I rented this movie through KZread and watched it twice during the rental period. It's like hearing a tale from a bard (or hallucinating it in a healer's hut while recovering from an intense fever).

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Yep. It has a very dreamlike quality to it, which really sucked me in.

@coldfox4566

2 жыл бұрын

AKA it's total incomprehensible crap.

@travisspazz1624

2 жыл бұрын

@@coldfox4566 I understood it 🤷 It's pretty straightforward actually.

@coldfox4566

2 жыл бұрын

@@travisspazz1624 that's cool. What were those big bald naked giants that cried like Wales? Also what was the whole deal with the upsidedown portrait? And getting his magic sash back even thought it was taken from him by the bandits? ...and the million other things that had no explanation. Or is everything just to be chalked up to hallucinations? Or just maybe the film is made up of interitations of the poems symbolism and left to be totally ambiguous for the viewer?

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@coldfox4566 "What were those big bald naked giants that cried like Wales?" Either a hallucination brought on by the mushrooms Gawain ate or literal giants like the kinds that wandered around Cornwall in ancient British myth. There's a moment with St. Winifred where he asks, "Are you real or are you a vision?" and she responds (to my memory), "Does it matter?" That would seem to be what the film is implying here. "Also what was the whole deal with the upsidedown portrait?" The process looks to be a primitive pinhole camera. The light through the appeture would invert the image. Think of the light passing through the pin hole in a triangle shape, and the lines continuing out the other side in a triangle; top would be bottom, bottom would be top. Obviously, this is heavily symbolic, given that this movie is capturing Gawain on film. And the obvious symbolism of an inverted image. "And getting his magic sash back even thought it was taken from him by the bandits?" The sash his mother gives him is taken by bandits. Then the lady in the castle gives him a green sash again. It's entirely possible it's the same green sash. It is heavily implied that the Lady might be his mother. If not, it is also heavily implied that the blind lady at the castle might be his mother. As such, it makes a great deal of sense that he would be issued with a replacement at this point. It's also just possible that this mysterious lady who lives in a disappearing castle with a camera in Arthurian England also has a magic green sash. Even without reading the poem, it's clear that the sash is important and losing it was really a big screw-up on Gawain's part that threatens to derail the whole narrative, so him getting it back is important - so he can choose to take it off at the very end. "Or just maybe the film is made up of interitations of the poems symbolism and left to be totally ambiguous for the viewer?" I don't know if it's totally ambiguous. Many of those statements above are based on very literal interpretations of images presented on screen. There is some interpretation involved from the audience, but I don't think any amount that diminishes the movie's effectiveness.

Love these readings. I personally thought the ending of the Green Knight was read as "now off, with your head." As in leave here with your head attached as you are now a better man.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

That's a perfectly valid reading! I love that it's open to interpretation.

@travisspazz1624

2 жыл бұрын

As he playfully slits his throat with his finger. Yes, I agree. Gawain earned his life.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@travisspazz1624 I love that this is a debate! And we can all argue our cases.

@chriswalls6275

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney what is great about movies like The Green Knight, The Lighthouse, etc is that you can read and debate about it and no one is really wrong.

The Dark Souls of movies. Didn't understand 50% of what I'm seeing and had epic soundtrack.

My interpretation is that his head isn’t literally chopped off at the end, but his ego dies. Now it could be a physical death, and I do think the symbolism of the film, about the cyclical inevitability of death hints at a physical death, but I think that moment at the end is actually saying that either way it doesn’t matter. Whether Gawain dies metaphorically or spiritually, or physically it amounts to the same thing, and the same lesson is learned.

Taken at face value the film is an extremely interesting complete inversion of the legend. In the original ballad Gawain is the perfect honorable night responding as a knight should only to succumb to fear at the last moment, where film Gawain fails at every knightly task until his final act is one of honor.

@BellaSwan18

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve been thinking about this movie for a month and I only saw it once. Now that I’ve seen this and mulled it over, I want to watch it again and really dive in.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

That's fair as well. The essay was already long enough without delving too much into the particulars - the Scavenger, the Lord, the Lady, St. Winifred are all fun to discuss and dissect.

