:ags in the middle, growing more interesting -- if hardly more original -- only as the situation deteriorates.
Comment
07/06/08
The King is Alive (2001)
60
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Miles Anderson, Romane Bohringer, Bruce Davison, Brion James
Director: Kristian Levring
Reviews for The King is Alive
Top CriticThe endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.
07/06/08
Top CriticHere is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.
08/06/06
It's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...
06/24/06
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
By the time you figure out who's who, you've almost ceased to care.
10/21/02
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03/24/02
Top Critic... sitting through "The King Is Alive" was a tedious exercise that tried my patience and bored me.
12/21/01
Despite astonishing camera work and editing, it just gets duller and duller even as the story is supposedly heating up.
12/10/01
A piece of art rather than reality -- and a slo-o-o-w piece of art, though it rewards your patience.
11/09/01
Pick-me-up, this ain't. But fascinating, it is.
09/21/01
May seem self-consciously arty, but in the playing it grabs us early and doesn't let go.
08/20/01
An especially demanding, misanthropic and nihilistic work about human nature's worst face and it, more often than not, chills despite the relentless desert heat.
08/10/01
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