the king

I love to see matinees in the middle of the day...it's one of the serious perks of working freelance. Last week I wandered into The King not knowing very much about the movie other than it starred hottie actor Gael Garcia Bernal and had pretty lovely poster art. I was pleasantly surprised! The movie was small and slow and while those two things might bother some people, I fell under the film's spell. I could go on about plot, but that's not what this movie is about. It's about character and every character in this film is given a chance. No one is pure evil or plain good. Instead of playing each character to their perceived type (born-again preacher, souless drifter, dutiful wife), the film treats each one as an individual and lets the drama unfold in it's own personal way. The King's quiet nature really reminded me of Terrence Malik's film Badlands and David Gordon Green's George Washington and All the Real Girls. Even actress Pell James who plays Malorie, Elvis' 16 year old love interest in the film, seemed so reminiscent of Sissy Spacek's character in Badlands.

It's a shocking film filled with questions that don't necessarily get answered. I loved it.