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List Price: $7.99 | | Label: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Salesrank: 37174
Released: October 10, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.71 |
| Used Price: $1.81 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Corpus Christie TX is the setting for this affecting drama of an estranged father and son. Gael Garcia Bernal is Elvis a young Mexican-American on leave from the Navy who seeks out his birth father (William Hurt) a fundamentalist preacher. When Elvis falls in love with his 16-year-old half-sister trouble brews.DVD Features:Available Subtitles: SpanishAvailable Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)Behind the ScenesFilmmaker CommentaryActor RehearsalsTrailerTrailer GalleryFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 821575547154 Manufacturer No: TF-54715
The King Reviews:
Interesting film and good actors 
2009-05-31 - Prosecutors do not need to prove the motive for killing someone, but people who watch movies tend to want an explanation for what motivates a killer. The first time I watched "The King" I could not understand the motive behind the rapid escalation of violence. "Sociopath" is just too simple.
What seems different and unsettling about "The King" is that the characters are developed totally by their actions that unfold sequentially beginning with "Elvis" being discharged from the Navy and starting civilian life. The viewer is given no insight into his past except for one revelation that Elvis is tracking down his biological father, David Sandow, a Baptist preacher in Corpus Christi, Texas.
We do not know how long Elvis had been planning this meeting with his father or what were his expectations. However, after his father's initial and brutal rejection, we see Elvis sitting in a nightclub, alone, and very upset. We also see Elvis in his motel room looking dejectedly at the small amount of money he made from delivering pizzas. But Elvis already knows that his father's daughter, Malerie, is very attracted to him. At this point, revenge seems to be the most plausible motive for Elvis' next move which is to seduce his half sister who is unaware of the biological relationship. Elvis could easily do to her what Sandow did to his mother.
As the relationship between Elvis and Malerie develops, Elvis seems to be emotionally affected by the girl for whom he has become a refuge from her life with her domineering father and older brother, Paul. We see Malerie cleaning up the garage floor from the blood of the deer that her father and brother killed while hunting. This is clearly a household where women are second class. When Paul goes "missing," Malerie's relationship with Elvis intensifies both sexually and emotionally. When she reveals her pregnancy, Elvis seems pleased and feels compelled to confess to her about Paul.
If Elvis' first motive was revenge, then everything changed when his biological father decided to accept him as though he could be a replacement son for Paul. Elvis is willing to settle into Sandow's home and become the perfect houseguest and the new son. He is finally home.
There is a scene where Elvis and Malerie are sitting at a junk food restaurant right after the church service where Sandow reveals to the congregation that Elvis is his son. Malerie now knows that she is pregnant with her half brother's child and fears going to hell for what they have done. Elvis puts on a paper crown and looks at her, completely detached. He is later surprised to find her door locked at night. His narcissism is completely revealed and the revenge motive is verified. He never loved Malerie.
Elvis' earlier confrontation with Paul was not something he anticipated, but Paul could have made it impossible for Elvis to vindicate his father's painful rejection. Therefore, Paul had to be eliminated. And, if the plan changed when Elvis was accepted by his father and he had no further need for revenge against him, then the final scene is still about Elvis eliminating whatever could interfere with what he wanted for himself. Elvis' narcissism is much like that of his father, but the circumstances of his life were more severe and that is their only difference.
I'm giving the film four stars for the excellent performances of Gael Garcia Bernal, William Hurt, and Pell James. I'm a film noir fan, and I would rather have a morally conflicted protagonist than a narcissist or a sociopath. Nonetheless, many will find this to be an interesting and entertaining film.
A horror movie, but not in the sense that you are used to.
2009-05-14 - After being discharged from the Navy, a disturbed young man named Elvis (Gael Garcia Bernal) seeks out his father, whom he has never met. When his father (William Hurt), now a preacher, rejects him, Elvis seeks revenge on his father through his father's new family.
"The King" is a "horror" movie, but not in the sense that you are probably used to. According to the "letter from the director", that is included in the DVD case of this movie, "The King" was partially inspired by the horror movies that the director saw in his youth, including "Brimstone and Treacle", a film about a strange young man who makes his way into the family of a middle-aged writer. That plot is pretty much the same as that of "The King" (except the bit about the writer), but to call this film a "horror" film would be misleading. The term "horror" usually evokes images of supernatural monsters or knife-wielding maniacs. Elvis is not a maniac and he is very much a human being. What this film deals with is the horrors that human beings are capable of, given the right (or wrong) circumstances.
I can imagine that this film might not be to everyone's tastes. It is slow moving to begin with, and the subject matter is often unpleasant (including the incestuous relationship that forms between Elvis and his half-sister). However, if you're not put off by the plot description, it is a well written and well acted movie (Hurt is in his best role in years and Bernal is always excellent) that takes some interested turns along the way. It's definitely worth giving a try.
THE KING'S STAR POWER
2009-04-12 - Gael Garcia Bengal has proved over and over again how fine a actor he is. I got lost in this performance because he effortlessly played a character of little sympathy. I almost missed that he was playing a sociopath.
I couldn't quite understand his choice and perspicuous leaving from the army. Elvis the character Mr.Bengal was playing; it was not clear why he left the army. The subliminal choice of joining may have been for the regiment and officious nature of the army. My supposition is that a sociopath least best place is in the army during war.
To return to the bulk of the story without giving it away. Elvis basically is in search of his biological father. Played with profundity by William Hurt, one of his best rolls in years. This journey is rather roundabout; eventually his relationship is known and the film jumps in high gear. Mr. Bengal as usual is worth the price of a movie or DVD.
White Man's Fear 
2009-03-23 - I viewed this late one night on cable and I was rather surprised by the turn of events halfway through it.
For me this film is about the internalized fears of Mexicans by White America.
The King Is Not Dead
2009-03-14 - Other reviwers have noted that,Down In The Valley, provides a template for this one and is a and superior film. I can't agree, pacing and believablity in the pathology of the two lead types are only distant relatives. I found this a brilliantly disturbing tale...and I hadn't seen trailers or even read the jacket! Without repeating the story, which reviewers seem to feel the need to do, the kernel of the tension resides in the very ambivalence of Bernal's performance. It is never really clear where the depth of his pathology is rooted, and therefore the scope of his ambitions. It's a marvellously nuanced performance. How far will he go towards seducing his dad's daughter by the lake? Will he top the geek Creationist half-brother when confronted in his seedy motel room? And the look of consummate satisfaction as he raids the fridge of his dad's house after a life-time of exclusion! then there's the marvellous moment of the girl's dawning awareness of the implications of her relationship with Elvis, mid-congregation, as the dad spills his heart.James Marsh's direction has graceful timing throughout. The camera work dollying around the garden prior to the bedroom scene of the double murder is a thrilling stroke, and an unexpected tenderness where we presume gratuitous violence will pour forth. I thought the finale down the corridors of Fundamentalist power were right on and the look of bewilderment on Hurt's face, just the moment worth waiting for. I doubt he's be returning to his flock to absolve himself through public confession and accept Elvis for cleaning up. Quite a punchy movie.
