The endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.
Comment
07/06/08
The King is Alive (2001)
60 %
Reviews Counted: 65 Fresh: 39 Rotten:26 Average Rating: 5.8/10
Consensus:
Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Synopsis: The fourth contribution to the grass roots Dogme 95 collective, THE KING IS ALIVE is a psychological horror film that uses a bleak yet beautiful African landscape to tell a haunting tale of human weakness and survival. The story concerns a group of vacationers who are traveling through the... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Miles Anderson, Romane Bohringer, Bruce Davison, Brion James, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Reviews
Top Critic
It's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...
06/24/06
Top Critic
Despite astonishing camera work and editing, it just gets duller and duller even as the story is supposedly heating up.
12/10/01
The performances are admirable, the location evocatively exploited and the psychological intensity often unbearable. But the spark isn’t there.
05/11/01
Top Critic Top Critic
:ags in the middle, growing more interesting -- if hardly more original -- only as the situation deteriorates.
07/06/08
Top Critic
Here is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.
08/06/06
The real problem is the way the story tries so hard to incorporate Shakespearean themes.
12/06/05
Even for a Dogma 95 movie, this one is unusual because it features a remote, exotic setting and a Shakepearean subtext.
01/06/04
About as far from a Shakespearean stage but as close to Shakespearean essence as it can be.
10/13/03
An imaginative film that feels ten times more genuine than any ten movies of the "Castaway" variety (or as I like to call it, "The 90 million dollar Fed-Ex Commercial")
03/18/03
Somebody should really plop these guys down in front of an old Rodgers & Hammerstein spectacle.
03/10/03
Admittedly not for all tastes, but I liked what I bit into even if there was some sand in the offering.
11/25/02
Levring's film isn't nearly as smart or original as he seems to think it is.
11/18/02
... sitting through "The King Is Alive" was a tedious exercise that tried my patience and bored me.
12/21/01
A piece of art rather than reality -- and a slo-o-o-w piece of art, though it rewards your patience.
11/09/01
May seem self-consciously arty, but in the playing it grabs us early and doesn't let go.
08/20/01
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