From “acclaimed director” David Lowery, A24’s “The Green Knight” is set for a summer release.
The just-released trailer sets up the 14th century-set world that Lowery has concocted for us. A medieval fantasy film based on the poem, ‘Sir Gaiwin and the Green Knight” which was was written by an anonymous, 14th-century British poet. Only one copy of the poem survived to this day, “The Green Knight” is no doubt a risk-taking venture for A24 since it deals with fantasy, a genre they have rarely tackled in their past films.
The plot has not fully been diverged yet, but we do know that Dev Patel’s Sir Gaiwin, the nephew of King Arthur, embarks on a quest to face a beastly and green-skinned knight. The cast also includes Joel Edgerton, Alicia Vikander and Sean Harris.
This movie could go either way, to tell you the truth, the fantasy elements here do look like they have the potential to be rather clunky, then again, Lowery is a consummate artist. He gave us 2013’s beautifully rendered Malick ode “Ain’t Them Bodies A Saint” and 2017’s miraculous “A Ghost Story.” In between all that, he’s delved in fantasy before, less successfully with 2016’s PG-rated “Pete’s Dragon,” which had medieval/fantasy feels all over it, a watchable affair, visually arresting due to Lowery’s gift for imagery, but nothing more, really.
Let’s hope there’s an extra oomph to “The Green Knight,” which I don’t seem to be getting from the trailer below. It is due for release in theaters on May 29th.