A sow and her litter of adorable piglets are the subject of this memorable documentary from Russian director Viktor Kosakovskiy (Aquarela), executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix. Kosakovskiy doesn’t attempt to assume the point of view of the pigs, but for 90 minutes he lives among them, his camera taking up residence inside their barn and roaming their pasture at eye level. He also visits and observes their neighbours, including a tentative flock of chickens and a herd of stoic dairy cows. There is no narration, no subtitles and no musical score but, instead, an immersive soundscape of farmyard grunts and squelches.
To call the film meditative would be to undersell Kosakovskiy’s instinct for drama and tension. The director gravitates towards runts and stragglers, such as a piglet buried beneath a pile of hay and unceremoniously crushed by its mother. A one-legged chicken is treated with similar reverence. The crisp black and white digital cinematography emphasises the piglets’ downy fur, sleepy eyes and softly rising bellies. It’s an encouragement to acknowledge the beauty, texture and aliveness of the animals. Less successful is the invitation to project interiority on to the creatures’ inscrutable faces – the way the camera fixes on a cow’s intense stare, for example, feels like a call to imbue its gaze with emotional significance.
