Nicolas Cage’s performance is notable, but too much patience is required to reach a level of enjoyment in his search for a stolen pig.
We are introduced to Rob (Cage) who is a recluse in the forests near Portland, Oregon as he searches for truffles buried in the area near the small delipitated cabin he lives in, with his pet pig who is his partner in discovering the valuable fleshy fungi.
Looking strage with long hair that needs washing and clothing that needs cleaning he lives comfortably in the moist woods with his pig harvesting the valuable fungi. He sells the valuable commodity to Amir (Alex Wolff) who obviously make a significant profit on the transactions. At least his valuable sports car shows he has significant income.
Rob obviously enjoys hunting with the pig and staying away from city life, in which he once was a well known and respected chief. He walked away from the city ten years before. Rob’s quiet undisturbed life is broken when he is attacked at night in his cabin and his valuable pig is stolen.
One might expect Rob to be concerned with the loss income, which appears most likely, but he has only one goal when he returns to his old haunts in Portland, that is to find his pig.
He takes a beating to make some money and moves from location and person to person that might lead him to the culprits. With the help of Amir and his car he eventually learns what happen to his pig.
This a small story with limited borders, what is impressive is Cage’s ability to communicate his feelings and goals without much dialogue. At the same time very often we find that waiting for him to speak-up takes an eternity and after a time it becomes tedious to watch.
Compare to all the super-hero films surrounding us today, this is a significant departure, but it just doesn’t have sufficient emotion to hold our attention.