Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: David Lowery
Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Ineson, Joel
Edgerton, Barry Keoghan, Erin Kellyman, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie
Filmmaker David Lowery is known for films that lean
heavily on Americana.
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
and
The Old Man & the Gun
both deconstruct that most revered of American figures, the outlaw. He
delivered a surprisingly folksy live action remake of Disney's
Pete's Dragon. Now he turns his attention to the folklore of England with
The Green Knight, based on the 14th century poem 'Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight'.
Dev Patel plays Gawain as the sort of feckless teen who throws a
strop when his Mom asks him to leave the bins out. We meet him first as
he wakes in a brothel on Christmas Day, before returning home to Camelot
for the holy day's feast. The dinner is interrupted when a hulking,
green-skinned knight (Ralph Ineson, continuing his career revival
as unlikely US indie darling) enters the room and asks for indulgence in
a "Christmas game." Said game allows anyone to strike the Green Knight a
blow, which will be reciprocated one year hence. Gawain steps up to the
plate and, thinking he's clever, lops off the knight's head. To his
horror, the knight picks up his noggin and walks off.
Cut to a year later and it's time for Gawain to set off to receive what
he fears will be a fatal blow from the Green Knight's axe. Or will fate
somehow save him, as it did the Green Knight?
If The Green Knight feels like a movie you've seen many
times before, that's because the source text has inspired countless
tales of unlikely heroes setting off on quests to redeem themselves.
Where Lowery's film gives us a twist on this idea is in Gawain being
quite happy not to leave behind a legacy if it means he gets to keep his
head. He has as much in common with Woody Allen's character in
Love and Death as with Luke Skywalker.
Many European filmmakers have indulged their affections for the
sweeping plains of America, so it's refreshing to see the reverse in
action here. Lowery is clearly as in love with the lore of Merry Olde
England as Leone was with the tales of the Old West.
Gawain's journey to his uncertain destiny brings him into contact with
various figures. There's a highway thief (Barry Keoghan) straight
out of Barry Lyndon; the talking fox from Lars von Trier's Antichrist; the spirit of Saint Winifred, who lightens the mood with her
insistence that she's been beheaded, despite her head appearing to be
firmly on her shoulders; and a Lord (Joel Edgerton) and Lady (Alicia Vikander) who seem to have inspired the swinging couple from Doug Liman's
Go.
In between trying to seduce Gawain, Vikander's enigmatic lady delivers
a speech querying why the Knight's green visage should prove so
troubling. Green is the colour of nature, she points out. But maybe
that's what humans fear, that when we're gone, the earth will return
green. Her speech made me think about how the Coca Cola company swapped
Santa Claus's green robes for the red we know today.
The Green Knight has been described as "challenging" by
some, but it's only a challenge if you care about figuring out "what it
all means." It's beautifully crafted and in no rush to get to the end of
its journey, but it's essentially a craft beer Krull. I don't think Lowery would take that as a slight against his film, as
he's made a film that betrays the influence of the early 1980s fad for
fantasy and folklore.
