David Lowery’s latest film, The Green Knight, is more than an adaptation of the eponymous Arthurian poem, it is the cinematic expression of its very essence – visual poetry rather than prose. While Lowery does take some liberties in terms of story, he’s remarkably faithful to the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The result is a medieval fantasy quest film that is not at all what you would expect of a standard knight’s tale of good versus evil, or chivalry and gallantry and bravery against the odds. Instead, The Green Knight is a wondrous, meditative reflection on making choices.
Lowery is one of the most unique and exciting filmmakers today, a modern auteur whose work is reliably composed of beautiful imagery, gripping score, and carefully crafted mood. And The Green Knight is his most ambitious film yet. It isn’t the story that’s complex but rather the themes and character motivations and discoveries that are intricately layered. That’s also shown through the visual use of color – the reds, the yellows, and the greens (the subject of Alicia Vikander’s memorable monologue).
Since the poem has been published for 700 years now, it’s hardly a spoiler to say that the story centers around King Arthur’s young nephew, Gawain (also Morgan le Fay’s son). He’s a young man who deeply desires to join the famed knights of the Round Table, though he’s done nothing to merit it. One Christmas Day, a creature called the Green Knight bursts in and challenges them to a “game“. The result is that Gawain must travel to meet the Green Knight one year thence to uphold his end of the challenge.
The Green Knight is a tale about a boy without a tale. Gawain is trying to find his own story and wants to be remembered as a legendary knight, that’s why he takes the challenge. But the story he ends up with isn’t quite the standard medieval tale we are used to. It might be closer to what actually happens in these kinds of circumstances, before historians and yes-men polish up and embellish the legacies to be left for posterity. Gawain becomes famous even for the one year after the Green Knight’s challenge, but he’s miserable and drunk that entire time, fearful of what lies ahead. The external perception is starkly at odds with his internal state.
The effectiveness of the film is largely anchored by a phenomenal performance by Dev Patel. He’s always been a fine actor but he shows that he’s capable of far more than we had previously realized. Patel’s soulful, glistening eyes and boyishly handsome features perfectly portray both Gawain’s naivety and ambition. He navigates each obstacle on his quest physically and emotionally on a level that is palpable to the audience. Vikander, Joel Edgerton, and the other supporting cast are all fantastic too, but it’s clearly Patel’s show.
One of the best parts of The Green Knight is that it’s a familiar story told in a completely different way. Many of little tropes and storytelling conventions are intentionally subverted – the way Gawain tries to touch the ghost girl, or the way that he asks her what she’ll give him in return for finding her head, or even the way Barry Keough enters for his cameo and we keep waiting for him to come back at some point. Typically, these side quests will lead to the hero getting little trophies or items that can be used at the end, but this version feels much more arbitrary, and in a way, realistic. For example, Gawain arrives a day early at the green chapel and has to wait a whole day, just another instance where the little things never work out quite the way you expect.
The film leans hard into its surrealist fantasy elements (there are mushrooms, giants, and foxes) and chivalric allegory but in some ways it is traditionally stylized as well – the dialogue is in old medieval English and even the font and title cards of the film are in ornate calligraphy. It is also paced like a meditation, lingering on some shots for 20 or 30 seconds, until you find something on the screen that is more than just the next plot device. A little patience will go a long way, but it certainly helps that for almost every shot, is visually stunning and an incredible cinematic experience.
This is definitely not a movie for everyone. My sister absolutely hated The Green Knight, and I heard some people walking out of the theatre declaring that they’d never trust Rotten Tomatoes again (to be fair, only watching the trailer beforehand would lead you to expect this to be the typical swashbuckling fare). It’s an unexpected film, full of seeming paradoxes – a Christmastime film that is largely concerned with time and rot and decay. It’s also a film that will burrow itself and fester in your mind long after that ambiguous ending the credits have rolled, and you’ll find yourself grappling with it, turning it over and over in your head.
The Green Knight is about making choices and alternate timelines and what-ifs: that is what drives Gawain’s quest for honor and knighthood (so much of him is defined by the fact that he’s not a knight). But the audience is often as beguiled as Gawain is, so that we are taken along in his journey of self-discovery. Like half-remembered dreams, The Green Knight is an express rejection of logic. It is not just unconventional storytelling – it is downright subversive. Lowery asks a lot of his viewers, but rewards you accordingly. What is real and what isn’t? You may not always be sure, but you’ll certainly need to keep your head to watch this film.
