Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
aimless-46
"But look at the world..." says Charlie in reply to his daughter Miranda's accusation that he takes nothing seriously and views the world as existing simply for his amusement, in Mike Cahill's lyrical masterpiece "King of California". The bi-polar Charlie is played by Michael Douglas and sixteen-year-old Miranda by Evan Rachel Wood. The story is told from the put-upon Miranda's point-of-view and supplemented with both her voice-over narration and the occasional flashback.In the flashbacks a younger Miranda is convincingly played by a pre -"Sonny with a Chance" Allisyn Ashley Arm. Arm was not just an excellent physical match for Wood, but a stylistic one as well; the two actresses share a non-verbal acting style, gently teasing their portrayal of a character who does a whole lot of on-camera processing of her father's often baffling and exasperating antics. In several flashbacks single parent Charlie sends his nine-year-old daughter to school with a diorama of a California mission (presumably the one in San Fernando) they just constructed, littered with "the bodies of the Chumash Indians, who died of Syphilis and Influenza, infected by the missionaries". The film's most visually compelling sequence is nine-year-old Miranda striding home hurt and angry after the diorama has landed her in trouble at school, betrayed by her father's poor judgement.Charlie is obsessed with the notion that the long-lost treasure of Spanish explorer Father Juan Florismarte Torres is buried somewhere near their Santa Clarita Valley house. Cahill's screenplay borrows from "The Hours"; as Miranda reads the Torres journal in voice-over, she and Charlie retrace the path of his expedition across the valley in search of the treasure he buried. There is a political element to the story in the juxtaposing of descriptions of old California with images of the suburban sprawl that has obliterated much of the state's history. This is further illustrated by Miranda's adaptive qualities and Charlie's stubborn refusal to adapt; it is the only significant difference between the two characters and introduces a lot of poignancy into the story because the quality they admire the most in each other is the one they do not share.For Miranda, having Charlie as a father is a Southern California version of "Alice and Wonderland". Her self-reliant character is positioned midway between Alice and young heroine Jeliza-Rose in Terry Gilliam's Tideland (2005). And she shares many of their virtues; innocence, courage, curiosity, wonder, kindness, intelligence, courtesy, dignity, and a sense of justice. While she shares Alice's irritation with the rude and illogical situations they encounter in their respective wonderlands, she is considerably more adaptable. Alice was a confident and proper little Victorian girl who expected a certain standard of behavior, while Miranda and Jeliza Rose are skilled at making the best of a variety of sucky situations.Physically Wood has never looked better, like Audrey Hepburn she is more dazzling with minimal makeup and everyday fashions - including a McDonald's uniform. She simply glows in the final sequence's extreme close-ups, standing on a bluff above the beach as she processes the predicted illegal landing of a group of Chinese boat people. And in this moment she totally sells the story, which at its core is simply the story of a father and daughter with a unqualified love for each other.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Petri Pelkonen
16-year old Miranda's father Charlie returns from the loony bin.Now Charlie believes there's a long-lost treasure of Spanish explorer Father Juan Florismarte Torres buried nearby their California house.Soon he's off with his daughter to go treasure hunting.She gets a job at Costco, underneath which the treasure should be located.King of California (2007) is directed by Mike Cahill and produced by Alexander Payne.Michael Douglas does amazing job in the lead as Charlie.Mr. Douglas is a fantastic actor who we in the future can call a cancer survivor, I'm sure.I'm very hopeful after having heard that his father, Kirk Douglas, told in an interview how his son is in a better shape now.So Michael Douglas really makes this movie, but I must give credit to Evan Rachel Wood, who plays his daughter Miranda.They both play their parts just brilliantly.Allisyn Ashley Arm plays Young Miranda.Willis Burks II is Pepper.Paul Lieber and Kathleen Wilhoite are Doug and Kelly.This is a very beautiful film.It offers some great drama and comedy.Like the scene where they dig around the golf course is quite funny.It's just amazing to watch when Charlie is diving at the underground river, searching for the treasure.Charlie is the most tragicomic character, and you really like him.You really hope he finds the treasure at the end.
Kyle Hodgdon
I thought this was a pretty good little movie when I watched it in 2010. For some reason, I had never really heard of it prior to 2010, so it was a good one to stumble across. Quite early in the adventure, I began suspecting that Charlie was just stringing Miranda along on his mission for the sole purpose of spending time with her, all the while doing something that would free her from her mundane life as a McDonalds employee. I guess the end of the movie does not really make it 100% clear as to if that was the case, or if he was really just crazy, or if he was correct and there was really treasure and he was on the verge of obtaining it.It felt to me that this film attempted to be a treasure hunting movie, something that would not normally take place in current times, and set it in the twenty-first century. I think that is pretty daring because it is a difficult thing to achieve. I feel that this movie did it pretty well. The troubles of a Costco over the dig site made sense in reality and also added some humor and a roadblock to the action. There were a number of times when you kind of had to ignore reality and just go with what was happening (example: the cops just ignored the initial break-in as a gas leak), but I was okay with that.I really enjoyed this movie and would actually give it a 7.5 if I could.
Robert Durefoy
Can totally confirm that last comment.. Didn't exspect that much before renting that DVD, but after all it was quite a nice surprise to see Michael Douglas' extraordinary performance and that of Evan rachel Wood, which is also one of the greatest performer nowadays. No clichés, no unnessesary over-the-top changes in storytelling, just a nice little film, calm and professionally narrated about father and daughter and the apparently mazy visions which turn out to be not just visionary. Everyone did a great job on this, and hopefully there'll be more brilliant moments in film history in the near future..
