Silk purse cinema with Nicolas Cage back in form, PIG is a truffle, a bona fide delicacy of a film.

Cage plays Robin, a recluse living in the wilds of Oregon, a subsistence fossicker of truffles, which he collects with the help of his porcine companion.

Kidnapping seems wrong for the purloining of a porker, so let’s say a snout snatch sets Robin off on a mission of retrieval to rescue the stolen swine.

In the big smoke of Portland, Robin’s reason for reclusivity is revealed as he methodically tracks down his trotter with the help of Amir, the young entrepreneur who trades in truffles.

PIG is a rare concoction of a film, an original recipe cooked up by writer producer Vanessa Block and writer director Michael Sarnoski. The movie is a meal, a three course feast, a menu of three acts exquisitely prepared and executed.

Part One is Rustic Mushroom Tart and works as an appetiser for what’s to follow.

Part Two is Mom’s French Toast and Deconstructed Scallops, where Robin and Amir bond, Amir tells a tale of his parents that turns out intertwining with Robin’s past.

The menu is completed with A Bird, a Bottle and a Salted Baguette that delivers a delicious and devastating denouement.

Pat Scola’ cinematography stunningly captures the contrasts between city and wilderness, Jayme Hansen’s costume design, especially Robin’s rustic garb is spot on, and the drama’s pathos is given acoustic elevation via the score by Alexis Grapsas and Philip Klein.

Arguably Nicolas Cage’s best performance since Joe, PIG is an urgent, fabulously entertaining and continuously surprising film, disarmingly wayward in its precision. It’s a heart breaker because it has a heart to break and soulful

because it has deep and gentle soul that fills the screen.

A sort of Babe for adults, PIG is one of he most memorable films of the year.

Featured photo: Nicols Cage with porcine co-star

Richard Cotter