Reviews

The King

Near-horror film about Elvis's lost years

By NINA MACLAUGHLIN | June 14, 2006

3.0 Stars

BIBLICALLY BAD: The King is intense

British director James Marsh crams a whole lot of myths and allusions into The King -- Oedipus, Hamlet, the Prodigal Son -- and a whole lot of transgressions -- incest, arson, prostitution. And when things go bad, they go Biblically bad. Y tu mamá también co-star Gael García Bernal plays Elvis Valderez, who leaves the Navy and heads to Corpus Christi to find the father who abandoned him. Successful, self-important pastor David Sandow (William Hurt) spurns his son again, wanting to put his godless past behind him. Elvis, calm and good-natured on the surface, makes his way into his dad’s idyllic life and begins to enact supreme revenge. Pell James and Paul Dano are standouts as the pastor’s innocent-experienced teenage kids, and Marsh does a good job of exploring God and sin and forgiveness. But it’s Bernal’s quiet intensity that propels The King and elevates its horror to mythic proportions.

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Comments

The King

I loved this film. It has an ingenious plot with several more or less unexpected twists. Religion and guilt are major themes in the film; themes that I felt were examined with a seldomly seen open mindedness. The acting is strong from all characters, and the portrait of the characters adds realism to the story as they are portrayed in a very down-to-earth, human way. I felt I could identify with all the characters (religious beliefs apart) in the film. I also think it succeeds in executing what I gather was one of its resolutions; telling the story of a terrible event without passing too much judgment.

By yo momma on 06/14/2006 at 12:21:22

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