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Review #137 of 365
Film: The King (2006) [NR] 95 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $8.25
Where Viewed: Landmark Egyptian Theatre, Seattle, WA
[2006 Seattle International Film Festival]
When 1st Seen: 29 May 2006
Time: 4:00 p.m.
 |
DVD |
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Continuing a recent trend in mostly downer independent films starring male actors playing chronically depressed, limitlessly lonely, or completely mentally askew characters, let James Marsh's The King take the grand prize. First it was Lonesome Jim with Casey Affleck's inability to commit to a relationship who convinces his own brother to attempt suicide. Then it was Edward Norton's Harlan Churchill Fairfax in Down in the Valley who decides the first underage girl he meets at a gas station shall be his wife if he has to kill everyone in her family to get her. Now enter Gael García (Motorcycle Diaries and Y Tu Mama Tambien) Bernal as Elvis "The King", a newly discharged sailor who 'decides' to exact some of the most twisted forms of revenge ever conceived--murder and the impregnation of his half sister--from the born-again Christian Pastor David Sandow who, some 21 or so years earlier, impregnated his prostitute mother, and left her and the child to fend for themselves. I sense a theme here of tremendous hostility of sons toward their parents, and the net result is young adult males who possess either terrible rage or are shallow shells when it comes to maintaining any semblance of an ethical compass. I'm sure the timing of the back-to-back releases of these films with similar themes is entirely coincidental, but the overlap was not lost on me. Unfortunately, while The King is probably the best of the three films on many levels, it is also the most tragic and the least easy to comprehend. Moreover, the three films share another commonality most pronounced in the latter two, and this a lack of true explanation as to why the main character is the way he is—too much is left to speculation or conjecture. Both films also leave untidy endings that induce the same effect as one would experience if a roller coaster hit a concrete wall at the end instead of an air-braked platform. In other words, don't be expecting a happy ending.
"[the] film leaves untidy an ending that induces the same effect as one would experience if a roller coaster hit a concrete wall at the end instead of an air-braked platform."
In the way these three films run, a curious side effect is that they actually have no true protagonist. You cannot root for a guy who is committing a felony by having sexual relations with an underage girl no matter what terrible things were done to him in the past. The main characters come across generally as morally bankrupt people. It's possible to tender some feelings of sadness as the circumstances that led to their emergence as these very confused adult persons must have been quite awful. Nonetheless, they are neither heroes nor true protagonists in any sense. I have never been a huge fan of protagonist-free films. My feeling is that you can turn these films around, if you show some growth in the main character though. Well, that is not the case for Elvis. He shows no growth during the course of his actions. He knows what he wants deep down—to wreak havoc on the life of the father who abandoned him and his mother. He is singular of focus and driven to achieve his goals. So, sadly, this film and the others are likely to leave you with not much more than a heavy heart by their conclusions. I am not saying every film has to have a happy ending. Far from it. I just believe in growth of character and purpose to life.
The only character who comes close to any real growth is the aforementioned Pastor played so well by William Hurt. After his over-the-top performance in last year's A History of Violence, I wasn't sure initially he could do this role justice. In fact, he nails it. I don't know if it was because he just let the role form organically as an extension of himself or if he has gotten back in touch with the elements that allowed him to play Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman. All I know is that despite this really being a movie about Elvis, William Hurt steals most of the scenes which was kind of nice turn-around and score-one for the elder statesmen of the acting corps. In fact, I really thought that Mr. Bernal bordered on the banal in his role. If the dialogue gives us no clues to his pain, and his actions gives us clues to the depth of his pain but not the source of his pain, then the actor must find another medium: facial expression, gestures, emotions, something that helps us understand his motives. He gives us nearly nothing to go on. Meanwhile, Pastor Sandow's children Malerie (Pell "Uptown Girls" James) and Paul (Paul "Taking Lives, The Emperor's Club, and L.I.E." Dano) also delivered right-on-the-money performances. They have been raised to exhibit all of the restraint and true-to-faith belief that their father could never muster in his own life, and yet in each we start to see a challenge to the beliefs—Paul through is music and Malerie through her relationship with Elvis. In the end, though, only the Pastor comes to some degree of change in his thinking as he accepts Elvis to be his son and welcomes him to the family. Of course, he has no idea of the terrible things that Elvis has been doing to destroy his family over the past few months since he arrived and ambushed him with the news of his existence. Therefore, his motives are entirely pure.
