Pig Parent Guide

For the last fifteen years, Rob (Nicolas Cage) has lived in the Oregon wilderness with no company apart from his foraging pig. He makes a living selling truffles to pretentious restaurateurs, but despite the high price of truffles, lives simply in a small cabin with no plumbing or electricity. Until, that is, his pig is stolen in the middle of the night. Determined to get her back, he ventures back to the city with his buyer, restaurant supplier Amir (Alex Wolff). But in a big city like Portland, finding a pig isn’t easy. Worse, the city is filled with the ghosts of Rob’s past.

This sounds like a big revenge thriller – Taken with a pig instead of a child. It sure isn’t. If you’re expecting a completely unhinged Nic Cage screaming and murdering his way through the Pacific Northwest, you’re watching the wrong movie. That’s not to say you won’t see Nic Cage screaming. He is Nic Cage after all. He gives 120% to every role, whether it needs it or not. But this is a much more understated role, so the screaming is pretty limited.

Pig is a much more sedate film. It’s a character study of a strange recluse who left the city on his own terms but never forgot what he left. It’s slow and, at times, morose. The cinematography is likewise unhurried, which means that even at a comparatively brisk 92 minutes, this movie feels long. There’s no rush to the end credits here.

I’m a movie nerd. I like a lot of weird arthouse films. Even for me, Pig is a little slow. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for it, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say your average audience isn’t going to have a great time with this. It’s sort of the antithesis to a popcorn movie. Watching Pig is committing to 90 minutes of introspective, thoughtful, and understated viewing.

But on the off-chance this sounds like your kind of thing, I’ll give you the usual content warnings. The big issue here is profanity, which comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant. Based on personal experience, these may be the least profane restaurant employees in history – but that’s not to say that there isn’t a ton of cussing. If you’re into this kind of movie, I don’t expect that’s a dealbreaker. If you’re like me, though, you might want to bring something caffeinated. Some of these long shots get a little long, if you know what I mean.