The King - James Marsh

Ricorda un po’ “Public access”, il folgorante esordio di Bryan Singer, ma “The king” è ancora più forte e sconvolgente.

James Marsh qui è agli inizi, o quasi, riesce ad avere come attori tipetti come Gael Garcia Bernal e William Hurt, e ne tira fuori un film grandissimo.

James Marsh è uno da serie A, per chi ancora  non lo sa, provare per credere, nessuno se ne pentirà, promesso - Ismaele

…The movie was directed by James Marsh, a British documentarian, from a screenplay by Milo Addica ("Monster's Ball"). It's the kind of work where characters develop on their own, without consulting the book of cliches. We have so many preconceived notions about the types in this movie (hellfire preacher, sexpot daughter, dutiful son, black sheep) that it's surprising to see them behaving as individuals; they make decisions based on what they know and when they know it, and that's always too little and too late…

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…Traité comme un thriller, aux suspenses consécutifs et gradués, The king pose la question du pardon, du désir de vengeance, et surtout de leurs rapports à la pratique religieuse. Suffit-il de refaire sa vie pour mettre son passé de coté ? Certainement pas répond le réalisateur, qui joue avec nos nerfs autant qu’avec notre morale, créant un film honnête, mais un peu trop statique en contraste avec la dernière scène, d’une violence extrême.

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Every once in a long while I am able to see a film without any preconceived notions. Usually my expectations are artificially raised or lowered by word of mouth. Often the movie's plot is corrupted by an overzealous marketing department. Yet I have found that knowing nothing about the film I am about to watch sometimes creates the ideal situation for movie going. The only two things I knew about The King was that it starred William Hurt and that pretty-boy actor Gael Garcia Bernal. And all you need to know is that this movie was far better than anything else I saw at the Festival. In fact, it may be the best film I see this year…

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By the time we meet Pastor David Sandow (William Hurt), he is a doomed man. The King chronicles his complete and utter decent into the inescapable consequences of long-repressed depravity. In the final shot of the film, perhaps he finally realizes the amount of trouble that he is in, but we don’t get to stick around and see the repercussions. The film concerns his impending fate, not his fall. It is about the very moment before he knows he is finished forever, when his secret sins catch up with him and there is no escaping from their skeletons…

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Atenção a este nome: James Marsch. É um documentarista, de origem britânica, e tem tratado temas tão inesperados quanto os hábitos alimentares de Elvis Presley («The Burger & The King: The Life & Cuisine of Elvis Presley», 1996). Está em Cannes com a sua primeira longa-metragem de ficção. Chama-se «The King», é uma produção americana e tem Gael Garcia Bernal e William Hurt nos papéis principais. Acima de tudo, Marsch consegue expor a complexidade pulsional de uma realidade interior, e não apenas no sentido geográfico, em que é determinante o peso de valores religiosos ultra-conservadores — um filme inesperado, com alguns momentos perturbantes, sobre os temas da pureza e do pecado, da culpa e da redenção.

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