Hi.
That’s...
basically the film.
The Green Knight is a brand new Arthurian fantasy, adventure film from A24 directed
by David Lowery, the mind behind 2017’s A Ghost Story - which I loved.
The first thought I had when I saw the trailer for this film was that it looks like an Arthurian
legend told by Dennis Villeneuve.
I wasn’t totally wrong but after watching the film, I think it’s just what happens
when David Lowery decides to talk metaphors, as he always does.
For those of you unaware, the film is based on a very famous late 14th C verse narrative
called Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sir Gawain is a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, who gets challenged one day from
a mysterious Green Knight - who’s very green - to strike the knight once with his axe,
and whatever he gives, he will get it returned in a year and a day time.
As any sensible knight would do, Gawain strikes the Green Knight’s head and beheads him
so that ..you know... he would die.
But because he’s Green I suppose, The Green Knight stands up and yells, one year hence,
and horses his way out.
The majority of the film’s runtime is dedicated NOT to Gawain’s preparation, but to his
journey to the place of confrontation where the promised strike will be returned.
This doesn’t take away from the character development side of things as Dev Patel, who
plays Sir Gawain, is amazing as always in communicating and evolving the character on
screen with his acting, and of course, because David Lowery’s writing is perfectly balanced as well.
As the setting of the story values ‘honor’ more than anything, all the events that take
place on his way to meeting the green knight revolves around this idea, where Gawain has
to decide whether to act honorably or to act in a way that’d benefit his position.
This was fun to watch as the events then gained more weight and felt more consequential instead
of feeling pointless and unrelated to the arc of the film.
Having said that, it IS true that the film relies heavily on metaphors and imageries
and the trailer does make it seem a bit more conventionally epic than it actually is,
so the second act of the film - which is the majority of the film unfortunately - may come
off as a bit slow and overly confusing for those unfamiliar with the original tale, or
David Lowery’s style in general.
Before I get to some spoiler related stuff, I must say that regardless of ...anything,
the cinematography and the score of this film were some of the best stuff I’ve seen all
year - especially the score - I LOVED the score for this film, I believe it was done
by Daniel Hart who also did the score for A Ghost Story - it weirdly reminded me of
the score in Ari Aster’s Midsommar - I may be trippin here but I swear that’s how it
felt on more than a few occasions.
And that’s to say that the score not only was beautiful, but also made the scenes that
needed to feel creepy and ominous, very creepy and ominous.
Don’t go in and listen to the music first if you haven’t watched the film, as they’re
definitely integrated into the film and play a big part of the whole experience.
Now, there’s one thing I must say about the film and what I think will divide the
audience the most, but unfortunately it’s a heavy spoiler so if you haven’t seen the
film, skip to this mark.
321 spoiler starts.
The last 15 minutes of this film was what made the final score to be bumped up from
a 6.5 to an easy 8.5 for me - it was probably my favourite part of the film, where Sir Gawain
finally meets the Green Knight and runs off, lives his life, gets old, and finally removes
the green girdle that’s been protecting him all this year, and his head just falls
off - that whole sequence, accompanied with the intense and beautiful score I talked about
and the wonderful cinematography -.... Was poetry on screen.
I do think that when the film then cuts back to Sir Gawain and it reveals to the audience
that this was his imagination, and he takes off his girdle right there, prompting
the Green Knight to let him go, saying, with your head off you go or some insane wordplay in
that nature, it’s going to turn a lot of people off.
For me, it didn’t - that last few seconds didn’t take away from the last 15 minutes,
and it actually just made things bizarrely more poetic.
But I literally heard people swearing in my theater when that ending happened, so I can
see many others doing the same.
Also, the fox wasn’t his sidekick - that hurt my feelings.
I shouldn’t have watched the trailer.
So what do I say to those wishing to watch the film: if you’re into the whole A24 aesthetic,
slow paced Lowery-esque films and care less about coherence and satisfying actions, this
film is definitely for you.
If you had no fucking clue what I just said, it probably isn’t for you.
But to paraphrase, if you’re expecting an action filled, straight forward fantasy adventure
film with some pretty scenes scattered about, you might find yourself yawning a few times,
scratching your head a few more, and eventually getting mad by the end.
But hey, you might still love it, that’s just the general idea.
Alright, let me know what you thought of the film if you’ve seen it, if you haven’t,
do you think you’ll enjoy it, and what’s your favourite David Lowery film.
I for sure loved it, though I think I’ll have to watch it again - things might change
by then - yeh that’s the kinda film we’re talking about, but anyhow, thanks for watching,
and until next time, that’s it for me.