Nicolas Cage likes to go big and bold, which is something he’s been doing increasingly often during his decade-long odyssey traversing the VOD genre circuit. However, every now and again he delivers a performance that reminds you why he’s often held up as one of the best talents of his generation, and his central turn in upcoming drama Pig is even being called one of his very best ever.
That’s high praise indeed when we’re talking about an Academy Award winning star with over 100 credits under his belt dating back almost 40 years, and with the movie rolling out to theaters from today, the reviews have been singling it out as one of the year’s best independent films. At the time of writing, Pig holds a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with virtually every critic singling Cage out for adulation.
The 57 year-old plays Rob, a former chef that’s become almost deified within the industry since mysteriously upping sticks and relocating to the wilderness, where he spends his time foraging for truffles with his prized porker. When a gang of thieves steal his longtime companion, Rob heads out to find the culprits while wrestling with his past, present and future, often all at once.
There’s no denying that Nicolas Cage is one of the best in the business when he’s firing on all cylinders, and it’s easy to forget that he’s just as good playing smaller, character-driven moments as he is gurning maniacally and aiming for the broadest possible turn. Of course, he’ll be back on familiar territory very shortly, with Pig being followed by The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, an action comedy where Cage plays a fictionalized version of himself.