The most extraordinary and certainly niche film, ‘The Green Knight’
Film by David Lowery, A24
You know, for a movie I loved so much, I cannot for the life of me decide where to begin.
What I’m Reading: The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien — HarperCollins) / The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln — Arrow Books)
What I’m Watching: Hell’s Kitchen (Fox)
Perhaps I should best explain it with my trusty (but brief) graphic of quality. At the top is shit, and at the bottom (golf style, yo) is the shit.
Personally, I think it’s essential to respect everyone’s right to have an opinion. And a lot of people like Excalibur. I respect you are perfectly free to do so, though; this film is personally the prime example of why any King Arthur bio retelling requires at least four hours, if not more. Unfortunately, Excalibur is one such four-hour movie slaughtered into a two-hour runtime.
For more, I recommend checking out my prior review, which you can mosey on toward here.
So, uh, a little less shit, but I still can’t for the life of me finish it, is Cursed. I’m really trying to get through this, for Nimueh, for Morgan le Fay being a good guy(?), but I’m dying over here.
I think, though, it didn’t get a second season, so maybe I’ll never finish it and let it live on forever.
One I personally enjoy but not a favourite amongst the masses, Tristan & Isolde is not necessarily the best adaptation — I mean, they don’t both die at the end, which is… a minor divergence. You know, them being inspo for Romeo and Juliet, the teen lust-driven affair that resulted in the deaths of six people. I’ll stick with the original pair, who didn’t quite have the same effect, thank you.
As well, they all pronounce Isolde correctly. So that’s nice.
As far as strict King Arthur bios go, I would argue this is among the best. It didn’t try to yeet a gargantuan story into a smaller runtime, Lancelot isn’t an utterly incoherent coathanger, and Guinevere has agency. Not to mention, Hannibal Lector and Will Graham from another of the gayest shows on TV are both in it! And this is my conspiracy theory, but the armour Mads Mikkelsen wears as Tristan actually cameos in an episode of Hannibal. Perhaps they’re simply Hannibal and Will in prior lives and excuse me while I go write some Tristan/Galahad fanfic.
Many dismiss King Arthur as a needlessly dark and gritty film, and I’m still mad that the theatrical edition is significantly better than the director’s cut and I DIDN’T KNOW until I stuck it on via Disney+ (it was literally laziness) and realised the scenes they cut out for the extended edition made the film more meaningful and — I still can’t get over this — made the leadup to the climax MORE STRUCTURALLY SOUND. This revelation will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Admittedly, I should have checked sooner — the Donnie Darko director’s cut, case in point.
You know what’s better than trying to be as faithful as possible? Veering so far off the adaptation rails that separating source from content is the easiest fucking job in the world. I present to you one of the best adaptations for completely just doing its own thing: The Adventures of Merlin.
And being another of the gayest shows on TV. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it enough times it ends up on my tombstone, Merthur is the hill worth dying on. Shoutouts to the final episode for traumatising me for life, right beside The Song of Achilles, Death Note’s end, Mark and Lexie in Grey’s Anatomy, and Grave of the Fireflies.
Season six? Please?
So, from here you have a gap. I didn’t think this gap existed, but then, after months of depression over not being able to watch this film, I finally got to sit down and experience this…
I had heard so much going into The Green Knight. So many argued it was a masterpiece, and that made me hopeful. So many praised it for being reminiscent of Excalibur. That… made me have feelings. Others said it was slow and pointless and just the most awful film they could have possibly made.
The wild thing is I can understand all three opinions. The first one is absolutely true; cinematography, writing, set design, costuming, pacing, the score, the acting, and did I mention cinematography? All technically and personally awe-striking. The second one hurts, but I do concede that Excalibur has something of a dreamlike quality to it, in a sense that the filmmakers structured Excalibur with an almost ethereal underlay, and that’s all over The Green Knight.
As for the third, that’s where subjectivity comes in.
Something quickly lost in today’s social media-heavy society is that everyone is fundamentally different. Different families, different upbringing, different neighbourhoods, communities, cultures, sexual and gender orientations, different religions — for even two who worship under the same faith will do so differently. We cannot think identically because no one has had the same exact experience as us. We come to all things, to art, at different moments and spaces in our lives. And so, when a piece of art comes along, the factors come into play; it all helps determine the audiences of which we become a part. My family — my mother, specifically — introduced me to the vast depths of Arthurian mythology. In the secondhand bookstores of this here Canberra, I found so many tomes speaking, whispering of the mighty King Arthur.
As a result, many films will try to reach a broader target audience, be it an age bracket or particular gender or orientation. The Green Knight took one look at all that, went, “fuck that,” and zeroed in on the Arthurian corner.
(I’m going to add here that this is also a film for people who enjoy slow, multi-layered stories with metaphor and non-immediate meaning, but that in itself is a similarly niche market and rather adds to my point).
A result of that is if you’re not in that audience, finding enjoyment or meaning will be a challenge. This is not a film by any means for everyone. And people might see that isolationist approach and criticise it, but the benefit of having such a narrow lens is paying that off is significantly easier.
And oh… my poor, Arthurian heart. I needed this to watch immediately after Excalibur to know there was still good in the world.
Honestly, the most challenging part of this review has been to extend it beyond, “Please go and watch it, give it a try. This is the best Arthurian film by far, love it, love it, love it.” Legitimately, for as long as I am not involved in writing scripts for Arthurian films or TV shows (one day, I shall mark my place), I only want David Lowery to helm all future Arthurian movies. No one else. Just him. He is a brilliant enough director, screenwriter, and editor that his being inspired by Excalibur doesn’t factor.
There is hope, lovely people. There is hope.
Shoutouts to the cast, as well, especially Ralph Ineson for his role as the Green Knight. There was a snippet after the virtual screening I watched of him reading a snippet from the book, and I only have one request: can he please be hired for an audiobook edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? Please? His voice is so rich, and I couldn’t focus on anything else. Just…
However, no one whatsoever, even Sean Harris as King Arthur himself — who managed to instil overwhelming presence into a weary and dying version of the titan we know so well — outshone Dev Patel. I am not going to say much about his powerhouse performance beyond two factors.
One, if he isn’t nominated for all the awards, I’ma curl up in a hole under my bed and yeet myself into oblivion.
Two, this is the actor who played Zuko in the live-action ATLA adaptation, who had anything to do with that, and he’s still in the business. I mean, I made a promise to one of my best friends that I’d never watch it so long as I lived and breathed. Moving on.
I’m calling it now, he’s going to live on in memory as one of the greatest actors of all time.
What else is there for me to say? Again, I will emphasise that The Green Knight is a niche media piece but a masterclass in film. The soundtrack I love, more so having the film to contextualise each song, but I’ll still leave the link for the album here. Personally, I don’t think there’s a better way to share my love for The Green Knight than to conclude with a video showing off why the cinematography stands unchallenged in terms of quality after all is said and done. (Better yet, you will be able to see Ralph Ineson in full costume and makeup — the Green Knight is all practical, no CGI, which is so cool.)
Meanwhile, thanks for tuning in, and I will see you lovely people next Friday week!
— Charis.
