The Green Knight is a dazzling retelling of a 14th-century medieval romance

David Lowery’s fantasy world awes and inspires as it encourages viewers to reflect on how honour is defined by death and time

David Lowery’s long delayed medieval epic The Green Knight is finally here, and simply put, it’s the best film of 2021 so far.

Adapted from a late 14th-century middle English poem, The Green Knight arrived amid this summer’s movie season not as the typical medieval action extravaganza, but as a measured, meditative art-house rendition of a familiar fable. It’s a visual feast of riches that provides a lot to chew on, and the beauty of the film lies in how it challenges its viewers to look beneath the surface of its murky and hazy atmosphere and meditate on its themes of honour, time, fate, and death.

The film follows Gawain, nephew of the famous King Arthur, who is met by the mysterious and titular Green Knight at the famous round table during Christmas where he and the other members are challenged to a game. If anyone is able to land a blow against the knight, they will win his green axe, but must also travel to his green chapel the next Christmas and receive an equal blow against themselves. Gawain leaps to the challenge hoping to finally bring honour to his name, and so his tale begins.

While the plot of the film could have easily, and blandly, retread the classic poem, fans of Lowery will know from his previous effort, A Ghost Story (2017), that his directorial style is as far from normal as it gets. Lowery crafts an adaptation that is purposefully slow and emphatic about delivering dazzling images, allowing the audience to ruminate in the film’s murky, confusing, and eerie atmosphere.

This type of atmosphere wouldn’t normally lend itself to stunning and breathtaking visuals, but it highlights the inherent beauty of the rugged and brutal English countryside in a way that is both fantastical and reflective. Lowery constructs a film that unabashedly rejects mainstream appeal, going out of his way to create something that consistently challenges the audience’s notion of what they believe is unfolding on the screen. While some will undoubtedly be put off by the concept of parsing out the true meaning of the events of the film, The Green Knight has so much going for it that it’s an Arthurian task wholeheartedly worthy of your introspection.

The film dives headfirst into the great pit of “what-ifs,” and its mind-boggling climax combines everything the film previously threw at you into a scene that will not leave the recesses of your mind for a very long time.

Lowery’s editing also provides layers to the story, where scenes are at once both emotionally resonant and deeply contemplative, allowing the film to be open to reinterpretation as its reflective nature is interwoven in all aspects of the production. From the set design and costumes to the editing and cinematography, it’s a film that is wholeheartedly committed to being an experience that invites multiple viewings and deep discussions all the while still being an entertaining piece of fiction.

Lowery paid close attention to all aspects of The Green Knight’s production in order to deliver exactly the film he intended to. One of the smartest decisions he made was bringing back cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, whom he worked with on A Ghost Story.

Palermo’s lens perfectly captures both the harsh reality of 14th-century England and the mythical nature inherent in the story. Utilizing harsh and deep greens, browns, and yellows, Palermo lends the film a signature visual style that harkens back to the classic adventures of yore while still maintaining a distinctly modern feel. What should traditionally be a distinct dichotomy is brought together in a tale that tightly weaves mature themes of sex and violence with a classic tale of swords and sorcery.

With this visual style and introspective storytelling, Lowery leans not into showcasing chivalrous duels, but the more alluring and inhospitable battle of the mind. The film dives headfirst into the great pit of “what-ifs,” and its mind-boggling climax combines everything the film previously threw at you into a scene that will not leave the recesses of your mind for a very long time.

While the production of the film is impeccable, what will really cement this film as one of the year’s best is Dev Patel’s central performance as Gawain. The iconic notion of a chivalrous knight is nowhere to be seen in Patel’s performance. What he gives us instead is something that is raw, earnest, and ultimately human.

Gawain is a man in search of his honour and before he becomes a stoic knight, he is a fumbling man who, instead of attending church on Christmas Eve, opts to rest at a brothel. Patel’s range is on full display, showcasing the fear inside every man who is nearing his doom. At times he’s playful and wistful, and at others he is bordering on irrational. Patel puts us in Gawain’s shoes alongside himself and perfectly embodies a flawed human who is in search of greatness. He perfectly conveys through his physicality that sometimes the only place greatness and honour can be found is in death.

Alongside Patel, Alicia Vikander’s double performance is also memorable as she embodies a confident manifestation of our protagonist’s lingering cowardice and lust. Ralph Ineson as the titular knight is also a towering presence whose harrowing voice forces the audience to pay attention to each of his confidently enunciated words.

The Green Knight injects art-house sentiments into medieval fantasy, creating a piece of fiction that feels utterly unique and timeless. Its confident rejection of everything mainstream is a testament to modern independent filmmaking, and it makes a strong case for audiences and studios to continue supporting these types of projects. With this film, Lowery has cemented himself as one of the strongest independent filmmakers of this generation and will surely force more heads to turn his way with the release of his next project.

The Green Knight is a meaty and thoughtful meditation on what it takes to be remembered and how the human struggle is bound by the finality of time and death.  During our lives, we are all Gawain at some point, searching for a moment where our names will hold a special place in the memory of the people who matter to us. Through this quest, we begin to understand that it is better to die honourable than to live as a coward.

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