Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
We all know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and all that noise, right? There are tons of Christmas movies from neo-classics like Elf to old time favorites like A Miracle on 34th St to Hallmark’s 1000 new films each year to that Hot Frosty movie on Netflix that’s getting all the buzz. We have all seen these and we all have our favorites and least favorites. And, each year there are hundreds of film bros who tell you that Die Hard is their favorite Christmas movie, too. This is a valid selection, for sure… at least, in our eyes… as Christma is in the eye of the beholder. So, this year, in the spirit of John McClane, we present some other films that are secretly Christmas films.
The Pick: The Green Knight (2021)
The second part of our belated double feature this week, The Green Knight might be described as a fantasy-epic from director-writer David Lowery. There are mythical creatures, a journey and a young man on a quest to become great. But it is also a singular film in many ways, strange, sometimes inscrutable, and filled with unnerving imagery that delves deep into imagery of death and decay. Starring Dev Patel, it is a retelling (more a reimagining) of the Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that centers on a Christmas party gone wrong, and the ramifications that grow from Gawain’s reckless youth. And as an added bonus, A24 did a one-night-only IMAX screening for the holiday season, but they too know that it is in fact a Christmas movie. This opportunity added some depth of appreciation for some of us for this odd but arresting film, just in time for our Christmas feasts.
The Team
Spencer Brickey
I feel like the Christmas tradition of “annual violent attack tit-for-tat” might take hold in
2024? Depends on what family is over.
3 years on, and I really feel like kicking myself for missing this one in theaters back inOne of my least favorite genres has always been fantasy, so this stayed in the
peripheral of my “must watch” list. Even after scooping the 4k years ago, it just sat on
my shelf. But, man, what an absolute trip!
Had half expected this to be an Excalibur clone, a film I find tedious (I know more than a
few of you just wrote off the rest of this review after that statement, and I can respect
that), but this ended up being everything I wanted out of my Excalibur viewing. It’s
weird! It’s violent! It’s kind of a horror movie! It’s seemingly the truest example of the
“just vibes” type of film! For large stretches here, I had no idea what was going on, but
was instead carried along by the visuals, the rad score, and Dev Patel doing a lot with a
little.
The one thought that I carried throughout, though, was that this feels like the absolute
perfect film to show to a senior in high school. Beyond just being a coming of age film, I
kept thinking about how perfectly this seemed to illustrate those specific years in your
early 20’s: you’re still having a bunch of fun being young and stupid, but responsibility
keeps nipping at your heels, and, in your quieter moments, you wonder if you’ll amount
to anything.
Then, you’re forced out into the world, unprepared for it all. You’ll get taken advantage
of, you’ll get yelled at when you’re trying to help, you’ll meet a lot of new people, some
cool, some weird (and some who’ll want to bed you). You’ll be forced to meet your
promises and obligations, and you’ll need to decide if you’ll honor or welch on them.
And, in your darkest moments, you can either take the easy, more familiar route, or
strike out on your own, and take the road unknown.
It’s all here, and, after having lived those years, I kind of felt a sense of historical
connectiveness, knowing that we’ve all had to live and grow in those years, be it now, in
2021, or in the Medieval age.
Frank Calvillo
Who would have thought that the piece of ancient poetry that most people were forced to read in high school would become one of the best films of 2021? Leave it to director David Lowery, whose past efforts have ranged from the utterly sublime (The Old Man & the Gun) to the insomnia-curing (Pete’s Dragon) to adapt one of the most classic texts in such a bold and astonishing way. The Green Knight is chock full of the kind of grandness its legendary story deserves, wasting no opportunity to bring the time period and mystical world to life, and allowing the movie’s audiences to get endlessly lost in the breathtaking visuals and incredible effects. The way Lowery plays with the surreal aspects of the legendary poem is so intoxicating and lifts the story even higher and thrusts it into the realm of masterpiece. In spite of its epic qualities, The Green Knight maintains great intimacy as a coming-of-age story. We chart our main character Gawain(played incredibly Dev Patel) over the course of the year as he learns to shed the arrogance of what he knew before and embark on a journey that will define the rest of his life. The themes of honor and bravery, both crucial elements of being a knight, are wonderfully executed, as are the costs that come with them, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. But what continues to make The Green Knight so compelling is its illustration of fate and destiny, specifically the awe and the fear we have for both forces.
