In the latest film of A24, Patel plays Sir Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur, who embarks on a fantasy journey to challenge the Green Knight, a strange tall man with green skin and a seemingly indestructible appearance. The film was released in Canada on Friday.

The charm of the legend of King Arthur

Director David Lowry, behind-the-scenes producer Is it a saint in their body and Ghost storyThis movie is a long list of latest works adapted from the legend of King Arthur. Movie lovers and medievalists are excited about its release.

Author Robin Sloan said: “This is a story about an ambitious young man who may bite more than he can chew at first.” He performs every year. On-site virtual reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Translated into modern English by the poet Simon Armitage.

“I wish I could at least hear some rhyming bounce rhythms from Dev Patel, the narrator, or others, because I think they are the most special part of this poem to me,” said Sloan, who is also a novel. author Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore.

Lowry said that the movie was originally scheduled to be released in May last year. In a recent interview and Globe and MailWhen the pandemic disrupted these plans, the director said it gave him the opportunity to “re-examine it with a whole new perspective.”

If the early comments show any signs, the extra time in the editorial room will be rewarded.

Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times Call it “The fascinating feat of revisionist mythology, the kind that begs you to look at an old story with a new appreciation.” AO Scott of the New York Times Say This is a movie that is “worth watching twice”, and Alison Wilmore of Vulture wrote This is an “intoxicating and disturbing fantasy”.

“It’s just—it’s visual poetry,” said Jeffrey Zhang, chief critic and editor of the popular culture website Strange Harbours. “I think this is the true meaning of this movie.”

Zhang said that the legend of King Arthur is available in the public domain and has a wide range of appeal, so it is easy to adapt.

For centuries, no one knew about poetry

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight It is an epic with a proper history. Written by an unknown writer in the late 14th century, and later known as the “Pearl Poet”, the text was hardly known until a British researcher discovered it in the 19th century.

Only one copy of the original manuscript was found.

“It’s not like a big success in 1427,” Sloan said. “On the contrary, it is basically unread and no one knows in the library-it passed from one collection to another.”

He said that it was almost burned in the Great Fire of London in the 1700s, and other manuscripts were also burned.

“We will never know what happened to them, or what stories were lost in that fire. But it was pure luck, Sir Gawain among the Green Knights Survived,” he said.

Alexandra Gillespie, former English professor at the University of Toronto Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, To say that this “complex”, “jewel-like” poem—along with other texts by the Pearl Poet—makes full use of the long history of Middle English.

“They are alliterations,” she said. “So the first letter of many words in a line will be the same, although they also have prosody and other types of prosody, and they are really very complicated.”

Gillespie said that the recurring green theme in the text is a symbol of libido, fertility, nature, and abundance.

“Green is also eroding your death, and rot is always just around the corner,” she said.

Sloan said that most of the appeal of the poem lies in the combination of language and surprising narrative.

“I mean, this is King Arthur’s pursuit, but it’s different from others,” he said. “I really believe this is-it’s not like others. This is really a special work in history.”

The maturity of popular culture adaptations

On the big screen and elsewhere, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The source material has proven to be particularly fruitful, and its heroes have appeared in various media.

This is a 1973 movie Gawain and the Green Knight, And its 1984 remake, Brave sword; There is an animated short film that won the British Film Academy Award in 2002 named after this poem.There is also a 2008 documentary that explores the hero’s journey and the 2011 TV series Camilo Clive Standon plays Gawain.

1991 opera Gao Wen Just one of many stage adaptations.Even Green knight-Inspiring video games, Chronicles of the sword.

For Sloan, he reads this poem every year, attracting audiences from all over the world, and this film is an opportunity for people to appreciate hundreds of years of historical text.

“I hope that when people watch a movie like this and realize its source material, it connects them to a time scale that is wider than the time scale we often zoom in and lock in,” he said.

Nevertheless, many stories of the Arthurian legend did not respond well at the box office.

Recently, 2017 King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword Warner Bros. lost 153.2 million U.S. dollars. King ArthurReleased in 2004, it earned only US$203.6 million in box office revenue from its US$120 million U.S. budget.And Sean Connery’s 1995 movie This First knight Disgusted by audiences and critics.

So although Lowery risks adapting Green knight, Its King Arthur origin may resonate with audiences who are excited about the story of sword and magic Lord of the Rings, Even the knightly superhero in the franchise The Avengers, Gillespie said.