Film Festival Review Series: Pig

Winner of Best Film at the London Sci-Fi Film Festival, director Henry Barrial's Pig follows a man presumably named Manny Elder (at least, that is the name printed on a slip of paper in his pocket) who has been tied up and stranded in the desert without recognition of any previous events or his identity.

"Manny" (Keith Diamond) is found by Isabel (Heather Ankeny), a single mother who tries to assist him in recovering from his amnesic state, only to send Manny on a puzzling adventure to Los Angeles where a menagerie of clouded faces, distant locations, and ominous situations await him. Throughout this ordeal, Manny begins to wonder if his past is even worth remembering.

In a very Nolan-esque fashion, the plot unravels before viewers in the form of a riddle that does not demand an answer, but offers curious minds an attempt to play the role of filmmaker. Inventive theories are formulated around the storyline, with characters and their motivations being pawns in a cerebral game of What If?

The quality of acting in this suspenseful mystery is what carries the premise while preventing any chance of the script plunging into a painful array of awkward, unconvincing deliveries and faulty lines. The entire cast does a superb job in maintaining the fabric of an entrancing universe and preserve the illusion of finely-crafted storytelling.

From the ultimate fate of protagonist Manny Elder to the relevance of the film's title, Pig poses many uncertainties. However, it also earns a reputation as a landmark feature—a beautifully devised film that epitomizes the art of cinema.