Exclusive: South Africa’s Videovision Entertainment is heading to next week’s Mip Africa event with a new TV sales division.
The unit will bring a significant number of titles from South Africa, comprising over 100 feature films and more than 10,000 hours of television programs. Videovision is one the country’s oldest and most successful production houses.
Videovision’s CEO Anant Singh has secured a deal to represent e.tv’s daily soap House of Zwide, which the company produces. Other Videovision titles produced over the past four decades will also be included on the slate, with notable features include Sarafina!, starring Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg and Miriam Makeba; Cry, the Beloved Country starring James Earl Jones, Richard Harris and Vusi Kunene; Red Dust starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Tom Hooper; and Yesterday, which received South Africa’s first Academy Award nomination.
See a trailer for the slate here.
The unit will bring a significant number of titles from South Africa, comprising over 100 feature films and more than 10,000 hours of television programs. Videovision is one the country’s oldest and most successful production houses.
Videovision’s CEO Anant Singh has secured a deal to represent e.tv’s daily soap House of Zwide, which the company produces. Other Videovision titles produced over the past four decades will also be included on the slate, with notable features include Sarafina!, starring Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg and Miriam Makeba; Cry, the Beloved Country starring James Earl Jones, Richard Harris and Vusi Kunene; Red Dust starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Tom Hooper; and Yesterday, which received South Africa’s first Academy Award nomination.
See a trailer for the slate here.
- 9/1/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Rosamund Pike as “Ruth Williams” and David Oyelowo as “Seretse Khama” in the film A United Kingdom. Photo by Stanislav Honzik. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
A United Kingdom is one of those movies where one is compelled to say “based on a true story” lest viewers scoff that such a thing couldn’t happen. Set in the late 1940s, the film is based on a real-life romance between a white middle-class English office worker and an African prince attending college in London but due to return home to ascend as king of his country. In this visually beautiful, romantic historical drama, the two meet, fall in love and marry, which sparks not only outrage in both their families but an international crisis.
The story takes place shortly after World War II, when European colonial powers still controlled most of Africa and apartheid was just taking hold in South Africa.
A United Kingdom is one of those movies where one is compelled to say “based on a true story” lest viewers scoff that such a thing couldn’t happen. Set in the late 1940s, the film is based on a real-life romance between a white middle-class English office worker and an African prince attending college in London but due to return home to ascend as king of his country. In this visually beautiful, romantic historical drama, the two meet, fall in love and marry, which sparks not only outrage in both their families but an international crisis.
The story takes place shortly after World War II, when European colonial powers still controlled most of Africa and apartheid was just taking hold in South Africa.
- 2/24/2017
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
A United Kingdom and Belle director Amma Asante; "I love the idea that things aren't always what they seem." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The day before the red carpet Us Premiere at The Paris Theatre in New York, Amma Asante, the director of A United Kingdom, which stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike with Laura Carmichael, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Jessica Oyelowo, Terry Pheto, Abena
Ayivor, Vusi Kunene, Jack Davenport and Tom Felton, sat down with me for a conversation. Screenwriter Guy Hibbert, production designer Simon Bowles, costume designer Anushia Nieradzik, The Color Bar by Susan Williams, setting up the meeting of Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama, sisterhood, the importance of a speech, Brighton Rock with Richard Attenborough, and her next film Where Hands Touch with Amandla Stenberg and George MacKay were touched upon.
Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) and Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo)
The private obstructions for Ruth (Rosamund Pike) and Seretse (David Oyelowo...
The day before the red carpet Us Premiere at The Paris Theatre in New York, Amma Asante, the director of A United Kingdom, which stars David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike with Laura Carmichael, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Jessica Oyelowo, Terry Pheto, Abena
Ayivor, Vusi Kunene, Jack Davenport and Tom Felton, sat down with me for a conversation. Screenwriter Guy Hibbert, production designer Simon Bowles, costume designer Anushia Nieradzik, The Color Bar by Susan Williams, setting up the meeting of Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama, sisterhood, the importance of a speech, Brighton Rock with Richard Attenborough, and her next film Where Hands Touch with Amandla Stenberg and George MacKay were touched upon.
Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) and Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo)
The private obstructions for Ruth (Rosamund Pike) and Seretse (David Oyelowo...
- 2/10/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
David Oyelowo, born in England to Nigerian parents, is an actor of blazing talent and rare grace. On screen, he's stirring and soulful as Martin Luther King in Selma; on HBO, he's chilling and heart-piercing as a war vet coming apart in Nightingale; on stage, doing Shakespeare, he's miraculous at capturing the stature and tragic weakness of the Moor in Othello. So to say that Oyelowo is giving one of his best and most electrifying performances in A United Kingdom – that means something. He's set the bar high.
Based on...
Based on...
- 2/9/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Who knew the power of love ultimately won independence for the democratic republic of Botswana? I sure didn’t. But this is the based-on-a-true-story film writer Guy Hibbert and director Amma Asante have delivered with A United Kingdom. It’s a tale of racial segregation, politically driven cowardice, and the heart prevailing over fear as two kindred spirits choose to write their own destinies. Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) couldn’t know the London-based missionary event her sister dragged her to would change her life forever. Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) couldn’t have predicted in his wildest dreams the ramifications for his homeland Bechuanaland that asking her to dance would inflict. And it’s doubtful anyone would expect his amateur boxer/philosopher to reveal himself as an African prince.
Ruth and Seretse’s romance is one we’ve seen before: an interracial relationship alienating family, earning bigoted remarks in public, and showing how love trumps all.
Ruth and Seretse’s romance is one we’ve seen before: an interracial relationship alienating family, earning bigoted remarks in public, and showing how love trumps all.
- 9/13/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
If Amma Asante’s newest historical romance “A United Kingdom” — like her breakout “Belle,” the film is based on a true story and rooted in real emotion — is hamstrung by anything, it’s the necessity of Guy Hibbert’s script (based on Susan Williams’ book, “Color Bar”) to zip over the early, blooming days of the film’s central love story and buckle down on the tough stuff. Asante’s film, unlike other, more “traditional” Hollywood love stories, isn’t interested in the joys of falling in love so much as the ability to stay in love against heartbreaking odds.
The result is a rich, stirring look at one of modern society’s most enduring — and yes, inspirational — marriages, underpinned by political machinations that remain all too relevant.
Picking up in 1947, with the world still jarred by the events or World War II and exhilarated that they are finally over,...
The result is a rich, stirring look at one of modern society’s most enduring — and yes, inspirational — marriages, underpinned by political machinations that remain all too relevant.
Picking up in 1947, with the world still jarred by the events or World War II and exhilarated that they are finally over,...
- 9/10/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Title: The First Grader Director: Justin Chadwick Starring: Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo, Tony Kgoroge, Nick Reding, Vusi Kunene, John Sibi-Okumu How will hardcore birthers (I’m looking in your direction Orly Taitz, though wincing to do so) read dark and sinister intent into the uplifting true story of The First Grader, given that it’s set in Kenya, contains the words “birth certificate” and even, in its closing, winkingly evokes the possibility of someone like Barack Obama, whose ancestors call the country home, rising to the presidency of the United States? Who knows, though I’m sure it may spawn a particularly warped conspiracy theory on some Internet message board somewhere. For the sane among...
- 5/14/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(May 2011)
Directed by: Justin Chadwick
Written by: Ann Peacock
Starring: Oliver Litondo, Naomie Harris, Vusi Kunene, Tony Kgoroge and Israel Makoe
The true-life drama “The First Grader” could have easily veered into being another patronizing, Western-made treatment of Africans in the “bravely suffering” mold but, thanks to Ann Peacock’s focused screenplay and Justin Chadwick’s sensitive direction, the movie achieves a poignant, humanist sincerity. The Kenyan government’s ambitious 2003 initiative guaranteeing free primary school education to all its citizens is this story’s catalyst.