Jon Partridge
We’re all familiar with the general legend of King Arthur. The sword in the stone, the lady of the lake, the Knights of the round table. But there are other tales amid this rich slice of British medieval lore that are less well known. The Green Knight is one example. Primarily stemming from a 14th Century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, David Lowery (A Ghost Story, Pete’s Dragon) shapes these tales into an enthralling feature.
In literature Gawain is often depicted as one of the core members of Arthur’s court, a brave warrior and chivalrous knight. This iteration is not yet that, instead a more free-spirited youth, more preoccupied with drinking and laying with his paramour Esel (Alicia Vikander). Surrounded by men who have proven themselves in trials of their own. Gawain is in the shadow of greatness, more so given his kinship to the King. Gawain’s journey is essentially a test of a man’s mettle. His yearning to craft a legacy befitting his surroundings, and how that is at odds with, or informs his own moral compass. Testing encounters with knaves, the horrors of battle, a supernatural mystery, mythical beasts, and the seductive allure of a couple residing in a castle, en route to Gawain’s ultimate destination, the Green Chapel. The film is mired in myth, but its themes remains resonant. Not just in terms of Gawain’s experiences and reflective journey, but the symbolic collision of man vs nature. The Green Knight, a remarkable creation with bark instead of skin, a creaking moss-hewn creation, vegetation sprouting in his wake, capped off with the deeply distinct tones of Ralph Ineson. Green for nature and decay, a primal and inevitable force to push back against man’s encroachment and bravado.
A recent revisit in IMAX drove home the intoxicating visuals (stellar work from cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo) and thunderous score (Daniel Hart’s). At the core of everything is Dev Patel. A captivating performance, showing Gawain running the gamut of emotions and experiences, ever flirting with temptation, ever grasping at redemption. The supporting cast offer perfect foils, from the maturity and nurturing presence exuded by Sean Harris (Arthur), Kate Dickie (Guinevere), and Sarita Choudhury (Gawain’s mother)to the transfixing (and often off-kilter work) of Joel Edgerton and Barry Keoghan. Vikander in particular, with a duality to her performance, serves a reminder of her talents and adds a female counterpoint to the more masculine themes that drive the plot. It’s another aspect of the film that reinforces writer/director Lowery’s grasp of his craft, as well as the mystic source material. A patiently built journey towards enlightenment that takes deep root in your mind.
@Texas_Jon on Xitter
Julian Singleton
Revisiting The Green Knight, it’s hard not to think of two other features, David Lowery’s own A Ghost Story and Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. Like The Green Knight, both are intensely meditative films about purpose, action, consequence, and how time runs out for us all. (One’s also about Christ; the other features Christmas; all feature rebirth.)
Temptation has a man intensely burdened with purpose, dreaming of a life where he can escape to be a man like everyone else–and briefly experiences what might have been before blissfully accepting what will be. With A Ghost Story, such time for fulfillment escapes Casey Affleck’s mute ghost, who instead sees the world change both beyond him and before him. With the passage of time, of actions taken and not, rendered so passionately–it’s hard not to feel compelled to seize what betterment we can in ourselves coming out of both films.
The Green Knight finds Lowery equally fascinated once more with time. Gawain (Dev Patel) is an immature boy who thinks he has all the time in the world, only to realize at the cusp of adulthood that he may only have one year left as a consequence of his reckless actions. His return will bring him fame and glory beyond his wildest dreams; on the other hand, he may not return at all.
The journey beyond–of dueling greatness and goodness–inevitably confronts Gawain that such aspirations are as nebulous as they appear. Blinded by ambition, Gawain casts aside opportunities at home and abroad to put action to the virtues of Knighthood–morality tests that Gawain all but fails (save one–the retrieval of St. Winifred’s skull). Gawain never considers that, along the journey to proving himself, he has already done so–until his failings confront him on Christmas Day.
Like Christ, Gawain’s idealization of the life he aspired to becomes a mirror to his own vanity–ending in betrayal, heartbreak, and the same death he chose to run from. Like A Ghost Story, time marches on regardless of Gawain’s whims. “Is that all there is?” Gawain asks–and is met with the Green Knight’s ponderous, “what else ought there be?”
Gawain accepts death–rejecting any safeguards or ambitions in doing so. Like Christ and the Ghost, that choice earns Gawain the right to rebirth–and to earn the glorious sense of meaning and worth he feels entitled to.
