Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Riders of Justice and Pig, two films about men dealing with grief.
Click here to listen to the full episode on the web
Or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, or other podcast apps.
04:13 Riders of Justice, streaming on Hulu, picks apart the tropes of the “middle-aged man revenge action thriller” in such an elegant, intelligent, and darkly hilarious way.
Pelin hits it out of the park again with this pick (funnily enough, another superb Danish film following last week’s The Guilty.) It’s a wild moonshot of a film, one that combines good old gangs and guns and the blackest of screwball comedy, while still having genuinely profound things to say about loss, grief, and specifically the impulse to find meaning — whether it’s God’s plan, the machinations of fate, or one epic chain effect — in death.
It’s rare to find a film like this: simultaneously fast-moving and emotional and really funny (in an absolutely fucked-up way). But if you’re not going to watch it for any of the aforementioned reasons, watch it for Mads Mikkelsen!
23:33 Pig, a hero’s journey of porcine proportions available VOD, sketches out a character portrait of a chef-turned-recluse.
Pig takes a decidedly quieter, more allegorical approach. Set initially in the lush woods of Oregon (very First Cow vibes), this film follows Nicolas Cage’s character to Portland, where he must confront his past to get closer to finding his beloved truffle foraging pig. It’s a classic quest with a typical structure, including pit stops that are almost absurd enough to veer into surreal territory, but the film never quite dares to make the leap. There’s also quite a bit of background information that is left untold — more fill-in-the-blank style, as Pelin says — which may leave you happy to let your imagination run wild or may frustrate you, depending on what kind of viewer you are.
It’s not a great film, but it’s not a bad one either. Ultimately, it’s a performance-driven, meditative film about love, loss, and dreams. Shout out to the cute pig, played by a now-retired thespian kunekune said to be a “diva.” Terrific showing here!!
39:35 Plus, culture notes about the Emmys, which have already happened by now, but not when we recorded this.
What we predicted would win + what should have won for some notable categories.
Bonus links
SUCCESSION UPDATE:
H.O.G. UPDATE:
Monsieur Denis is right…
A nice review of Reservation Dogs by Doreen St. Félix :)
It feels like we have this same conversation every few months, but here’s a piece on “the dying art of the hatchet job” in criticism.
That’s it for now! See you next week.
— Jenny
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram!
Please rate/review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, WHEREVER, and maybe tell a friend about us!
Inquiries, complaints, and recs for what to watch can go to criticismisdead@gmail.com.
Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu