The Irish Times

The film built around the actor’s affecting turn works equally hard at upending expectations.

A review by Tara Brady for The Irish Times on 2021-08-20

Chicago Sun-Times

It’s a rustic, poetic, occasionally funny, sometimes heartbreaking and wonderfully strange and memorable character study of a man who is in such tremendous pain he had to retreat from the world.

A review by Richard Roeper for Chicago Sun-Times on 2021-07-14

Washington Post

Like the character at the heart of Pig — who is not, as it turns out, a pig at all, even metaphorically — it is smoldering and gentle.

A review by Michael O'Sullivan for Washington Post on 2021-07-13

The A.V. Club

Like the animal itself, Pig is considerably smarter and more ardent than it appears at first glance, and unearths treasures that are barely evident on the surface level. We’d have settled for much less, but what a rare treat to be offered a great deal more.

A review by Mike D'Angelo for The A.V. Club on 2021-07-13

Austin Chronicle

At a time when so many people are struggling to find something of value in their lives, when people are fleeing jobs, cities, futures they thought they wanted, Cage has crafted a quiet soliloquy about grasping on to something that has meaning. In some ways, this is one of his most emotionally brutal films.

A review by Richard Whittaker for Austin Chronicle on 2021-07-12

Consequence

Sarnoski’s debut is a scintillating tone poem about the inextricable links between love, creativity, and commerce, and what happens when the latter encroaches too much upon the former.

A review by Clint Worthington for Consequence on 2021-07-12

It's attentive to regret and failure in ways that American films tend to avoid for fear of bumming viewers out and making them warn other people not to watch the movie. And it seems to understand the way people mythologize others and themselves, and the reasons it happens.

A review by Matt Zoller Seitz for /reviews/publisher:

Screen Rant

An intense slow-burn, Pig is a beautiful meditation on the true meaning of loss, replete with vignettes drenched in humor, pathos, and violence.

A review by Debopriyaa Dutta for Screen Rant on 2021-07-23

New York Magazine (Vulture)

As it proceeds, it expands its vision and compassion, even as it de-escalates the tension. It’s not about the thing it’s about, except that it ultimately is totally about the thing it’s about.

A review by Bilge Ebiri for New York Magazine (Vulture) on 2021-07-16

Los Angeles Times

Pig is a rich character study, marked by several riveting Cage monologues.

A review by Noel Murray for Los Angeles Times on 2021-07-15

The New York Times

Pig, Michael Sarnoski’s stunningly controlled first feature, is a mournful fable of loss and withdrawal, art and ambition.

A review by Jeannette Catsoulis for The New York Times on 2021-07-15

IGN

Pig subverts the expectations of the average revenge-thriller and accentuates the deep emotional scars that often underscore these stories. It features a measured, meticulous performance from Nicolas Cage.

A review by Siddhant Adlakha for IGN on 2021-07-13

Slashfilm

Pig is not the movie you think it is. It’s something far more beautiful, and far more painful. It is an existential meditation on the search for something. Anything. A kind of cosmic loneliness envelopes this film. It’s extraordinary.

A review by Chris Evangelista for Slashfilm on 2021-07-13

Pig hangs on Cage’s soulful intensity in the part, a man who used to be somebody who, as one contemptuous old acquaintance hisses “doesn’t exist” now.

A review by Roger Moore for /reviews/publisher:

TheWrap

A hefty order of longing served with a side of crime thrills, Pig is flavorful, fascinating and fancy, crafted by someone who knows how to create a dish that’s accessible yet undeniably gourmet in its complexity.

A review by Carlos Aguilar for TheWrap on 2021-07-15

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Director Michael Sarnoski’s feature debut is more like a Nicolas Cage supercut: alternately ridiculous, bare-bones, heartfelt, puzzling and what-in-god’s-name-y. And more often than not, it works.

A review by Barry Hertz for The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on 2021-07-21

Paste Magazine

Part of Pig’s impactful, moving charm is its restraint. It’s a world only hinted at in 87 minutes, but with a satisfying emotional thoroughness.

A review by Jacob Oller for Paste Magazine on 2021-07-14

Uproxx

The beauty of Pig, the new Michael Sarnoski movie starring Nic Cage as a bedraggled truffle forager, is that while it is utterly bonkers, it’s not bonkers in any of the traditional ways that we’ve come to expect. It’s quietly bonkers, meditative and subdued, rather than loud and frenetic.

A review by Vince Mancini for Uproxx on 2021-08-06

Original-Cin

If this seems like a bit of a deep dive when the subject is trendy restaurants in Portland, Pig is a serious movie with heady themes that just happens to come at you from oblique and unexpected angles.

