Its Trevor’s Top 25 Films of the last 25 Years, with #21, THE GREEN KNIGHT, a 2021 film, directed by David Lowery, starring Dev Patel. Young Sir Gawain plays a game with the mysterious Green Knight.

What a sumptuous, visually astounding film. Each frame, with its depth of color and blocking, could double as a painting. This is a story of one of the Knights of King Arthur, its metaphoric message told in a dreamy, artisanal fantasy manner. It’s about the mettle of a man, of the insidiousness of privilege, and the expectation that men must strive for greatness when simple goodness would suffice. I identify strongly with that message as a father facing his legacy at the start of the back half of life. Where does honor fit in with practicality? Gawain fails at the five knightly virtues of friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety; yet there is still hope for redemption by the end. And that ending, wow, it’s the best kind of finale; that feels vague at first until you realize it gives you everything you need to make that last leap yourself, for your own answer.

Best Scene. I love the wordless montage at the end; a whole sad lifetime told with image and expression, hammering home the consequence of cowardice. But I also love a possibly mushroom-induced sequence of giants. Its so weird and awesome.

Best Performance. Alicia Vikander has a monologue about color that takes your breath away. She tastes each syllable as it leaves her lips, quickening emotions in her haughty enigmatic character.

This is a powerful, unique vision of an old legend only able to be told through the cinematic eye.