The Green Knight (2021)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss

[Morieris]

Even with tempered expectations, I wanted to like it more, but I still enjoyed it a great deal. If you don't like reading into things in movies, this won't be for you. It may be too off the wall, but I feel like that's the norm for Arthurian legend.  I liked the little changes from the story - or, what I can recall of it. It seems to me the film never tried to reach the lofty goal it set with the opening narration.

 

There were some thing I missed because they speak so low in this movie, and I wish some parts had a smidge more lighting - movies are a visual medium, please help me out a little.

 

Spoiler

I thought the ending of the story as I heard it last year was .... well, not satisfying. This one isn't going to win a round of applause from ordinary moviegoers, but I do respect the idea.

 

[Webslinger]

With The Green Knight, writer-director David Lowery takes the centuries-old tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and spins it into a singular cinematic experience that uses the essence of its source material as a springboard into something consistently intriguing and surprising. Most of the narrative follows the poem’s trajectory, but does so in a manner that feels like Lowery taking an old tale and breathing new life into it through beautiful and surreal imagery and the successful juxtaposition of gritty, grounded character beats with supernatural elements in the environment the characters inhabit. And when the film diverges from the poem, it does so in a way that allows it to function as a powerful, contemplative examination of mortality and existential dread. It’s such a purposely strange experience that it will probably turn off some viewers expecting something more straightforward, but for those who can get on Lowery’s wavelength, it’s an arresting, hypnotic film that engages eye, intellect, and heart in about equal measure. Beyond the effectiveness of the narrative, the production values are top-notch, with the beautifully composed cinematography highlighting the strengths of the production and costume design. As Gawain, Dev Patel does some of his best work to date. His performance is lived in and succeeds in presenting Gawain as a conflicted character whose front of confidence and determination is tempered by fear over the fate he must face. There is also some intriguing work from Alicia Vikander in a dual role as two women who, at various points, act as wildly different sexual prospects for Gawain; she enlivens both roles with conviction, turning in her best performance since her big breakout in Ex Machina. It’s not easy to do something truly original with material present as long in the storytelling consciousness as Arthurian lore, but Lowery succeeds in exhilarating and probing fashion here.

 

A-

[IndustriousAngel]

B, 7/10

 

a movie that does not shy away from taking risks, and visually it's pretty adventurous. Good sound design, too. Far from any streamlined studio production; a bit like a "Jodorowsky's Green Knight". And yet, I felt a little let down once the credits started rolling; for me, it didn't come together in the end - some mesmerising scenes and other beautiful scenes but not a whole. In that respect, it reminds me of some of Terry Gilliam's works which are always interesting to watch but often stay patchwork.