MR PIG/ SR PIG
Mexico, 2016 all, 100 minutes, Colour.
Danny Glover, Maya Rudolph, Jose Maria Yazpik, Joel Murray, Angelica Aragon, Joanna Murillo.
Directed by Diego Luna.
This film was written and directed by Mexican actor who has had an international career, Diego Luna.
It is a Mexican film, but it is the story of an American, Ambrose, Danny Glover, an elderly man who has been raising a hog, Howard, and drives him down to an abattoir in Mexico, run by the son of an old friend.
This means that the film is a road film, Ambrose escaping creditors, going through the Mexican border, held up by the police and having to pay a registration, arriving safely, a friendly encounter with the owner of the abattoir, memories of the past. However, he disapproves of the technical methods for the slaughter of the pigs and takes Howard away.
Ambrose is a drinker, unwell, with phone calls from his daughter, Eunice (Maya Rudolph). She comes down to help in the driving, they have conversations about the past and the relationship. The car breaks down but they are able to get to a destination which leads them eventually to the trip towards an island, friends taking them in a boat. However, Ambrose is weaker, collapses and dies.
1. The title? Howard the pig? Relationship with Ambrose? Fat and, going to the abattoir? The journey, care of him?
2. The Californian settings, Ambrose’s home, with the pig? The travel down to Mexico, the Mexican countryside, the home, the abattoir and its modern look, the Mexican highways, the boat, the water? The musical score?
3. Danny Glover as Ambrose, his age, his past, phone calls from Eunice, relationship with Howard, his drinking? The creditor and his driving away? The journey to Mexico, the boarder, the officials, paying the money? Feeding Howard, the water, pampering him? Arriving at the abattoir, the owner, memories of his father, cheerful, family meal, the owner and his wife, the drinking? Ambrose discovering the methods, reacting in a hostile way, taking Howard? Driving away?
4. The journey back, the phone calls from Eunice? Her coming to meet him? Their driving, the battery, the breakdown? Getting to the refuge? Driving to the boat, on the boat, Ambrose’s happy memories? His collapse? The oxygen, Howard, Eunice and her concern, the people welcoming him? His death?
5. Eunice, her background, relationship with Ambrose, care for him, coming to Mexico, driving him, the breakdown, the conversations? Care for him, his illness, his death, the
effect on her?
6. Howard, at the end, wallowing in the water?
7. A different road story? On the road towards death?
