It is not a surprise to say that Nicolas Cage has turned into an expert on low quality entertainment, quickly and cheaply made, designed to be consumed without too much thought and forgotten a short while after the credits have rolled. However, in an apparently endless list of terrible projects with ridiculous premises and somewhat self-explanatory titles like Rage, The Humanity Bureau, A Score to Settle, Running with the Devil, Jiu Jitsu or Kill Chain there are films like Kick-Ass, Joe, Mandy or Colour Out of Space (to name a few of his most recent works) that stand out in the same way as a Cappelletti of rabbit, Raschera cheese cream and foam of dried mushrooms would in a McDonald’s. This unbalanced career has created an unexpected issue in terms of what to expect of a film with a premise such as the one of Pig, as it follows a truffle forager who has to face his past after his pig is kidnapped.

With a plot like that and the proliferation, and progressive ludicrousness of the revenge subgenre -at this rate it is only a matter of time before we can see a film focused on a middle-aged man hellbent on getting revenge after being queue-jumped-, Pig has plenty of ingredients to be another of those projects that Cage can do in his sleep, yet nobody behind this project is interested on that. Luckily, there is nothing here that resembles a shamelessly self-aware film, keen to capitalize on a tired fad, with a star making puns about bacon in his widely known over the top style.

Despite being Michael Sarnoski’s debut behind the camera, he has crafted a film that uses a boiled down script -written by him and based on a story by himself and Vanessa Block- to march at the beat of its own drum, as it is neither a suspenseful actioner nor a too emotional drama. Fully aware of the film’s potential -and helped by a beautiful cinematography by Patrick Scala-, Sarnoski uses the structure of what could have been a traditional revenge thriller to deliver a succinctly written film, divided in three parts named after dishes –Rustic Mushroom Tart, Mom’s French Toast & Deconstructed Scallops and A Bird, a Bottle & a Salted Baguette– and, instead of focusing on retribution, it takes a Buddhist-like approach to lead us on a journey alongside broken people who have lost what they loved and cannot get what they want, or believe they deserve.

Obviously, Nicolas Cage -who is one of those talented actors who can choose when to be good and when not to- is essential for the triumph of the film. His taciturn and natural performance that lacks his usual rage explosions and over the top shtick -which helped him craft his wonderfully raw and unleashed performance in Mandy- captures the pain and anguish that his character feels throughout the story in an earnest way, creating one of the best performances of his odd and uneven career. Despite being the centre of the story, Cage shares some of his screen time with Alex Wolff, who holds his own with the former. Wolff successfully steals a few scenes and his contribution is essential -he is not reduced to being an asset for the protagonist- as the central duo of Cage and Wolff feed off of each other perfectly, creating an ideal balance between the monk-like Cage -with his unkempt look that, together with the deliciously looking meals, can make you think Pig could have been part of the failed Smell-O-Vision experiment- and the carefully constructed more flamboyant persona of Wolff’s character.

Do not go to see this film expecting a mad Cage driven to get revenge for the kidnapping of his pig. Do not expect a slow burner that ends on a wild climax of explosions on a fancy restaurant kitchen either. If you wished to see a film like that, you would be as disappointed as a person looking for a healthy meal on a KFC. Like Marmite, Pig is not for everybody. However, as a word of advice, leave behind any prejudices regarding Cage and his -bread and butter- zany performances and see beyond a plot that apparently places the film in the stale world of revenge thrillers, as Pig is a tense and poignant exploration of love and loss that will definitely not leave a bad taste in your mouth.