I absolutely loved your favorite take on the film being a medieval "Failure to Launch". My personal take note that Gawain is still living with his mother, but is a little different. I found that his journey greatly focused on what was expected of him rather than what he exactly wanted. Gawain was expected to fulfill this quest orchestrated by his mother to become worthy enough to take Arthur's place. To see this through, Gawain is aided by the belt and the fox through his journey. While he does listen to the warning of fox and advances to the Green Chapel, the final defiance of these expectations is him living through what a life of obedience to the wishes of royalty would be and decided to part with the belt in his final moment. Again, I loved your take and one other thing I wanted to note is I did not expect such a sharp edge of humor in the film and only realized it when he arrived at the Lord and Lady's manor.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Yep. It’s really darkly funny, which I appreciated. Even the line deliveries are quite funny at times, which is wonderful given that so much of the movie is styled in Ye Olde English. (It’s like when you watch a good Shakespeare adaptation and the dialogue just pops in delivery.)

So Gawain could've just hit the Knight with the flat side of his sword and save himself any kind of cut?

@UnreasonableOpinions

2 жыл бұрын

The core of most versions of the story is that he didn't need to hit the knight at all. He could have declined the challenge, as the others do. He could have struck him with his hand only, or struck with the flat, or pull the swing to just barely graze the Green Knight. Instead, he specifically chose to go for a killing blow, hoping to cheat the intent of the contest with the plan that if he kills him he can't return the blow. He always commits a grave error, though depending on the story this can be in trying to cheat by killing, in going for a killing blow when he did not need to, or accepting a challenge without thinking in the first place - in nearly every story the journey to the Chapel is about accepting the consequence of his actions.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

“Remember, it is only a game.” (That’s my reading of it, anyway.)

@withroaj

2 жыл бұрын

I like to think he could have given him a hug or handshake.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@withroaj A cutting retort!

@reanetsemoleleki8219

Жыл бұрын

@@UnreasonableOpinions I always assumed that he took the challenge as a chance to do something noteworthy. The conversation he had just had with uncle made him a little self conscious and he overcompensated. Nothing less than a killing blow would be worthy of a story at Christmas time.

Watched this masked in the theater with a relatively insignificant crowd but not empty, and when the movie ended I just sat there laughing thinking how audacious it is and said to myself, “people are going to hate this movie.”

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, it did receive a “C” CinemaScore, as I recall, which isn’t quite as firm a rejection as, say, “mother!” or “Hereditary”, but is not far off.

@pawned79

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney Is that a critic score or a general audience score? Visually, I think the movie looks pretty good. Reminded me of Black Angel (1980). Thematically, I thought it was muddled, then it just up and ended abruptly. After watching this YT essay, I’m starting to feel like the movie’s theme is, ”You suck. You are always going to suck. So, you might as well just die.” Which is definitely “a theme” for a movie!

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@pawned79 General audiences on opening night. It’s imperfect, but it’s a better metric than Twitter/KZread comments.

because of the many ways you can view this movie I don't think you can truly spoil it but thanks for your thoughts since they widen the scope that anyone views this movie with

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! Thanks. Still, I think it’s worth having the warning there, to be safe.

I think you’re failure to launch reading is a little more likely than 30% true Lowery - “It became a drama about a mother and a son in a way that I hadn’t intended,” he says. “All of a sudden, I was writing about my own relationship with my mom, and the fact that I stayed, I lived under her roof for far longer than I should have. I had failure-to-launch syndrome, and she eventually had to force me out.”

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! I love that he even used to three words.

One of the greatest late night films you could ever watch. They are all amazing, but Arthur's actor was something special to me, and I don't know why. Absolutely brilliant film. Can't wait to own my own copy.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Sean Harris! Love Sean Harris! I really love that casting, because it takes Arthur - this legendary, heroic king - and makes him kinda whispery and quiet while still dignified and poised. It really sells the idea that we're closer to the end of this whole thing than the beginning - the legend reduced to something close to a murmur.

