On Christmas day, the round table at the court of a sickly and ageing King Arthur is confronted by the terrible, supernatural Green Knight who challenges one of them to engage him in single combat. Should they manage to strike him even in the slightest they will gain the Green Knight's fearsome axe, but in one year they must meet again and allow him to return the blow.
Eager to prove his worth, Gawain takes the challenge where all else falter.
No good will come of this.
This is Arthurian myth done with a modern sensibility, almost as folk horror. Had somebody told me it was a Ben Wheatley movie I'd have believed them but it's a David Lowery project, somebody I've not come across before.
Low on dialogue it's heavily driven by a choral score and sound design as Gawain meets a number of trials and temptations on his journey to keep his appointment with his sepulchural nemesis. Some of these are ethereal and hallucinatory but also grim and dirty.
Sadly a chunk of the scenes suffer from being very dark so you're peering into the gloom a lot and even in the daytime it seems perpetually overcast. Which is great for the mood but less so for the seeing.
Lengthy, it's a two hour memento mori meditation on honour and duty that has none of the flash or action many might have expected from an 'Arthurian story' but beautifully realised on its own terms.
7/10 well worth a look for something unusual but don't expect "Excalibur".