Ed Travis
I had WATCHED The Green Knight before, but it turns out I hadn’t really SEEN The Green Knight before. After Jay had already programmed this title for our Two Cents series, A24 did a one night only IMAX presentation of The Green Knight, so I took that as an omen and got my ass into that theater (the biggest screen in Texas) and what I experienced was nothing short of a revelation. It turns out there really is a difference between sleepily watching a screener link on a laptop and watching Cinema as it was meant to be seen.
Entrancing in every way, David Lowery’s bold and beautiful iteration of the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (a tale I’ve been mystified by since childhood) hit me most deeply as a potent and relevant morality tale of the importance, and cost, of living a life of character and being a human being that is worth a damn. Gawain is… lacking in character and substance when we first meet him, and the noble, aged King Arthur (Sean Harris in a piece of unconventional and wonderful casting) has a loving and slightly passive aggressive way of challenging Gawain (Dev Patel in a piece of brilliant and wholly successful casting) to perhaps attempt to make something of himself. Meanwhile his mother’s (Sarita Choudhury in a phenomenal piece of casting) way of getting her son to finally start paying rent is to straight up bewitch our guy.
And thus, the incredible visual and auditory journey of Gawain begins as the titular knight (Ralph Ineson in a piece of highly effective casting) appears, strikes his bargain, and binds Gawain to a quest he can’t seem to wriggle out of, and which will test his mettle to the breaking point. Told in fanciful chapters and featuring beguiling character tests, Lowery’s tale is otherworldly, but deeply explores many of the moral tests that humanity faces and allows Gawain to be a flawed but trying protagonist. Closing out with a “Last Temptation of Christ” style vision of an extended future of a successful life nonetheless lived at the expense of true honor and sacrifice, Gawain opts to be a man of truth and honor and sends us out of the theater inspired to be better people, willing to do the hard, right things on behalf of those we love. Convicting, endearing, entertaining, and a multi-sensory feast, The Green Knight is about as good as the cinematic medium gets.
I wrote extensively about Green Knight when it came out, with its central theme of the conflict between living a good life and living a “great” life really capturing me. It ended up being my favorite film of that year, and one I dearly love. But this is the first time I have actually gone to return to it as a Christmas tradition. After all, it is specifically set from one Christmas day to the next, with the central crux of being that King Arthur’s try-hard nephew ruins his Christmas party, and now must atone for it.
As such, for a film that I think is rich in thematic depth, I was focused most on “how does it function as a Christmas movie?” And I think the end conclusion I came to is that it is a bit of an Anti-Christmas movie. With its themes of the inevitability and necessity of death, and our pitiful, fleeting means we use to escape it, it stands in stark contrast to the ideas of life and charity coming to people in the midst of darkest winter. Green Knight is about confronting the very heart of winter and death and darkness, and accepting that no matter what, this is simply the way of things, and there is a certain chilled beauty to that.All of this may make for a movie that is kind of a bummer, but David Lowery makes sure to layer in scenes upon scenes that explore how life itself is a beautiful anomaly, the thing we are blessed to experience for a painfully brief amount of time, but expecting it to last forever is impractical and selfish. The allure of eternal life would inevitably lead to pain and suffering, as we practice cruelty to extend far past our bounds. Gawain’s strange, hypnotic journey is ultimately about accepting death, and whatever may lay beyond it. Therein lies the bravest act of all. The movie is also beautiful to look at, with it’s strange interludes and episodes, each moody and haunted in different lovely ways. It feels far more autumnal than wintery with its cool wisp vistas and dark reds and vibrant oranges, but the ultimate experience reminds us we are all lurching towards our own inevitable winters. A beautiful film that I do believe I will return to in future yuletide seasons as a sober meditation on death, life, and everything that lies between.
@jaythecakethief.bsky.social
…YOU KNOW THAT’S ACTUALLY A CHRISTMAS MOVIE, RIGHT?
To ring in the Holiday Season, the Cinapse team has assembled all of our favorite movies full of Holiday Cheer–all while pretending to be anything but a Christmas movie. Our list for Noel Actually includes Sylvester Stallone action epics, Medieval twists of fate, a whimsical anime take on the Biblical Magi, the rebirth of Humanity, and of course, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman–ensuring December has a wide spectrum of cinema for the nice and naughty alike to enjoy.
Join us by contacting our team or emailing [email protected]!
12/2 – Cobra
12/9 – The Green Knight
12/16 – Tokyo Godfathers
12/23 – Children of Men
12/30 – Batman Returns