The goal of the government initiative, of course, was to give the nation’s poorer children the head-start advantage of reading and writing skills. But when the illiterate 84-year-old Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) shows up for his free education, he throws everyone — from bureaucrats and administrators to one local schoolteacher — completely off guard.
Hailing from the fiercely resilient...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Justin Chadwick
Written by: Ann Peacock
Starring: Oliver Litondo, Naomie Harris, Vusi Kunene, Tony Kgoroge and Israel Makoe
The true-life drama “The First Grader” could have easily veered into being another patronizing, Western-made treatment of Africans in the “bravely suffering” mold but, thanks to Ann Peacock’s focused screenplay and Justin Chadwick’s sensitive direction, the movie achieves a poignant, humanist sincerity. The Kenyan government’s ambitious 2003 initiative guaranteeing free primary school education to all its citizens is this story’s catalyst.
The goal of the government initiative, of course, was to give the nation’s poorer children the head-start advantage of reading and writing skills. But when the illiterate 84-year-old Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) shows up for his free education, he throws everyone — from bureaucrats and administrators to one local schoolteacher — completely off guard.
Hailing from the fiercely resilient...
- 5/11/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(May 2011)
Directed by: Justin Chadwick
Written by: Ann Peacock
Starring: Oliver Litondo, Naomie Harris, Vusi Kunene, Tony Kgoroge and Israel Makoe
The true-life drama “The First Grader” could have easily veered into being another patronizing, Western-made treatment of Africans in the “bravely suffering” mold but, thanks to Ann Peacock’s focused screenplay and Justin Chadwick’s sensitive direction, the movie achieves a poignant, humanist sincerity. The Kenyan government’s ambitious 2003 initiative guaranteeing free primary school education to all its citizens is this story’s catalyst.
The goal of the government initiative, of course, was to give the nation’s poorer children the head-start advantage of reading and writing skills. But when the illiterate 84-year-old Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) shows up for his free education, he throws everyone — from bureaucrats and administrators to one local schoolteacher — completely off guard.
Hailing from the fiercely resilient...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Justin Chadwick
Written by: Ann Peacock
Starring: Oliver Litondo, Naomie Harris, Vusi Kunene, Tony Kgoroge and Israel Makoe
The true-life drama “The First Grader” could have easily veered into being another patronizing, Western-made treatment of Africans in the “bravely suffering” mold but, thanks to Ann Peacock’s focused screenplay and Justin Chadwick’s sensitive direction, the movie achieves a poignant, humanist sincerity. The Kenyan government’s ambitious 2003 initiative guaranteeing free primary school education to all its citizens is this story’s catalyst.
The goal of the government initiative, of course, was to give the nation’s poorer children the head-start advantage of reading and writing skills. But when the illiterate 84-year-old Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) shows up for his free education, he throws everyone — from bureaucrats and administrators to one local schoolteacher — completely off guard.
Hailing from the fiercely resilient...
- 5/11/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
News on the march…! Held over the weekend, in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State (Nigeria) on Saturday, March 26, 2011, the celebration announcing the winners of the 2011 African Movie Academy Awards (Amaa) – in just its 7th year.
This year’s nominations list boasted an even longer list of awards, compared to previous years, as the award ceremony continues to grow.
Viva Riva, a film I’ve touted on this website in recent days, after seeing it for the first time last week, rightfully dominated, winning 6 trophies, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design.
The rest of the story follows in the table below, lifted from the Amaa’s website Here:
Category
Nominated Films
Winners
Best Short Film Bougfen – Petra Baninla Sunjo (Cameroun)
Weakness – Wanjiru Kairu (Kenya)
No Jersey No Match – Daniel Ademinokan (Nigeria)
Duty – Mak Kusare (Nigeria)
Bomlambo – Zwelesizwe Ntuli (South Africa)
Zebu And...