@brennansmith6474

2 жыл бұрын

The movie suck again

Great video. Thanks to sequence showing the potential future, the movie has its cake and eats it too. It shows both outcomes and makes the watcher ponder which is superior instead of choosing one and possibly alienating the other camp. I think with Kang in the picture and What If that Marvel will have an important MCU film end the same way.

having just seen this movie a couple days ago, this video breaks it down very well. good job! 👍

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed! Omar’s edit is fantastic.

Love your takes on this movie Darren

It wasn't until the second time I saw it I realized it'll age really well and be a cult classic! The screenplay is deceptively layered.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

It's a very well-made film, no matter what one thinks of the story being told. It looks and sounds gorgeous. The cast is great. The cinematography is beautiful. The location work and production design is stunning.

Caught me off guard with the Monty python peasants scene. The art director did a great job

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Omar’s edit is fantastic.

@Ravlar84

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney haha that was an Omar? Dude is consistently on point. The green knight was the best Arthurian story I've seen in recent memory

I think we need more spotlight videos on specific actors like the one with Elba. I just watched the Borgias for the first time and forgot how amazing Jeremy Irons is. He is arguably the best Diehard villain, but objectively the second best Diehard villain. He dominates every roll I have seen him in.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Oh, I have lots of thoughts about movie star personas, although they are understandably less common these days.

@will188

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney I always thought a show similar to the old This is your life, would be fun to bring back. Obviously it would be alot different these days now that everyone know everything about celebs ect. My favorites by far are the episodes with Vincent Price and Abbott & Costello. Might have some bias there being a 90s kid who grew up on old black and white films and shows

This movie looks so incredibly interesting Made even more interesting by Darren’s review

This is one of those movies that's more fun to talk about than it is to watch

An interesting set of takes fit for an interesting movie 🙏 Thanks for this Darren. Hope you're as well as can be 🍻 Cheers!

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!

I can't watch this yet cause spoiler for a movie I've been told is very good and am interested in seeing, but here's a comment and I'll let it run on mute to give you the watch time cause Darren deserves it

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy!

@deebzscrub

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney I appreciate you, I can't say enough how excellent your video essays and reviews are.

Great analysis. I just wish the movie's 2nd act was less boring, though. There's only so many long takes of people walking through mud I can take.

Just saw this the other night and felt I did myself a disservice looking at the original poem and expecting the same sequence of events. My friend has taught TGK in the past and was also tilted by it and whether or not it was a deconstruction. To the films credit, it has been stuck I'm my craw ever since not so much me being upset or put off by it but constantly turning it over in my head trying to make sense of my impression like chewing cud.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Talking even to people who didn’t like it - and it’s admittedly a divisive movie - it seems like a movie that sticks with people.

@graefx

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney we did a double feature with Candyman so the theme of the weekend seemed to be the nature of art and stories.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@graefx That is a nice double-feature. I've been fairly lukewarm on 2021 as far as films go, but August has been pretty fantastic between those two and "The Suicide Squad."

@graefx

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney I'll echo that sentiment. The only film I'd definitively go to the theater to see will be Dune. TGK was something I wanted to see and they really wanted to see Candyman. We opted for HBO max with Suicide Squad. The sharp contrast from 2019 and before of going to every superhero film premier along with a few others has been surreal, less with being jarring and more how much I've basically forgotten the theater experience or anticipation and it's just their weird apathy. Though I'll probably always where a mask in a theater from now on.

I wanna watch this but need some time. Wanna take out a free night, draw the curtains and have a nice experience.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, it’s a great movie to sit with.

Yay, long form essay from Darren. This might do while you work your way to a podcasting format you're happier with.

@theescapist

2 жыл бұрын

This is from his In The Frame series, there's a whole playlist on the channel of them already!

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! Thanks! I’ve been doing these every second Monday for about a while now. Omar does the edit on them all, and I’m really proud of them.

