The King Is Alive
| The King Is Alive | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Kristian Levring |
| Written by | Kristian Levring Anders Thomas Jensen |
| Produced by | Vibeke Windeløv |
| Starring | Miles Anderson Romane Bohringer David Bradley David Calder Jennifer Jason Leigh Brion James |
| Cinematography | Jens Schlosser |
| Edited by | Nicholas Wayman Harris |
| Music by | Jan Juhler |
| Distributed by | Nordisk Film Distribution A/S |
Release date |
|
Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | English |
The King Is Alive is a 2000 film directed by Kristian Levring. The fourth film to be done according to the Dogme 95 rules, it was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]
Synopsis
A group of tourists are stranded in the Namibian desert when their bus loses its way and runs out of fuel. Canned carrots and dew keep the tourists alive, but they are helplessly entrapped, completely cut off from the rest of the world. As courage and moral fibre weaken and relationships grow shaky, Henry, a theatrical manager, persuades the group to put on Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. As the tourists work their way through Henry's hand-written scripts for an audience of only the sand dunes and one distant, indigenous watcher, real life increasingly begins to resemble the play.[3]
Cast
- Miles Anderson – Jack
- Romane Bohringer – Catherine
- David Bradley – Henry
- David Calder – Charles
- Bruce Davison – Ray
- Brion James – Ashley
- Peter Khubeke – Kanana (as Peter Kubheka)
- Vusi Kunene – Moses
- Jennifer Jason Leigh – Gina
- Janet McTeer – Liz
- Chris Walker – Paul
- Lia Williams – Amanda
References
- ^ "THE KING IS ALIVE". Festival de Cannes. 2018. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Griggs, Y. (2014). Screen Adaptations: Shakespeare's King Lear: A close study of the relationship between text and film. Screen Adaptations. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4081-4400-8. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
Kristian Levring's The King is Alive is a product of the Danish Dogme New Wave, a movement which emerged in the mid-nineties as a backlash against Hollywood's global domination of the film industry. The democratising and anarchic intent of the Dogme New Wave is outlined in its manifesto; its aim is to bring about 'the ultimate democratisation of the cinema' by envisioning ...
- ^ Dancyger, K.; Rush, J. (2012). Alternative Scriptwriting: Successfully Breaking the Rules. Taylor & Francis. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-136-05370-2. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
Kristian Levring's The King Is Alive goes even further in elevating the character layer and in downplaying the plot layer. Levring also alters the nature of the antagonist. A group of British, American, and French tourists is in transit on a bus in sub-Saharan Africa. Unbeknownst to them, the bus's compass is broken and they end up lost. They arrive at an abandoned mining site. One of the members must walk for 5 days to the nearest town to try to effect a rescue. The others must organize ...
External links
- The King Is Alive at IMDb
- The King Is Alive at Rotten Tomatoes
- The King Is Alive in the Danish Film Database
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