‘The Green Knight’ (Spoiler Free) Review
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A stylized version of the Arthurian Legend that sometimes sacrifices clarity for style.
The Green Knight is directed and written by David Lowery (A Ghost Story). It’s a retelling of the poem and story of the same name, written in the times of Arthurian Legend.
The film stars Dev Patel as Gaiwan, a drunken and unproven young man looking for greatness. He wants to be a knight and takes up the Green Knight’s (Bertiak from the story, though never named in the film) offer that anyone brave enough to behead him shall have to be brave enough to allow the Green Knight to return the deed in one year’s time, and be granted knighthood. Gaiwan takes the Green Knight’s offer, beheading him before taking a treacherous journey that tests the five pillars of knighthood.
The movie opens with a narration telling us this story is unlike anything we’ve been told before. Different fonts, styles and typography briefly flash on the screen showcasing the different iterations of the story and to give the audience confirmation this is going to be a mishmash of those iterations, for better and for worse.
While the technical aspects of the film are sublime and an absolute treat to experience on the big screen, the script and narrative of the film leave a lot to be desired at times. Luckily, I am familiar with Arthurian Legend and ‘Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight,’ from college so I didn’t struggle to piece together the narrative and understand what was happening. However, I cannot imagine attempting to watch this film without any prior knowledge of the poem or Arthurian Legend.
Some audiences will be completely lost amidst the heavily stylized second act that has very little narrative thrust. Other audiences might find themselves upset with some of the artistic liberties and deviations from the source material that make certain tests of knighthood ambiguous for ambiguity sake — like the introduction of the enchanted sash toward the end of the second act.
At times, the film struggles to fully utilize its non-traditional storytelling methods while maintaining clarity, causing its runtime of a little over two hours to feel its length. It’s a 90 minute movie stretched into two hours. If you struggle with non-traditional narrative efforts and are not familiar with the source material, you’ll likely struggle with understanding a few of the themes and think the style oftentimes overrides the substance.
If you find yourself enjoying liquid cinema style films like David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (which I personally believe is just a bit better), you’ll feel very satisfied. Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander are absolute treats to watch perform on screen. The heavily stylized storytelling more often than not elevates the tremendous atmosphere and feeling the film successfully achieves. The technical side is heavily complimented with masterful camera work.
‘Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight’ is a tale that explores what it means to be a knight and a story about striving for greatness. David Lowery’s wholly ambitious (and some may argue pretentious) attempt to strive for greatness will be accomplished for most audiences. For most, he will ride his horse with his head held high. For others, they’ll wish they were The Green Knight, and it’d be off with their heads.
