The Green Knight (2021)
- Thread starter Arpy
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Yes, I watched it last year. Very trippy but very enjoyable. Probably the best Arthurian film since Excalibur. The cast were great as were the visuals.
Yeah, for me it took me back to British Lit my first semester of college. I found myself having a trippy experience recognizing things I’d long forgotten we studied.
Also, I kinda always wanted to write the story of Scotty after Relics with this as its inspiration. That is, this side story from the Arthurian Legend. Gawain, not Arthur; Scotty, not Kirk. In my mind, it’s a mix of this, Rip van Winkle, and Gulliver's Travels in the 24th Century, among others.
But yeah, on this movie specifically, it kind of blew my mind. I hadn’t seen a new movie in a little while, and this one was mature, and thoughtful, and didn’t talk down to the audience or assume it didn’t have a short attention span. You didn’t quite know what was going on a lot of the time, and I really appreciated that. I felt engaged. Really good!
I taught Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for years. I haven't seen this movie yet, but I doubt that, given a movie's need for a climatic finale, that this is a faithful adaptation.
That’s neither here nor there. A movie could be inspired by a book and honor it without being a visual transcription of it. Hell, the book is influenced by earlier works, not a platonic ideal to be canonized for worship. It’s a really good movie that takes liberties, some brilliant and beautiful, and also brings fresh life to the original, as it did of previous works. Try watching it with an open mind as its own thing, and if you do please let us know what you think.
Relax-- I was being flippant.
Soooo, you’ll give it a watch and let us know what you think?
When it comes to streaming, it is on my list---but, I rarely post about things I don't like on this board. I hate it when people come into a thread just to trash something and argue with people who liked it. If I like it, I will let you know.
As someone who was only casually familiar with the tale going into it, I really enjoyed the film. I loved the atmosphere of the whole thing, accented by the gorgeous score. I read up on the tale itself afterwards and there are several divergences from it, but I think film told an effective story on its own while maintaining the spirit of the original.
Never saw it. But if you didn’t like this, well, I’m wondering if my first thought that Excalibur was cheese is accurate.
Excalibur strikes me as the Marvel of its day. This is not that. I can’t blame you for not wanting to contribute to the negativity in the internet, but I would be interested in the opinion of someone who taught the source material. Or just someone with an interesting opinion either way. So long as your main issue isn’t simply sentimental attachment to the original. Though, even then I’d respect and admire it if stated politely.
Yeah, I loved it. The ending too doesn’t give an easy answer and leaves you to interpret both character and resolution. As someone who longs for more adult fare, this was a refreshing surprise.
Excalibur spoiled other Arthurian interpretations for me. It's just grimy, kind of grounded yet accepting the fantastical, a kind of matter of fact take accepting the source material.Never saw it. But if you didn’t like this, well, I’m wondering if my first thought that Excalibur was cheese is accurate.
If you're familiar with the Robin of Sherwood TV series that did something similar for Robin Hood (but for tea time TV).
I'll not need another version of either.
Green Knight took a distanced approach and was deliberately both arty and ambiguous. It didn't work for me at all - in fact it was a struggle to get through.
Which was a shame as I was looking forward to it.
I’ll take another look at the trailer. Green Knight has me thinking about the Arthurian myths.
Aww that’s what what got my juices flowing. It asked you to wonder about what it all meant as it went along. I wonder if branding was an issue. I was expecting it to be more superhero movie as that’s all that’s made these days (hey kids it’s the original superheroes!) and found myself sitting up in my chair to follow along. Huge yes. I’m still thinking about death and choosing to be here for this life. It’s one of those things you have to return to time and again. I found myself also thinking about differences in British vs Greek and Norse myths too.
Does it just follow the Arthurian story where it’s all a moral purity test for Gawain?
Do you mean the show from the '80's? I remember watching it back around when TNG first aired. Loved it at the time. I thought the concept was fresh and interesting. It also got me into Clannad.
Absolutely.
It went as far as they could for 1980s family viewing with the grounded bit, yet still included sorcery and pagan religion.
I loved it. No other Robin Hood required.
Robin of Sherwood is still my favourite telling of the legend
And BTW, I loved the Relayer album back in the '70s. We used to listen to Wakeman's King Arthur album non-stop in my friend's basement.
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