Movie Poster

Red is the color of lust, but green is what lust leaves behind, in heart, in womb. Green is what is left when ardor fades, when passion dies, when we die, too.

# Review

While taking place in the Arthurian universe, The Green Knight reimagines a lesser known story, that of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The young Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) is the nephew of King Arthur (Sean Harris). One day, a Green Knight challenges Arthur's court to a game where the participant will strike the Green Knight with the knight’s axe and in return the Green Knight will return the strike one year later. Gawain, eager to prove himself, takes on the Green Knight’s challenge.

In this bizarre coming-of-age epic, Patel’s Gawain travels across Britain in order to fulfil his end of the quest. While loosely based on the original poem, the film script writers definitely took a ton of creative liberties. The original story is already quite strange and the film is stranger still, with an arthouse and surreal vibe. The character and set designs are fantastic; I especially enjoyed the striking colour pallets of different scenes. The pacing is incredibly slow; if one is coming into this film thinking it to be an epic like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (as I did), then one will be very disappointed. This film is more a drama with some intriguing themes surrounding chivalry, masculinity, and integrity.

The performances are great, especially Patel’s as an inexperienced but ambitious Gawain. Harris’ sickly Arthur, Alicia Vikander’s comforting Essel, and Sarita Choudhury’s mysterious Morgan le Fay were all excellent. I also really enjoyed Barry Keoghan’s scavenger and Erin Kellyman’s Winifred.

# Conclusion

Definitely not a movie for everyone, but great film if you're into cerebral fantasies with strong themes.

# Overall rating: 7.3

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