Dev Patel dazzles in David Lowery’s captivating ‘The Green Knight’

I do not know at what point The Green Knight won me over.

David Lowery’s feature film, which adapted from the Arthurian story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is exceedingly slow and often so bizarre it defies description. It’s also some of the most magnificent and breathtaking cinema in recent history — par for the course for Lowery, who wrote and directed 2017’s A Ghost Story. The Green Knight now cements him as a master of genre, escapism, and mesmerizing visual language.

Star Dev Patel plays Gawain, a young man who craves greatness but flees from it. When an otherworldly knight (Ralph Ineson) arrives unannounced at the King’s (Sean Harris) Christmas feast, Gawain accepts his challenge: Strike the knight anywhere, and he will return the same blow “one year hence.” Gawain goes straight for the throat, slicing the knight’s head clean off — before his decapitated body picks it up and leaves, promising to strike Gawain back a year later.

The film unfolds in whimsical chapters: “The Christmas Game,” “A Too-Quick Year,” “A Kindness,” and “An Interlude,” each its own stylistic vignette. One is ironic, one violent, one horror, but the shifts never interrupt and only enhance the overall tone.

It’s best to leave these unspoiled, but Erin Kellyman’s segment is a standout, while a play-within-a-play foreshadows Gawain’s fate in what he dreads will be the final months of his life. He seeks out the Knight even as his lover Essel (Alicia Vikander) tries to dissuade him, because a great man would not do such a thing.

Dev Patel is truly legendary as Sir Gawain in “The Green Knight.”
Credit: a24

And so the film becomes a long, luxuriant meditation on greatness itself, an old-fashioned fascination with nobility or lack thereof. It’s not an easy sell given our distance from medieval society, and among the film’s many impressive feats is that it makes a case for antiquated greatness — or at least for how its pursuit alters the seeker. Characters explore this through action and dialogue, which the film magnificently mirrors.

Even without any script or story to speak of, The Green Knight could exist solely to boast its artistry. Minutes pass without dialogue, sometimes without even a human in sight, turning the experience over to Jade Healy’s production design, Christine McDonagh and David Pink’s art direction, and Malgosia Turzanska’s gorgeous costumes. Lowery once again teams up with cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo for contemplative stationary shots and quiet, steady panning — all of which they deployed to stunning effect in A Ghost Story — set to Daniel Hart’s magnetic score.

With Patel in the lead, Lowery recognizes greatness in front of the camera and unleashes it.

With Patel in the lead, Lowery recognizes greatness in front of the camera and unleashes it in full force. It’s an inspired casting choice and easily a career-best performance; for an actor with over a decade of high-profile work, it feels like Patel was born to play this role, unlocking new depths in both Gawain and himself.

He gets to speak in his real voice, for one, not accented as the token Indian tour guide for white leads, and the casting choice should embarrass any Hollywood figure still shutting people of color out of historically white roles. It has been a quiet, triumphant evolution from gawky teen to epic symbol, and Patel wears the mantle like it’s destiny.

Vikander commands her scenes, but overall Essel and Gawain’s mother (Sarita Choudhury) aren’t very necessary. They pray for his safety, question his foolhardy quest, and then disappear for most of the remaining runtime. This isn’t a shortcoming of performance or script, but an inherent byproduct of a story set so squarely on the shoulders of one actor. Gawain’s introspection takes precedence over any supporting player, and they exist mostly to support him in the few scenes they have — particularly Harris and Joel Edgerton.

At just over two hours, The Green Knight is mesmerizing and immersive until the last millisecond. By the time it twists and turns and coils and uncoils to deliver those final moments, it’s a veritable feast of what films have to offer, in no small part thanks to Lowery’s confident command of the cinematic language. It’s no surprise that greatness in cinema, as in Gawain’s story, comes from patience, attention, and imagination. The result is truly legendary.

The Green Knight arrives in theaters and on-demand Friday July 30.