Back when I listed The Humanity Bureau as one of the worst films of 2018, my reasoning for doing so was that the other films he had worked on that same year gave me reason to believe that he had gotten past the point where he needed to be in direct-to-video schlock to get work. And this year, it feels like that premonition is starting to show itself, because 2021 has been one of the most consistent years in Cage's entire career. Willy’s Wonderland was good fun, Prisoners Of The Ghostland was pretty cool, and I’ve been hearing great things about this film in particular for a lot of this year. I kinda brushed it off, since its plot didn’t really seem like all that much to invested in on the surface. But if there’s one thing Nic Cage has always been throughout his career, it is unpredictable. And I definitely could not have predicted that he was capable of something this great.
The feature debut for writer/director Michael Sarnoski, this has some of the most in-depth and gratifying world-building I’ve seen in a film all year. It starts out humbly enough, with Cage’s role as Rob, a man who hunts for truffles with his trusty pig, but it gradually blossoms out in this expansive depiction of the culinary world of Portland, Oregon. From the high-class restaurants and their aggressively pretentious menus, to an underground fight club for their workers, to how Rob himself has the kind of pre-film history where his name opens a lot of doors in this world. It’s genuinely fascinating just seeing how much there is for Rob and Alex Wolff’s Amir to explore, and how lived-in it all feels.
I haven’t encountered world-building this dense since the last John Wick movie… which itself is kind of serendipitous because this zags in every direction that that series zigs. They start out on the same revenge-tinged angle, with Rob's pig being kidnapped and him making a trek into the city to find him, but this is basically anti-revenge in how it plays out. Despite the presence of the aforementioned fight club, the frequent opposition Rob faces in getting his pig back, and the ominous atmosphere that permeates so much of the Portland we see, he raises his hand all of once in this entire film. And even then, it doesn’t actually connect with anyone. Rob isn’t the kind of hero who wins because he can knock everyone else down; he wins because no one is capable of knocking him down.
And in that restraint, the film’s real emotional power comes forth, as Rob’s weapons of choice have to do with his main trade: Cooking. Whether it’s the food that he can cook at the moment, or just the memory of the meals he has already cooked, his character proves more than able to move the hearts and minds of those around him, not with force, but with genuine insight. He fills every room he enters with this sage-like demeanour, like he knows exactly what sensory experience someone else needs to have in order to be enlightened, and Cage’s delivery of those words is mesmerising. Part of it kinda-sorta plays into his own storied history within the entertainment industry with all the hushed tones and reverence (Alex Wolff has described Cage as “[his] single favourite person on the planet” and that certainly shows in their scenes together), but mostly, it’s all about a man who appreciates the true and simple pleasures that life has to offer, and whose example makes others see things the same way.
When I first heard about this film, the word “expectations” got used a lot. I initially chalked that up to it simply defying audience expectations in its humble approach to emotionality, but no, that word is a major throughline for this entire film. Along with the reputation Rob still has attached to this name after spending so long outside of this world, the reputations of everyone around him directly influence their actions. And the way that Rob sees straight through that need to fulfil what other people want (as opposed to what they themselves want), it’s almost Gnostic in how adamantly he looks past the self-enforced fantasy to reveal what a person really cares about. He’s all too aware of how fleeting life is, with people and places vanishing every time the universe blinks, which is why it’s so important to him that he finds that joy whenever he can. And if that joy comes from staying in the woods and looking for fungi with a loved one, then that’s what he’ll do.
It is quite astounding just how freaking good this film is. It impresses me on the same level that Possessor did last year, in that every idea and emotion it wants to put forward is presented fully-formed. Everything it reaches for, it grabs firmly in the palm of its grasp, and starting from a deceptively simple plot idea, it reveals artistic talent that can hold its own against… well, pretty much any other film I’ve talked about on this blog. To say nothing of Nicolas Cage himself, who gives a performance that feels like his entire career has been leading up to it. With a single role, he reveals that underneath the Nouveau Shaman wild-man that audiences have been treating like a living meme for so many years, there is an artist that can cut into the hearts of men with just his voice. Well, that and some rustic comfort food.
No comments:
Post a Comment