Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 05/19/2006(USA
Release Date: 10/10/2006
SubTitles: Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
A young man exacts a thorough revenge against the father who abandoned him in this independent
drama.
Elvis (
Gael García Bernal) is a young man in his early twenties who, after finishing a hitch in the Navy, learns that his biological father was
Pastor David Sandow (
William Hurt), a man of the cloth who has never taken responsibility for siring a child out of wedlock.
Elvis travels to Corpus Christi, TX, to confront
Sandow about his past; the pastor asks
Elvis to let him break the news to his wife and children himself, and assures the young man he wants to stay in contact with him.
Elvis, however, prefers to handle matters in his own way. First
Elvis sets his sights on
Malerie (
Pell James), the pastor's teenage daughter, and after winning her trust, takes the girl's virginity.
Malerie soon discovers she's pregnant, and after her older brother
Paul (
Paul Dano) sees
Elvis slipping out of the house following a liason with the girl, he confronts the seducer and is stabbed and killed.
Elvis manages to cover his tracks cleanly enough that no one is certain
Paul is dead. Next,
Elvis goes to great lengths to ingratiate himself with
Sandow, and despite the objections of his wife (
Laura Harring), the pastor eventually invites the man who killed his son and violated his daughter to live under the same roof with his family.
The King was the first dramatic feature from director
James Marsh, who previously distinguished himself in
documentaries.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide