And for audiences today, inhabiting a world where the lines between right and wrong in the pursuit of success and fame are greying every single day, the parable reminds us that sometimes mere goodness is enough in place of achieving greatness.
It’s a simple story: An otherworldly beast known as the Green Knight, called up by a circle of witches, arrives at King Arthur’s court on Christmas with a challenge.
In The Green Knight, his perilous trek toward the Green Chapel, marked by apparitions, temptations, doubts and villains, is the quintessential hero’s journey, translated in abundant detail by Lowery for a new audience.
A charming, well-tailored talent with a penchant for picking roles in lackluster movies like Hotel Mumbai or Lion and The Wedding Guest, Patel has rarely moved the needle as a central character, and the hype surrounding him has rarely matched the results.
These Arthurian myths are all bizarre, particularly how the earlier British varieties melded local history with folklore, which differs from the later popularized French romances that dealt with a melodramatic courtly love.
To the delight of Welsh literature buffs everywhere, he articulates, through talking animals, hallucinogenic spells, church bells seeping into the soundscape, and the transitory celebration of Christmas, how two worlds — the Christian and the pagan — are caught in opposition.
For novice viewers, they suggest an overwhelming slog, by interrupting and pausing the rhythm of the enchanting events.
There’s a dream sequence late in the film that crystalizes the honor-bound component of the chivalric code in an unusually approachable manner, and sans damsels in distress.
He likewise paints this environment in practical terms. Filmed in Ireland, The Green Knight has a grim, earthy aesthetic, as though if the camera were not rolling, the moss and grass would quickly consume the dark green landscape, and all who dwell upon it.
Sometimes it’s both in a single scene, such as the Green Knight’s first appearance at Arthur’s court, where the camera cuts between Arthur bathed in celestial light, Gawain in low-light, and Guinevere, soaked in darkness.
Likewise, Patel finally lays claim to the leading-man mantle so often bequeathed to him, yet so rarely earned.