sarnoski's gifts as a storyteller, but it also displays a novice screenwriter's affectations, writerly indulgences that ought to be stamped out.

As more of Rob's past is revealed, “Pig” begins to depend on some tired tropes, beginning with its protagonist's need to be beaten to a bloody pulp in order to gain access to information he needs, coupled with the character's stoic refusal to clean up his bruised face, There's also a musty subplot revolving around Amir's dysfunctional relationship with his estranged kingpin dad, Darius (Adam Arkin, essentially playing the Frank Langella role). They're narrative crutches, tools that Sarnoski did not need to tell this story, and there's a man's-man streak to the escalating tensions they cause that rubbed me the wrong way.

Fans of “Pig” have name-dropped North Miami native Kelly Reichardt, whose films center around marginal figures in the Pacific Northwest, and indeed, parts of it suggest the movie “First Cow,” her masterful meditation on friendship and the birth of American capitalism, would have been if it had taken place in the present day.

But I'm pretty certain Reichardt would not have reduced Rob's beloved pet to a plot device the way Sarnoski does here, He zeroes in on Rob so narrowly that his bond with his pig ends up feeling almost abstract.

What's beyond reproach is Cage. The star knows he's landed a juicy part, and the way he caresses Sarnoski's words give the film an understated gravity that guides it through its more commonplace stretches. He doesn't quite prevent this mumbler of a movie from feeling awfully minor, but he ensures its strengths are reflected in the best possible light.

“Swan Song”: If the previous two films are part of a five-course meal at a fancy restaurant, then this autumnal portrait of aging and Midwestern decay would make a delectable dessert. Writer-director Todd Stephens, whose screenplay for the coming-out/coming-of-age festival darling “Edge of Seventeen” put him on the map more than two decades ago, brings it all full circle with this story, also set in Sandusky, Ohio, inspired by the life of revered hairdresser Pat Pitsenbarger.

By the time the film opens, Pat (Udo Kier, grabbing this rare leading role by the horns) is already retired. What does he do to while away the hours at his nursing home? He folds paper napkins. Over and over. No, seriously, he has drawers full of them. Oh, and he smokes More cigarettes when his caretakers aren't looking.

Then a man comes and disrupts his routine. Turns out the visitor (Tom Bloom) is an attorney for Rita Parker Sloan (“Dynasty” matriarch Linda Evans, looking fabulous), one of the city's top socialites and Pat's former number one client. In Pat's words, they met “every Friday at 4, for 33 years.” The lawyer serves up a double whammy: Rita has passed on, and she left instructions in her will for Pat to do her hair for her funeral.

Kier uses his trademark scowl to ideal effect in conveying Pat's sour disposition while never losing sight of the heart of gold underneath the blasé surface. You know where this is headed: a snide dismissal, followed by an abrupt about face. Off he goes, away from the drabness of bedpans and fruit cocktails, wearing the kind of white Velcro sneakers his younger self would have sneered at. (Jennifer Coolidge and “Ugly Betty's” Michael Urie round out the eclectic cast as Pat's enterprising former protégée and Rita's grandson, respectively.)

The quest that ensues turns “Swan Song” into the kind of comforting crowd-pleaser you would have seen at an LGBTQ film festival in the 2000s. (Most, if not all, of Stephens' films have played in that setting, and OUTshine Film Festival hosted a recent showing of this one at the Gateway Cinema.) Its retro appeal makes it easy to forgive the occasionally awkward staging and corny story beats. There was a better film to be made out of this irresistible local treasure, for sure, but Stephens' lived-in depiction of Sandusky, its picturesque and dilapidated parts alike, give the film a naturalistic glow befitting the diva at its center. (As any thrill seeker will tell you, Sandusky is the home of the roller coaster mecca Cedar Point. The amusement park makes a brief cameo as an attractive backdrop on the shores of Lake Erie.)

Anyone familiar with the connection one forms with a regular barber or beautician will innately understand “Swan Song's” central conflict: the respect and affection between two people of different social backgrounds. It helps that Kier, in a performance that hits the sweet spot juggling camp and pathos, doesn't shy away from reopening old wounds, and Stephens doesn't look away from the political divide that all too often reduced gay men to second-class citizens, despite being an integral part of a city's fabric.

But what makes this an especially valuable tribute is how Stephens attempts to rescue a neglected chapter of queer history from erasure. Hometown heroes like Pat ought to be remembered, and the imperfect, disarming “Swan Song” thrives when it highlights how different generations within the LGBTQ community are able to lift each other up and learn from one another. It raises a cocktail glass for a moment in time that bridged a fight for visibility to the more harmonious present it helped make possible.

David Lowery's “The Green Knight” is now playing in theaters across South Florida, including Regal Cinemas South Beach, Silverspot Cinemas in downtown Miami, O Cinema South Beach and Cinema Paradiso in Hollywood. “Pig” is now available for digital rental through various platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. “Swan Song” is now playing in limited release at Gateway Cinema in Fort Lauderdale and Paradigm Cinemas in Tamarac. It's scheduled to open at the Coral Gables Art Cinema on Friday, Aug. 13.