.png)
(European Premiere of PIG, EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18TH 8:00 PM)
https://birkscinema.co.uk/whats-on/on-screen/pig-edinburgh-international-film-festival/
"Pig"
"Pig" tells the story of Robin Feld (Nicholas Cage), a 'truffle' hunter, who lives alone in 'The Oregonian' wilderness. Rob is gifted at caring for animals. When his beloved foraging pig is kidnapped, he must return to his long-abandoned past in Portland in search of his pig, to recover her. He looks more bushy-bearded and hobo-like than usual. He returns to the city to track down the swine, so to speak, who stole his 'truffle' pig. In these dark and uncertain times, at least we can still worship at the church of Rob. In terms of oinktastic cinema the pig faces stiff competition in another film released this year about an even-toed ungulate, which was sow good; the amazing 'Gunda'.
The film chronicles the life of a truffle hunter in crisis; after his pig is kidnapped. Set against the stunning backdrop of 'Oregonian' wilderness, "Pig" shows thé search of a small-scale truffle hunter for his beloved pig. Deeply immersive, the film is a poetic snapshot, a contemplation on compassion, ethics, and the changing landscape. In intimate detail, it captures the.hunter’s personal upheaval as he questions his own morality and the value of life. 'Truffle' hunters will camp out on their porches at night, shotgun in hand, to fend off competing hunters trying to steal their valuable pigs and dogs. What? That's one of those facts that felt otherworldly yet immediately relatable to us, and that’s where "Pig" starts. It get us imagining what sort of person would be so attached to their truffle pig that this would be a quest worth following. There's the image of this tattered old man, alone in the woods with only his pig. Where did he come from? Then his world and history starts to unfold around him, and "Pig" begins to take shape. And as the story grows, something from our own life inevitably creeped it's way in. It throws us into a state of feeling like the world is a dream.
We're going to wake up from. Everything feels a little like we watching it from outside ourself, and it's hard to fully commit to the reality of the world and other people. We expect the feeling to go away one day, but as we get older, we find it doesn’t naturally go away. You just get used to it and integrate it into your worldview. Different people integrate grief into their world in different ways, and it shapes how they see themselves and the people around them. We see this with our own immediate family; how the loss trickles into everyone's life in various ways, and how after many years those ways have just become our disparate realities. Not the immediate effects of grief, but the long-term, perception-defining aspects that weave into our lives and the bedrock of our consciousness. How that can make us build walls around ourselves that separate us from others, even others that are going through the same thing in their own ways. The hunter's’ inner reflections share his struggle to align life with values, and through the story’s simple intimacy, the hunter's moral quandary quietly becomes our own.
"Pig" is conceived as a meditation on life, death and personal values. The film is intended as an immersive experience where the viewer shares the character’s daily life and growing anxiety. It unfolds unhurriedly, often in real time, immersing the viewer in the life of a truffle hunter. The pace of the film allows time and space to experience one's own thoughts. Quietly, the viewer embarks on an intimate journey of their own. We don’t get a lot of things to really care about in this life. For much of our society, there's a huge disconnect between what we eat and the source of that food. The film moves deep into a hipster city’s glamorous foodie culture. It's about kitchen staff in the city’s fey, foodie-favored fine-dining eateries. Who better to help explore that disconnect, and inspire compassion for all beings, than a truffle hunter experiencing his own evolution of thought? Through it's intimacy, this story has the power to reach an audience that might not have contemplated these issues.
.