The Green Knight (2021): Written and directed by David Lowery. Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudry, Sean Harris, and Ralph Ineson. Running Time: 130 minutes. Based on the anonymous tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Rating: 3.5/4
There's always something to be said for films that stick to their guns and get strange, and friends, David Lowery's latest- Dev-Patel-starring adaption of one of the most famous King Arthur legends- is strange, and makes no apologies for it. Given that this is the same mind that brought us A Ghost Story, one of the best and most unique films of the 2010's, this is hardly surprising. Still, there was no guarantee that a grungy, balls-out adaptation of Arthurian myth would actually stick the landing, and while this is most definitely not a film for everyone, it's free to land on my runway anyday.
The premise, for the unitiated, is that one Christmas day, a mysterious "Green Knight" appears at the court of Camelot and issues a challenge. Any knight may take a free blow at him, even try to cut off his head, but in exactly one year's time, at an appointed place, he will be permitted to strike the exact same blow in return. The only one who rises to take the bait is Gawain, a younger man, untested, and very much eager to take his place amongst the other members of the court, who he himself views as "legends." He promptly strikes off the knight's head, but in true Arthurian fashion, there is some strange magic at work, and the body merely shrugs it off and picks up the head, which reminds Gawain of his promise to meet him again in a year's time, presumably to have his own head lopped off. The adventures that follow track Gawain as he struggles to meet this challenge, experiencing the usual litany of magical adventures along the way that test his character, virtue, and resolve, especially when faced with what seems like certain death.
Though the original story is considered a classic of chivalrous romance, the movie makes it very clear from the beginning that this will not be a straightlaced adaptation. Camelot, classically meant to represent a "Golden Age" of chivalry, appears cloudy, wet, dark, and all-around dirty and unpleasant. Arthur (Sean Harris) is a tired old man, immediately owning up to the fact that he himself doesn't have the strength to fight the knight when he appears. The Green Knight himself is a literal green giant who looks like a close relative of Treebeard and is voiced by the wondrous Ralph Ineson. There is also a love interest for Gawain, a commoner played by Alicia Vikander, who also pulls double duty later as a strange lady in a countryside manor who later provides the sharpest temptation to Gawain during his quest.
What I most appreciated about this version is how it goes all in in embracing wildest stuff out of these myths. For all the polish and gloss that musicals like Camelot and other classical depictions of Arthur and the Round Table tend to get, when you really boil down these stories thereis a host of truly insane stuff going on, often out of nowhere and with no more reason than "something weird must happen so a knight can do Knight Things." Magical animals, hosts of giants rising out of fog, ghosts, and much more come and go with nary a hello. The movie embraces the randomness and the oddity of it all from the word go- the film literally starts with a crowned head bursting into flame- and is all the better for it.
Every scene and sequence is positively dripping with atmosphere, more often than not designed to keep the audience in a state of constant unease. A standout sequence involving the ghost of a dead saint and a task to find a missing head near an abandoned cottage effectively works as a short horror film. I found it particularly effective, probably in no small part because it evoked some, ah, uncomfortable memories of watching Hereditary. The color green, especially in regards to nature and plant life, is a recurring motif, and the vast woods and wildernesses Gawain travels through are often spotted with the wrecks and ruins of houses and churches, as if to say, "Here, too, Man tried to conquer and failed." The soundtrack by Daniel Hart, currently the best I've heard this year, deserves mention as well, perfectly matching the visuals by refusing to let the ear feel at ease.
All that said, the anchor of it all is obviously Dev Patel, and he delivers career work. He's given a lot of moments, especially during a dynamite sequence towards the end, to use just his face and body language to convey the emotional and mental development of Gawain, and he takes full advantage of them. Once again, though, given that this same director was able to evoke a similar effect using a fucking BEDSHEET, this should not surprise anyone. Alicia Vikander is as enchanting as ever, in every sense of the word, and though her scenes are relatively few, she makes sure they stand out.
Out of all the ideas on the film's mind, probably the most interesting one is how it comments on the nature of narratives and legends as a whole, and their ability to take shape and meaning far beyond any connection to what may have actually happened. Every so often we cut to a literal puppet show depicting the coming conflict between Gawain and the Green Knight, which seems to be spreading his tale to the common folk around the kingdom. He is hailed as the "hero" who "killed" the knight in taverns before he's even had the chance to ride out and begin his journey, and afterwards as well he encounters people who have already heard a version of his story. It becomes immediately obvious that the tales being spread bear almost no resemblance to the truth, and Gawain knows this, but he always seems far too uneasy or uncertain of himself to ever try and set the record straight.
And would it even matter if he did try? It has always been a key part of legends that they shift and change in meaning and even content with the retelling, each iteration bringing something new to the forefront while letting other details recede into the background. It's part of what makes storytelling such a vibrant and fascinating and fun aspect of human existance. No tale-spinner has ever let the facts get in the way of a good story. This makes the film less of a deconstruction of mythmaking and more of a meditation on how stories shift and change over time, meaning different things to different people.
More than anything else, I am grateful that we finally have a new take on the tales of Arthur to breath new life into its world, one that I think was getting rather stale in modern culture. It has been some time since we've had a really interesting, new, and meaningful story from this particular universe. This movie reminded me that Arthurian tales have endured for a reason, and that the world of English-speaking storytelling is better off when these stories continue to be revisited. This is one of the strangest and best films of the year, and I suspect it will find a long shelf life indeed.
-Noah Franc
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