Saw The Green Knight, an adaptation of the ancient myth of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It's a loose adaptation, with added in banditry and prostitutes and such. Hilariously, when I google for "sir gawain and the green knight movie" one of the suggestions that pops up is "what is the point of The Green Knight movie?" This, in my opinion, is the wrong sort of question to ask by the way (while we're at it, what's the point of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? or of Citizen Kane? What's even the point of anything at all??), but it does indicate that this is the sort of movie you'll want to decode.
Before we dive in here's the plot: on Christmas day, a giant green knight rides in to King Arthur's celebrations and proposes a game: any knight may strike him (the green knight) with an axe, however the green knight will return this blow in one year. The impetuous Sir Gawain jumps up and cuts the green knight's head off. Unperturbed, the green knight scoops up his head and ominously shouts "one year!" So one year later, Sir Gawain must ride off to face what is probably his death.
The film's central theme is the facing down of certain death for reasons of honor. This is the central conflict of the plot and it is underscored by Sir Gawain's relative youth and uncertainty. Again and again he shies away from greatness, opening the film in bed shouting "I'm not ready yet!" Later in the film he claims not to be a knight and at one point literally flinches at the prospect of riding on the shoulders of giants. He wants to be brave and noble, but cannot overcome himself and worries deeply that he will not be able to face down death. I wondered if the filmmaker had the modern extended adolescence on his mind.
There's another sub-theme of Christianity vs paganism and witchcraft. The green knight is made of wood and evokes the Green Man. He interrupts the Christmas celebration and lives in the "green chapel" which one character claims to mean the entire forest and which turns out to be a ruined church, overtaken with moss. The image of the virgin Mary is cracked in two but an enchanted green belt is kept until the end. This tension reinforces the central conflict of facing death: Christianity claims there is an afterlife and nothing to fear from death, but we see no evidence for this in nature and only a vicious fight for survival. This battle between faith in a divine plan and suspicion of an arbitrary fate must also be playing out in Gawain's mind.
There's also a lot thrown in that's not in the original story and which you might find kind of magical (I did) or just baffling and over the top (which I guess most viewers did.) There's a fox companion, for example, who may be kind of magical and some serious color-coding in the final moments of the film (blue, I feel, symbolizes something, but I don't know what.)
On that note: the film is gorgeously shot and decorated, looking like a collaboration between Terrence Malick and Tarsem Singh. The costumes are jarringly modern but also seem heavy, sturdy, medievalesque. The moments of magic are sometimes surreal and eye-popping, flooding the screen with yellows and reds, and sometimes understated and kept out of focus. At one point Sir Gawain happens upon a hunter who has taken down a wolf the size of a bear.
I really enjoyed the film. It's very heavy on the visuals and the themes are not outright handed to you. It's a good film for watching and thinking over. It's not exciting, but it is engrossing. I liked it!
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