@VICTORZITOSS

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney I know, haha. I just explained myself horribly. I meant to say that your videos generally are more on the 10 minute-is side of things while this one is longer than 15 OK, I just checked and I realized that your videos have been creeping up in length lately. Still, I'll just take all the extra I can get

@VICTORZITOSS

2 жыл бұрын

@@theescapist yeah, I just checked and these vids are generally longer than what I thought. Shows me that stupidly commenting to appeal to the algorithm should be left to formula

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@VICTORZITOSS Nonsense! Comment away!

When Guwain said "Is this all there is?" - that's how I felt about the film. Beautiful cinematography, great performances, solid thematic work... I really wanted to like this but it just fell completely flat for me.

Does "not return home at all" mean not see your parents again or not live with them again?

first played through at 144, then again at 1080, do the audio artifacts during the green knight scenes make them periodically undecipherable, and uncomfortable to listen to with headphones? Otherwise sounds like an interesting movie, thanks!

@UnreasonableOpinions

2 жыл бұрын

They apply a filter over film and TV clips for the channel, which avoids having automatic copyright strikes shut down the videos. That's why the clips look and sound a bit weird.

Very good video. Originally I did not have interest in watching this, but I think I might give this a go

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

I loved it. Now, to be fair, it is a film that is fairly polarising - I think you need to be willing to “just go with it”, but it’s worth it.

Could you step a side if true greatness lay behind you? Could ego accept such a turn of events? This is the jumping on the grenade or would you simper and moan an uneventful life that eats up time while wasting others potential?

All in all it´s a good video, but I have to say that I think this video conflates reinterpretation with deconstruction (using this word I guess makes anything more ¨interesting¨ even if its being abused), and this has to do with a simple fact: this movie still fits Campbell´s scheme, which by the way isn´t about ¨greatness¨, but about finding yourself and becoming ¨master of life and death¨. Tell me with a straight face this isn´t what happens to Gawain in this movie. That´s why Lowery says the idea that he dies is a positive thing in the movie´s universe, because that´s the discovery that changes him. In a way, Lowery´s Gawain is more ¨victorious¨ than in the original poem, because in Lowery´s movie he understands what he has to do for the quest to be over. In the original his failure was the lesson and he returns in shame. In the movie, he learns he is a failure and the world would probably be better off if he finishes the game, which would mean having his head chopped off. He found himself. But this is Lowery interpreting, not really ¨deconstructing¨, because in any case it works because Gawain isn´t honorable (which anyway fits the original character), which means honorable he should be. And that´s not what deconstruction does, deconstruction doesn´t end with a statement of value (which would betray an ethical ontology deconstructionists don´t believe in or are at least hopelessly skeptical about).

Good video dood.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Really happy with how this turned out.

This movie was amazing

Oh great. Another deconstruction.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

It’s always good to understand why particular stories work and to trust audiences to be able to parse that. Although there are also still plenty of straight down the middle movies. And some of them - like “The Suicide Squad” - are even great.

@GonnaDieNever

2 жыл бұрын

Honestly share your feelings. I've long grown sick of deconstructions. Give me a Galahad or a Beowulf please. I've already read Grendel and it's not a good book.

@SymmetricalDocking

2 жыл бұрын

Deconstructions can be fantastic. You're just wary and suspicious because very bad movies always try and deflect criticism by claiming to be deconstructions. Don't let those malicious movies taint the concept.

@GonnaDieNever

2 жыл бұрын

@@SymmetricalDocking While it's true that deconstructions can be good, the problem is that they are the trend at the moment, and I for one am sick of them. I would prefer more straightforward films to be the majority, as that would make deconstructions new and interesting rather than droll, depressing, and constant. If you are not producing new content that is itself worthy of deconstruction, then you certainly shouldn't be making deconstructions either.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@GonnaDieNever I mean, Lowery made "Pete's Dragon", which is one of the best films Disney produced in the last decade. It's a sincere, sweet, romantic, family-friendly fantasy. If that doesn't meet your criteria of earning him the freedom to do something like this, I don't know what does. (I'd also argue "The Old Man and the Gun" falls into the same category of being a nostalgic and romantic ode to a movie star. And it's also great.) Also, straight-down-the-middle films are by the far majority. This summer alone, we've had "Zack Snyder's Justice League", "Jungle Cruise", "The Conjuring 3", "Godzilla vs. Kong", "Snake Eyes", "Black Widow", "F9: The Fast Saga", "In the Heights", "Candyman", "Mortal Kombat" and so on and so forth. The only other vaguely deconstructionist major film we've had is "The Suicide Squad", and that's only really deconstructionist if you haven't read a comic book since 1979. It's arguably the most (or at least the best) conventionally structured blockbuster of the season.

