The Green Knight

Metadata

  • Media: #films #Films 2021
    • Director: David Lowery
    • Rating: ★★☆☆☆
    • Idea richness: ★★★☆☆

Another post-dental surgery watch. Glad I waited for the sedation to wear off before this one. Disclaimer: It has been years since I read Sir Gawain in the Green Knight but I had sky high expectations going into this film.

Summary

It's Sir Gawain and The Green Knight... but not.

The basic premise is the same as the medieval poem: Mysterious Green Knight arrives before King Arthur and his knights, challenges anyone to a duel on the condition that whatever blow they land, they must also receive from him in one year's time. Only Gawain accepts the challenge and cuts off the knight's head but (gasp) the Green Knight picks up his head and tells Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel on this same day next year where he will return the blow to Gawain. Dun dun DUNNNN.

There are some notable changes to the characters (Gawain is not a Knight and not confident or honourable) and ending, compared to the poem which make it overall rather a different story with different themes. It feels far less like a moral tale than the poem and more of a surreal trip.

After the chopping off The Green Knight's head, the year flies by and Gawain is honourbound to journey to his apparent death. But first, he must wander strange lands to find the green chapel and encounters stranger and more dangerous folk, from scavengers to spirits and naked giants courtesy of hallucinogenic mushrooms (surprisingly not in the poem). Eventually, Gawain arrives at the house of a strange Lord and Lady, where the Lady attempts to seduce him.

SPOILERS FOR POEM + FILM FOLLOW: In the poem, the Lord is in fact the Green Knight. He strikes a similar bargain of "I'll give you what I catch hunting while you give me whatever you find at home" as part of a test of honour and chivalry. In the poem, Gawain resists but ultimately kinda fails by giving in to a kiss and deceit at the offer of a magical sash that will protect him. But not nearly as completely as in the film, where he gives in to the Lady and the Lord is... just kind of there to be weird and not explicitly shown to be the Green Knight?

In the film, after giving in to the Lady in exchange for a magical sash that prevents harm, Gawain flees into the woods and finds the Green Knight. We get a fakeout where Gawain appears to flee and we see his life as he becomes king after Arthur, abandons his lowborn lover, and eventually loses all. Cut back to see Gawain is back in the chapel and it was all a vision of what could be(?). Gawain then takes off the enchanted sash and we get an iconic last line of 'Now, off with your head' from the Green Knight before BOOM, credits roll and that's it. /END SPOILERS

Things I loved...

  • That intro narration was epic
  • The typography and chapter headings inserted in the film.
  • The (very) end. The last line and cut to credits was one of the better changes and suited the tone of this adaption.
  • The battlefield with the scavenger. Honestly my favourite scene of the film because it feels both normal yet surreal, straightforward yet sinister without being able to place your finger on why. Also kind of sums up what I didn’t like about The Green Knight film: the best scene could be any creepy medieval/fantasy film. It tries to be super surreal but ends up being more nonsensical so you don't get much deeper meaning that would make it more creepy and memorable. The scavenger scene delivers because we actually get to see the difference between knights and common folks and a world where magic and malice lurk in equal measure.
  • Morgan Le Fey is Gawain’s mom in the film. Like the poem, she sparks the appearance of The Green Knight but her motives and overall plan ambiguous. Keeping that ambigious and her larger role is change from the poem (if I recall?) and I approve.
  • There were too many of them but the sweeping scenery shots were gorgeous and helped build a sense of an earthly yet mythical world.
  • The Green Knight. I’m not totally sold on the costume but the sound effects, voice, and details (like how the moss sprouts around the axe) were lovely.

Things I didn't...

  • Gawain. Is it supposed to be a more relatable, sympathetic take on the character? If so, that’s not what I got. He gets drunk, falls, and walks for 2+ hours and things just happen to/around him. Is he supposed to be more likeable this way? Gawain in the poem was not likeable but for me would be more interesting as the confident and honest yet prideful and immature knight needing to learn his flaws, especially in surrealist, horror take. I hoped film Gawain would get his head chopped off. It’s not a very interesting moral tale when your main character is almost never forced to make tough moral choices… or really choices at all.
  • It tries to touch on themes from the poem and beyond: honour, class, inequality, man vs nature, legacy, etc. But in doing so, it ends up only hinting at them briefly in isolated scenes that do not carry forward. Likewise, this means none feel like they reach any kind of conclusion. Overall, it feels like maybe it's trying to be smart by leaving things open ended but instead drifts more towards nonsensical and unsatisfying than thought provoking.
  • It is looooooooonnnngggggg. Like the kind of long where things that should be creepy become unintentionally humorous or boring.
  • The music started to grate on me by about an hour in. There’s not much going on except the music, at that point.

Thoughts

Honestly, my preference would be to chop a good 40 minutes off the run time, change the name, and reorder some of the scenes. As an adaption of [[!B-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]], it’s not my favourite. But as a surreal fantasy film about a knight questioning honour, lying, and his kingdom falling to ruins around him as we see flashbacks of the epic quest that supposedly made him with the real details slowly falling into place, it could be a good time. A bit like that motion capture Beowulf adaption or The Big Fish but more creepy and the reveal is the lies rather than the truth of the fantastic tales. Gawain could then at least be an interesting pampered, privileged kid asshole, instead of a meh asshole. Plus the characters who are much more interesting than Gawain (like his mom / sorceress Morgan Le Fey) could play larger roles and bring some fantasy politicking to the fore.

OR

DO AN LITERAL SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT ADAPTION YOU COWARDS. I jest, but seriously, the poem itself could be good as a surreal, horror, fantasy thing. Some of the changes in the film, like the ‘relatable’ Gawain, made it feel less surreal and a weird ‘honour’ trip than I recall the poem being. Give me two hours of someone literally choosing over and over agin to walk to their probable beheading because of a promise and being stupidly honest and brave in weird situations until he can realise he is not perfect but still strive for higher. Then again, it's been years since I read it and it was never my favourite so maybe this is more just my annoyance at film Gawain speaking.

TL;DR

I applaud the attempt but it was not for me. The Green Knight has some great ingredients and it is not the kind of thing I've seen make it to the big screen very often. However, the execution is overly long, boring, and not saved by some sumptuous visuals. I hope to see more weird, mythic fantasy adaptations and originals in future, but I hope they will also bring a more thoughtful approach to character, story, and pacing.

Watch if you love the trailer's visuals, don't mind a plodding pace, and aren't too attached to the details of the poem. If you're only here to scratch that fantasy quest itch and The Green Knight's visuals aren't your style, I would recommend David Bowie in tights in the Labyrinth as a better, surreal fantasy. It's weirder and more entertaining.

Scrapbook concepts

  • Mother secretly instigating magical challenge at court to get her lazy son to accept and into position for the crown #characters
  • A Green Knight #characters
  • An axe that causes growth wherever it strikes
  • A challenge: Strike a blow and in one year hence meet challenger in remote location to receive whatever strike was given in return.