THE KING IS ALIVE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Since she used to work in the theater, Gina (Jennifer Jason Leigh) eagerly accepts the chance to play the central role of Cordelia in "King Lear." Her unexplained theatrical job might well have been at a place called something like the Pussy Cat Lounge, but Gina is nonetheless delighted. The problem, in Kristian Levring's THE KING IS ALIVE, is the circumstance which causes this opportunity for Gina to arise.
As Gina travels with a random collection of tourists, the bus gets lost on a dirt road and runs out of gas in an extremely barren section of the African desert. Luckily they find an abandoned mining town nearby where they can take shelter until the hoped for rescuers arrive. In order to pass the time, a Shakespearean trained English actor among them suggests that they put on a production of "King Lear." Some find the idea complete folly, but eventually most of them begin to take part. Most of the lines of the play, of course, seem to apply to their situation.
The hot desert sun quickly fries their brains and nerves, causing them scandalously to say exactly what they are really thinking rather than the polite blather that we usually take for conversation. In the superb cast, Bruce Davison and Janet McTeer play Ray and Liz, a sad, childless couple. She's a bitch, and he's a cynic, a fact to which they both seem unhappily resigned. "You don't have to worry, you know," Liz tells Ray about the play, when she wants to take part but he doesn't. "Nobody has to fall in love, and everyone gets to die in the end."
The acerbic script by Anders Thomas Jensen and Kristian Levring has characters generally going after each other with words rather than showy, emotional outbursts. The film, shot according to the strict Dogme 95 rules, features all natural lighting and sets. It is one of the few Dogme films that is actually enhanced by the technique. Here the harsh lighting and the intimate, handheld camerawork blend in perfectly with the austerity of the setting.
The picture, however, does have its logical and technical problems. The characters stay outside and get parched by the glaring sun when it would only make sense to perform the play indoors. And why cinematographer Jens Schlosser keeps framing scenes so that people's eyes, the most expressive part of one's anatomy, are chopped off remains a mystery.
As their strength wanes and it looks like no one will ever come to save them, the story gets more and more intriguing. And, as their minds become focused on survival, the human drama ratchets up in intensity. The ending will not be satisfying to everyone, but this isn't the type of picture that is made to appeal to the masses. Suffice it to say that it worked for me.
THE KING IS ALIVE runs 1:45. It is rated R for sexuality and language and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, June 8, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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