The story of "The Green Knight" is part of the Arthur and the knights of the round table lore. In essence is a typical "quest for glory" fantasy tale, and not a very complex one. That's why I didn't expect much potential for a movie made out of this. After watching it I stick to this opinion, however limiting it to the narrative side. Besides that, "The Green Knight" can be a lesson of what can be achieved visually in a movie, even one with a somewhat simple subject.
I think that the director, David Lowery, was quite happy with the space offered by the vague context of the legends, which gives indeed quite some freedom of expression. On the other hand that's probably exactly what will confuse somebody who doesn't know much about the subject. It's probably one of the few situations where is actually recommended to know the story in advance in order to figure out what the movie wants to say. Pretty much the same as in the case of a known play you see the n-th time, when you'll probably focus mostly on how it's stage, and not on what's about.
A while ago I've read a written version of the legend, and from what I still remember probably mixed up with what the movie reminded me, the story went something like this. "The Green Knight", a mysterious character shows up during the Christmas day before king Arthur's table and proposes a game: he offers to be hit by anyone who wants to do it given that who does it has the guts to receive the same strike after one year. Gawain, the youngest of the knights, and also the one lacking any acts of courage, accepts the challenge, confident that this will be done by beheading his opponent. To everybody's surprise the green knight picks up his head from the bloody floor and leaves not before reminding Gawain that within a year he'll wait for him at the Green Chapel to close the game. The year passes, and Gawain is pressed to honor his word, starting his journey towards the meeting place. When he's about to end it, Gawain stops at some castle where another mysterious knight and his wife offer him shelter for a couple days. This knight proposes another game - for the time of Gawain's stay, his host will go hunting and will provide Gawain with what he's catching given that Gawain gives him whatever he will receive while staying in the castle. From that point on, I don't remember that well how the legend moved on, except the fact that Gawain respects the deal up to the end when the wife of his host trying to seduce Gawain kisses him and offers a sash to protect him from any physical harm. Gawain offers to the master of the castle the kiss back as agreed, but keeps the sash for himself hoping it'll protect him in his final confrontation. It all ends with the showdown, when the green knight just makes a scratch on Gawain's neck, after which he discloses his identity as his former host and the scratch being the punishment for hiding the sash, but also harming him so little as a reward for honoring the rest of the deal.
The movie deviates a bit towards the end, but anyway the differences aren't that far from the above version. Initially I was surprised by the turn it took, just to understand where it wanted to get at the final scene. But to figure it out you probably need to know the story from start. The adaptation has anyway lots of symbolism integrated in it, but unfortunately I didn't have patience to properly digest that. I couldn't say it did bore me, but clearly, it's not a movie with a typical action development. The main attraction remain its visuals. In brief, "The Green Knight" really deserves a watch for that only. The rest depends on your mood.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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