The Green Knight is finally out in theatres, answering a question long posed by medievalists, to medievalists: if you got a couple of medieval kids a camera and a union card what would they shoot?
The answer? Something very much like this film.
On May 11, A24 dropped the long-awaited trailer for The Green Knight, directed by David Lowery and starring Dev Patel. The film, ironically delayed for a year thanks to COVID-19, adapts a delightfully bizarre medieval tale from the late 14th century, in which the titular Green Knight crashes Camelot’s Christmas party and demands someone behead him, and be willing to be beheaded one year later (or one year and a day, according to the J. R. R. Tolkien translation). Sir Gawain accepts the challenge in order to preserve the honor of the court and keep the king from accepting the challenge himself. As you might expect with a giant, mythical green man who likes to play beheading games, the Green Knight picks up his severed head and leaves after reminding Gawain of his promise.
