Oft-maligned Nicolas Cage nabbed good reviews on this quirky character piece; as did feature debuting writer/director Michael Sarnoski.* Working at an eccentrically measured pace to chart the hermit-like existence of off-the-grid society dropout Cage, living in a shack that might serve for the sty where his companionate truffle-hunting pig waits to join him on his daily forest forage. Elsewise, Cage interacting only with a young man trading baskets of food & supplies for the pricey fungi when his quotidian routine is brutally interrupted by a pig-napping and a thrashing. Who could possibly be responsible? Who would bother? Cage has his suspicions. But once he and his ‘buyer’ set off for the big city (Portland, OR) to get to the bottom of his missing pig, everything turns both conventional & sentimental, with pat ‘explanations’ from past actions and ripening payoffs. What had seemed dramatically fresh now looking slow & obvious, every concrete answer a dramatic diminution. Personal loss, business trouble, professional jealousy, father/son issues, a mental breakdown that swamps a genius of the kitchen and leaves behind bare subsistence in a hermitage of his own making. With Cage restricted to vamping on a one-stringed instrument while he waits for resolution.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Naturally, Hollywood plans to bump Sarnoski up to a big-ticket franchise: A QUIET PLACE Part III. Maybe his mordant nature will let someone rip a fart loud enough for the noise-activated monsters to make Part IV unnecessary.
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