So, this is based upon the epic 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and it's fairly faithful to the source material including much of the dialog being taken from it; so, The Lighthouse and The Witch come to mind by comparison. That said, I found the dialog more accessable in this movie.
The inciting incident is that the Green Knight crashes the King's Christmas celebration challanging a knight to fight him. If the knight lands a blow on the Green Knight, whether it be a scratch or a blow to the neck, the Green Knight will return the wound in one year and one day's time. Gawain (Dev Patel) accepts the challenge and beheads the Green Knight. The Green King rises, gathers his head, and says, "One year hence." before riding off.
Most of the rest of the movie is focused on Gawain's quest to fulfill his end of the bargain.
The movie is visually stunning. The production design carried the cinematography to brilliant heights. The performances are strong across the board. This is a movie that was made with deliberate design and decisions. There really wasn't a shot in the movie that felt like they were just grabbing something for safety.
I would give this movie a boost just for being an R rated fantasy movie (and the R is deserved) which isn't intended to become a franchise. But, David Lowery didn't play anything safe with this movie. At times his boldness came to a fault; but, I never stopped respecting what he was doing.
There is something truly unique and beautiful about this movie that shouldn't go unrecognized - it's a movie about being a man.
Gawain was never meant to be a superhuman figure. He's deeply flawed and oftentimes weak. But, he lives by a code of ethics and chivalry. This is a story about a man who made an agreement and puts himself through hell in order to uphold his side of the deal even though it will probably mean his death.
It's a movie about finding your own maturity and testing the limits of your bravery and your beliefs. This is about what you would do if faced with death or compromise on an oath that you've given. It's also about the kind of person you may become if you compromise your values when they're risky to uphold.
It's hard to sum this up without spoiling anything. Since I'm a "phone off" guy in the movie theater, I couldn't time it; but, there's about a ten minute stretch of the movie with no dialog that covers nearly twenty years which is absolutely brilliant.
Yes, I do recommend The Green Knight. It's not for everybody. It's a weird movie. The couple sitting next to me clearly didn't like it.
I did like it. See it.
