We follow a young man who hasn’t any great stories to tell. But then a big talking tree challenges the Knights, and the young man sees an opportunity to be somebody in a man’s world. The talking tree says that the person who cuts and injures him will experience the same injury that’s inflicted on him one year later. But the young man isn’t the smartest person in the world, so he has to pay the price one year later. What a stupid man this is!
David Lowery has directed the movie. I wasn’t a big fan of, A Ghost Story (2016). I remember I hated that movie.
This isn’t a movie for everyone. It’s the type of movie that borrows from other fantasy movies and TV series like Willow, Excalibur, and Game of Thrones. Sometimes it also looks and feels like a Lars von Trier movie and a Terrence Malcik movie. So I thought the movie was visually interesting.
I’ve never heard of the story that the movie is based on. But it’s easy to understand the journey the protagonist must embark on to become a man, a legend, and an adult.
But is this journey interesting? Yes and no. The biggest problem is that the protagonist isn’t an interesting character. I felt we found some inner conflicts in him in the last 30 minutes of the movie. But before that, he felt empty in my eyes.
It’s the cinematography and the atmosphere that are the two big highlights. The protagonist meets other characters on his journey. But I felt it was more interesting when he was just walking around, and we could take in the beautiful cinematography. The characters almost feel like robots. They are just created to test the protagonist, and that’s my biggest problem with The Green Knight. It lacks soul. Hey, don’t look at me! They call me the Soul Man!
I can understand the viewers that will hate this movie. Most of the scenes drag out. The reason for that is to create an unsettling atmosphere. It feels like you are trapped in a nightmare. I love movies that create an unsettling atmosphere. But sometimes a director drags out the scenes too much, and I felt the director did this in The Green Knight. And when you have characters that feel like robots, it’s difficult to connect with the protagonist.