The Green Knight (2021)

Film: The Green Knight (2021)

Stars: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan

Director: David Lowery

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

We have not done a theme week in a while on the blog in terms of our reviews, but this week we're going to change that, as I am sitting on four film reviews from 2021, and am expecting to see at least one film before Friday in theaters, so I can add in a fifth.  So each day this week we'll be discussing a 2021 film release, and we're going to start with one still in theaters, and one that has gleaned a surprising diversity of opinions: The Green Knight.  Directed by David Lowery, this is one of a number of pictures that was initially expected to come out last year but was delayed due to the pandemic.  I thought when I first encountered it, despite some solid trailers, that we were in for a version of the Arthur legend, some gorgeous Howard Pyle-style heroism that was fantastically lit.  What I found, though, was a moody, difficult piece about sacrifice & the price of mortality that provides no simple answers, but instead opens up a variety of well-etched questions.

(Spoilers Ahead) Much of The Green Knight is about mood, and as a result describing the plot is a bit difficult, particularly since very few of the characters actually have names.  What we have, though, is Gawain (Patel), a handsome young man who is not yet a knight but due to his status as the King's nephew through his mother (it's implied, but never said outright, that the King here is an aging Arthur, the queen Guinevere, & Gawain's mother is Morgan le Fay), he is elevated and likely to be the next king.  When the magical Green Knight offers a riddle, only Gawain, eager to prove himself, is headstrong enough to challenge him, with the Knight offering to Gawain that "should he strike a blow on him, it will be returned a year later."  Rather than fight, the Knight bows to Gawain, who decapitates him...after which the knight leaves, reminding Gawain of the bargain.  

There is more to the story, but I want to pause and move on to the discussion of the picture because, as I mentioned above, while plot is critical to driving The Green Knight, it is a supporting character to the film's ideas.  The movie takes a hard look at the value of honor.  Much of what drives Gawain, for better or worse, is an elusive respect.  It's why he makes the foolish decision to both fight the Green Knight and to decapitate him (rather than deduce the logic of the riddle), and it's ultimately what leads to his death before the end credits, when he sees a long life, but one filled with privilege rather than happiness, and one destined for sadness.  The film's message feels a bit complex, but it's aware of it.  Gawain ultimately chooses death to honor a bargain...but a bargain that he likely should've ignored in the first place, and certainly didn't understand.  There's an arbitrariness to the film that feels intentional, and reflexive of life-after all, most of life feels quite by chance, and oftentimes to defy logic.

The movie's overall aesthetic is extraordinary.  Once you settle into the pacing, it's a gorgeous, foggy vision of the Arthurian legend, with occasionally flights into a realistic fantasy (gotta love the giants), and one that isn't going to explain some of its choices.  Alicia Vikander plays two roles, first as a commoner and later as a lady who gives Gawain a sash that will save him from the Green Knight.  Vikander oftentimes gets ragged upon for not doing more with her Oscar win, but here you see why she won it in the first place, taking two very difficult-to-play parts, and totally immersing them into the mystery.  

Dev Patel is also giving us his all as the lead.  Patel has graduated, slowly but surely, from his nerdy roots in Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel into a bonafide hunky leading man, and he brings a movie star swagger to Gawain, a young man lost in his own destiny.  Patel, whose acting choices are often at odds with his movie star charisma in other roles, knows how to play Gawain's confidence, the brash assuredness of privileged youth, perfectly.  We watch it start to strip away as the movie progresses, and he understands that he cannot understand all things.  Combined with a clear nod to the gays (not just a thirsty kiss from Joel Edgerton, but the now infamous fistful of semen is a sign that Patel knows where his fanbase is), this is the role that Patel totally sold him to me as a promising leading man living up to that promise.  The Green Knight is not perfect (some of the quirks feel a little bit too shock-the-audience for me, and not quite with the humble melody of the movie), but I am going to lean into the 5-star rating as this movie swept me up in its story, and I suspect that in future screenings those quirks will read as foretelling rather than out-of-place.