Review: The Green Knight (2021)
David Lowery's big screen interpretation of one of medieval literature's most famous tales is complex, ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative. The Green Knight (2021) is the latest in a long line of screen adaptations of the 14th century story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , a classic tale in the romantic, chivalric tradition that recounts the tale of one of Arthur's knights and a quest for honor against the titular Green Knight, a supernatural character that seems to promise certain death. Dev Patel ( Slumdog Millionaire ) plays Gawain, a young man (here he is Arthur's nephew, though our weary king is never identified as the mythic monarch) who is brash, headstrong, and seeking adventure. When The Green Knight--here, literally a man who is composed of nature itself, as if he was formed from a living, moving tree--rides into the King's hall on Christmas day and issues a challenge in the guise of a game, Gawain accepts. The consequences of this challenge set G...
