The King

Time Out says
Elvis (Bernal) quits the US Navy and heads to a quiet Texan town, where he tracks down an unsuspecting David Sandow (William Hurt), a charismatic and popular preacher in the conservative local community, and tells him that he’s his son from an affair with a Mexican woman. ‘It was before I became a Christian,’ Sandow whispers firmly to Elvis while his wife and two teenage children linger in the family SUV. ‘This is my family and that is my home.’
It’s unclear whether it’s the long-term or short-term rejection that drives Elvis, but despite a cool gaze and a likeable demeanour he wages a cruel campaign against Sandow’s family. He starts a steamy relationship with his virginal, white-socked daughter Malerie (Pell James, allowing for the most intriguing relationship in the film) and soon viciously murders Paul, his son (Paul Dano). Both violations remain secret when Sandow experiences a religious guilt-trip and welcomes Elvis into the family and even introduces him to his congregation. Not that the ideals of Christian forgiveness have much truck with Elvis. It’s hard to determine whether the boy is plain evil or just plain stupid…
‘The King’ is heavy on mood and location. Its makers take great pains to sketch the characters’ surroundings in such a way that they reflect ominously on their story: the Sandows’ sterile world of modern churches, nice lawns, floral dresses and shallow rivers exists side-by-side with Elvis’ more nocturnal, more dangerous environment of shabby hotel rooms, beat-up old cars and dark highways at night. You either buy these visions of Americana or you don’t; personally, I feel that I’ve experienced enough such takes of America in both film and photography to last a lifetime. The sickly sweet, lullaby-style score only confirms this.
Reservations aside, ‘The King’ is a largely compelling debut that offers an unusual and neither sneering nor hackneyed spin on modern religion. Incest and murder battle with faith and forgiveness. But as its somewhat histrionic plot and laboured aesthetic finally unfolds into a hysterical climax, ‘The King’ suffers from an overbearing sense of its own self-importance.
Release Details
- Rated:15
- Release date:Friday 19 May 2006
- Duration:103 mins
Cast and crew
- Director:James Marsh
- Screenwriter:James Marsh, Milo Addica
- Cast:
- Gael García Bernal
- William Hurt
- Pell James
- Paul Dano
- Laura Harring
- Mohammad Ahmed
- Derek Alvarado
- Richard Lack
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