"Ends with gwain dying" in confusion and bewilderment I looked at the wikipedia page to see that is in fact the ending. I've read the green knight and that's not really the ending of the book. I looked forward to this film but now...

@ina7133

2 жыл бұрын

Tis’ a loose adaptation

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@ina7133 To be fair, one of the central appeals of Arthurian legend is that there is no “canon.” So I’m on board with it.

@ina7133

2 жыл бұрын

Darren Mooney Yeah, I loved the movie so i’m totally onboard with it’s changes

I totally feel this movie was a missed opportunity. It could have been so much more than just a disjointed bunch of random pretty looking imagery. As stated in this video the movie is "ambiguous" and "open to interpretation". But I feel this was more to do with its poor attempt at story telling that left only a incomprehensible interpretation of the symbolism within the 14th century poem it was based upon. So the audience is just left to give it their own meaning. Would also love to meet the professor who convinced these hacky film makers that cutting to black screen is an amazing artistic and creative technique. Edit: when I refer to cutting to black screen I was referring to when this is done abruptly mid-scene, as an ending to the movie.

@Geoffery_of_Monmouth

2 жыл бұрын

It wasn't disjointed at all. Every single episode concerns one of the 5 Knightly virtues and Gawain failing to live up to those ideals. Guinevere even says this explicitly when he heads out. "Incomprehensible interpretation of the symbolism within the 14th century poem it was based upon" I found it completely comprehensible, and very much in line with the poem's original themes, even as an inverted telling.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@Geoffery_of_Monmouth This is interesting, in that I think that there's an interesting rejection of anything but blunt literalism in a lot of mainstream pop culture. To be honest, this is slightly frustrating, as somebody who has always enjoyed ambiguity in storytelling and turning a film over in my head as opposed to having a movie smash me over the head with a stern lecture about what it all means. (After all, most movies end on a "cut to black", and most others end on a "fade to black." And this technically cuts to a title card, rather than black. However, the difference is that this cuts in a way that invites the audience to sit back and think about what they've seen and what it means instead of just wandering out of the cinema.)

@Geoffery_of_Monmouth

2 жыл бұрын

@@Darren_Mooney Agreed. Even the Knight's final line, "Now, off with your head" is ambiguous. It could mean that the Knight plans to conclude the game and lop off Gawain's head, but it could also just as easily be read as "Now, [go] off with your head [set on straight]". The latter would mean that by embracing honor, Gawain has already won the game--this is also what happens in the original poem, the Knight only returns a small scratch across Gawain's neck, because the game was always a moral teaching, never a contest.

@Darren_Mooney

2 жыл бұрын

@@Geoffery_of_Monmouth Yep. I lean towards the more literal reading, because the Knight seems like a pretty literal guy and because the general tone of the movie is "this is messed up", but I can totally see that reading.

@coldfox4566

2 жыл бұрын

@Geoffery of Monmouth That's amazing, Considering the many scholars who studied the source material cannot agree on a consensus of its symbolic meaning. Also since the original author was unknown and could not give a definite answer. Sir, you should be commended on your brilliance for not only interpreting the original texts but also seeing them perfectly portrayed in this movie. Now if you could please concentrate on curing cancer next we'd all be very very greatful. But all joking aside as I say that is your interpretation and that doesn't mean it's the correct one. I do agree with your point of the chapters representing the virtues. That goes without saying however it was the other 99% of the movie that was the issue.

Good video. Shitty movie in my opinion. But the potential the material had... Man! Great things could have been done with that. In a way it reminded me of The True History of Kelly Gang - the film with great actors about the legendary gang which turned out to be... a bunch of nothing.