I feel a few people here have really taken this movie completely at face value and come away thinking it is a boring movie about a dude trying to get his pig back. Let me try and share a few of the really outstanding storytelling bits I noticed upon initial viewing.
Firstly, I think the whole reason Robin (Nic Cage) is actually so devastated about the pig is that he never properly dealt with the trauma of losing his wife. He stops playing that tape at the beginning as soon as you hear her voice because he doesn't want to deal with the memories it will bring back up. Throughout the quest to get his pig back he finally starts to properly grieve for his wife and get closure with old friends and acquaintances. When he says "because I love her" in response to Amir's "why are we doing all this" he was talking about both his wife and the pig.
Now a scene that I did not fully understand at the time but thankfully a friend I watched with helped me understand - his old backyard and the persimmon tree. He's talking about Hachiya persimmons, which are absolutely gross and inedible until they are extremely overripe. The fact that the persimmon tree is no longer there represents his hope for a future being dashed even before it could bear fruit. So the scene with the kid and the tree was meant to represent that he had a dream to have a family, which got dashed when his wife passed away.
At the end when Amir asks if he is alright he goes "... yeah" and actually seems to mean it - as he has finally properly dealt with his grief. In the final scene, he is able to sit and listen to the whole cassette.
As far as the lack of action: his story was never meant to be a John Wick / Taken esque revenge story. Even after he finds out his pig is dead, he still doesn't harm the guy who did that to him. Same with the kids who hit him at the beginning and stole the pig in the first place. Where 99.9% of people would immediately think of revenge and hurting the person who wronged you - Robin chooses to try and reach his enemy on a human level. Something you scarcely ever see in movies or otherwise. Of course Amir's father is shown to be making the same mistake of trying to avoid dealing with grief - forcing his wife to stay on life support even with no hope of recovery, and burying himself in work to avoid thinking about her.
I think perhaps if you came into the movie with certain expectations - you would be disappointed. But if you really give it a chance and try and chew on the dialogue and read between the lines, especially when a scene (like the persimmon tree) seems random, you will have a great experience.
Firstly, I think the whole reason Robin (Nic Cage) is actually so devastated about the pig is that he never properly dealt with the trauma of losing his wife. He stops playing that tape at the beginning as soon as you hear her voice because he doesn't want to deal with the memories it will bring back up. Throughout the quest to get his pig back he finally starts to properly grieve for his wife and get closure with old friends and acquaintances. When he says "because I love her" in response to Amir's "why are we doing all this" he was talking about both his wife and the pig.
Now a scene that I did not fully understand at the time but thankfully a friend I watched with helped me understand - his old backyard and the persimmon tree. He's talking about Hachiya persimmons, which are absolutely gross and inedible until they are extremely overripe. The fact that the persimmon tree is no longer there represents his hope for a future being dashed even before it could bear fruit. So the scene with the kid and the tree was meant to represent that he had a dream to have a family, which got dashed when his wife passed away.
At the end when Amir asks if he is alright he goes "... yeah" and actually seems to mean it - as he has finally properly dealt with his grief. In the final scene, he is able to sit and listen to the whole cassette.
As far as the lack of action: his story was never meant to be a John Wick / Taken esque revenge story. Even after he finds out his pig is dead, he still doesn't harm the guy who did that to him. Same with the kids who hit him at the beginning and stole the pig in the first place. Where 99.9% of people would immediately think of revenge and hurting the person who wronged you - Robin chooses to try and reach his enemy on a human level. Something you scarcely ever see in movies or otherwise. Of course Amir's father is shown to be making the same mistake of trying to avoid dealing with grief - forcing his wife to stay on life support even with no hope of recovery, and burying himself in work to avoid thinking about her.
I think perhaps if you came into the movie with certain expectations - you would be disappointed. But if you really give it a chance and try and chew on the dialogue and read between the lines, especially when a scene (like the persimmon tree) seems random, you will have a great experience.