A review by Jim Slotek for Original-Cin on 2021-07-13

With director Michael Sarnoski subverting expectations from the start, the experience is ultimately a rewarding one.

A review for /reviews/publisher:

There’s no action here, no real revenge to take, but there’s a meaty, idiosyncratic, and especially moving story about finding peace in loss.

A review by Andrew Crump for /reviews/publisher:

CineVue

Pig offers something strangely tender and even sometimes lyrical, wrapped up in the trappings of a noirish thriller that is as much a satire on the meaning of value and social status as it is a straightforward revenge film.

A review by Christopher Machell for CineVue on 2021-08-23

Time Out

Like those truffles that kick it into gear, this film is a rare treat.

A review by Phil de Semlyen for Time Out on 2021-08-13

The Atlantic

Pig is a blend of absurd cooking melodrama, jokey revenge thriller, and allegory, and Cage is the connective tissue holding all those ridiculous elements together. He may have abandoned the brightest spotlight, but he’s lost none of his edge.

A review by David Sims for The Atlantic on 2021-08-03

Time

This is primo Nicolas Cage dialogue, inquisitive and soul-deep, the kind of stuff he was born to say. To hear and watch him in this movie is like greeting an old friend. Pig seems to have come out of nowhere, but we’re lucky to have it.

A review by Stephanie Zacharek for Time on 2021-07-15

Slate

Pig is a small film with a few big surprises executed very well, and well worth going into as blind as possible.

A review by Karen Han for Slate on 2021-07-15

Variety

As a descent into the apparently high-stakes world of truffle-pig-poaching, Pig is unexpectedly touching; as a showcase for Cage’s brilliance, it’s a revelation.

A review by Michael Nordine for Variety on 2021-07-12

Quiet, unforced and delicate, Pig provides a forum for Nicolas Cage, one of our most dazzling showmen, to get serious and burrow more deeply into his talent than he has in years.

A review by Joshua Rothkopf for /reviews/publisher:

LarsenOnFilm

This is, in many ways, a deeply thoughtful film—about loneliness, grief, anger, and finding something to truly care about. And Cage gives a performance that embodies all of those things.

A review by Josh Larsen for LarsenOnFilm on 2021-07-30

New York Post

It’s my favorite Cage performance in some time, after overly bizarre turns in recent years as a murderous parent in Mom and Dad and an inmate on a mission in the Japanese film Prisoners of the Ghostland. When he goes back to basics, it’s as rich and juicy as a delicious ham steak.

A review by Johnny Oleksinski for New York Post on 2021-07-15

Boston Globe

Pig is a thoughtful, well-made movie for an audience primed for junk: It’s pearls before swine.

A review by Ty Burr for Boston Globe on 2021-07-13

Slant Magazine

Nicolas Cage, in full martyr mode here, seems to get off on the perversity of, well, caging his brand of operatic hysteria.

A review by Chuck Bowen for Slant Magazine on 2021-07-12

In not trying to reach too deeply into the well of profundity, Sarnoski has incidentally achieved a pretty profound movie.

A review by Ryan Lattanzio for /reviews/publisher:

Film Threat

Pig takes itself way too seriously, making some interesting storytelling choices.

A review by Alan Ng for Film Threat on 2021-07-16

The Observer (UK)

Though the film is teed up as a kind of John Wick-style revenge bender, Cage’s star persona is soon smartly subverted.

A review by Simran Hans for The Observer (UK) on 2021-08-22

Rolling Stone

It’s a good-looking, well-acted movie with a solid kicker. As for the odyssey of emotional nuance that its style and portent seem to promise, it digs beneath the surface, but to a shallower depth than it seems to think.

A review by K. Austin Collins for Rolling Stone on 2021-07-16

The Hollywood Reporter

Pig isn’t the gripping mystery Sarnoski might have intended, but as a crawl through the underbelly of a hipster city’s glamorous foodie culture, it’s a gutsy narrative recipe, even if the final dish is less than the sum of its ingredients. Through it all, Cage plays the enigmatic central character at the perfect simmering temperature, and without a shred of ham.

A review by Sheri Linden for The Hollywood Reporter on 2021-07-12

Cage is remarkably restrained (bar one unnecessary scream), delicately deconstructing what we’ve come to expect from him. His trademark tics are gone, his voice that much softer, his swagger replaced by an unsureness, an aggressive blare that’s faded into calm.

A review by Benjamin Lee for /reviews/publisher:

The New Yorker

The film is redeemed only by the dour, weary, mournful, stubborn, and wise performance of Nicolas Cage, which is not so much a star turn as the project’s sole raison d’être.

A review by Richard Brody for The New Yorker on 2021-07-19