The only character who comes close to any real growth is the aforementioned Pastor played so well by William Hurt. After his over-the-top performance in last year's A History of Violence, I wasn't sure initially he could do this role justice. In fact, he nails it. I don't know if it was because he just let the role form organically as an extension of himself or if he has gotten back in touch with the elements that allowed him to play Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman. All I know is that despite this really being a movie about Elvis, William Hurt steals most of the scenes which was kind of nice turn-around and score-one for the elder statesmen of the acting corps. In fact, I really thought that Mr. Bernal bordered on the banal in his role. If the dialogue gives us no clues to his pain, and his actions gives us clues to the depth of his pain but not the source of his pain, then the actor must find another medium: facial expression, gestures, emotions, something that helps us understand his motives. He gives us nearly nothing to go on. Meanwhile, Pastor Sandow's children Malerie (Pell "Uptown Girls" James) and Paul (Paul "Taking Lives, The Emperor's Club, and L.I.E." Dano) also delivered right-on-the-money performances. They have been raised to exhibit all of the restraint and true-to-faith belief that their father could never muster in his own life, and yet in each we start to see a challenge to the beliefs—Paul through is music and Malerie through her relationship with Elvis. In the end, though, only the Pastor comes to some degree of change in his thinking as he accepts Elvis to be his son and welcomes him to the family. Of course, he has no idea of the terrible things that Elvis has been doing to destroy his family over the past few months since he arrived and ambushed him with the news of his existence. Therefore, his motives are entirely pure.
"There is...a great sense of dramatic tension as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, we are left with a loaf of bread that rose but was never baked."
The music and cinematography for the film were quite good. There is also a great sense of dramatic tension as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, we are left with a loaf of bread that rose but was never baked. We have only minute clues as to what motivates the revenge of Elvis. Clearly, a person in his shoes would or could be very hurt, but to this extent? Some people have suggested that Elvis was child-like and just didn't know what he was doing. I scratch my head at those comments. He is a cold-blooded killer. He plotted so much of this out from the beginning. In the end, I was left feeling pretty much the same way as I was after Lonesome Jim and Down in the Valley—bereft of feeling, emotions, and my ability to care. I felt cheated for I felt all three stories had worked to hard to create interesting main characters. Unfortunately, none of the writers wanted to reveal their hands and let us in on the little secret as to why they were interesting; and, for me, that makes a film incomplete.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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The King [DVD](2005) DVD
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
Completing a recent trifecta of downer, independent films featuring male actors portraying chronically depressed, limitlessly lonely, or completely mentally askew characters, crown James Marsh's The King the grand prize winner over Steve Buscemi's Lonesome Jim and David Jacobson's Down in the Valley. Marsh coronates Gael García Bernal 'King' Elvis, a newly-discharged sailor, who crusades to exact his tragic, twisted revenge from born-again Christian Pastor David Sandow (William Hurt)—the biological father he never knew he had. Quirky supporting performances by Paul Dano and Pell James as Sandow's son and daughter, a stirring yet eerie musical score, and mesmerizing pastoral cinematography of desolate suburban landscapes, infuse the film with additional layers of discomfort as if Elvis knowingly pursuing an intimate relationship with his half sister weren't enough. Unfortunately, as intriguing as this sounds, Marsh fails to deliver the bounty, leaving us needing Colonel Tom Parker to explain what just happened and why.
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