This year’s nominations list boasted an even longer list of awards, compared to previous years, as the award ceremony continues to grow.
Viva Riva, a film I’ve touted on this website in recent days, after seeing it for the first time last week, rightfully dominated, winning 6 trophies, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design.
The rest of the story follows in the table below, lifted from the Amaa’s website Here:
Category
Nominated Films
Winners
Best Short Film Bougfen – Petra Baninla Sunjo (Cameroun)
Weakness – Wanjiru Kairu (Kenya)
No Jersey No Match – Daniel Ademinokan (Nigeria)
Duty – Mak Kusare (Nigeria)
Bomlambo – Zwelesizwe Ntuli (South Africa)
Zebu And...
- 3/28/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Just beneath this post, I said I’d highlight all of the feature-length films nominated for African Movie Academy Awards (Amaa) this year, which were announced over the weekend – Saturday, specifically, a day before the American Academy Awards voters, aka the Oscars, handed out its trophies.
Here’s the first of many Amaa highlights. It’s a good-looking South African film called A Small Town Called Descent. I initially alerted you all to the film last summer, when it made its word debut at the Durban Film Festival. I haven’t read much about it since then… until now, thankfully.
The film is nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor categories at this year’s AMAAs.
Directed by Jahmil Xt Qubeka, his feature film debut, the film’s synopsis reads: … follows three Scorpion agents in their investigation of xenophobic attacks that took place in a small town.
Here’s the first of many Amaa highlights. It’s a good-looking South African film called A Small Town Called Descent. I initially alerted you all to the film last summer, when it made its word debut at the Durban Film Festival. I haven’t read much about it since then… until now, thankfully.
The film is nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor categories at this year’s AMAAs.
Directed by Jahmil Xt Qubeka, his feature film debut, the film’s synopsis reads: … follows three Scorpion agents in their investigation of xenophobic attacks that took place in a small town.
- 2/28/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Over the weekend, as most of us were reveling in Academy Awards thrills and chills, the nominations for another major movie award ceremony were announced, many miles, across the Atlantic Ocean; I’m referring to the 7-year old (this year) Africa Movie Academy Awards (Amaa), which will be held in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State (Nigeria) on Saturday, March 26, 2011.
This year’s nominations list boasts an even longer list of awards, compared to previous years, as the award ceremony continues to grow.
I’ll have to thoroughly scrub this list to highlight as many titles as I can – especially in the feature film categories, and I’ll do that with individual posts over the next week, or so. In the meantime, however, I’ll quickly point out those few titles that we’ve previously given ink to on this website, that are nominated for Amaa awards, including the following: in the Best Diaspora Feature,...
This year’s nominations list boasts an even longer list of awards, compared to previous years, as the award ceremony continues to grow.
I’ll have to thoroughly scrub this list to highlight as many titles as I can – especially in the feature film categories, and I’ll do that with individual posts over the next week, or so. In the meantime, however, I’ll quickly point out those few titles that we’ve previously given ink to on this website, that are nominated for Amaa awards, including the following: in the Best Diaspora Feature,...
- 2/28/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
I wasn’t aware that the Durban Film Festival was under way (thanks to Bombastic E. for the tip). It actually ends on Sunday, August 1st. A number of the films screening have already been profiled and/or reviewed on this blog; others you’ve likely heard about. But I’ll scrub the entire list for any titles worth mentioning here… like the one featured in the video clip below titled, A Small Town Called Descent – its world premiere.
Synopsis reads: A Small Town Called Descent is the stylish debut feature from talented South African director Jahmil Xt Qubeka. The film follows three Scorpion agents in their investigation of xenophobic attacks that took place in a small town. A darkly humorous look at South Africa’s political dynamics, the film features powerful performances from the all-star cast of Vusi Kunene, Paul Buckby, Fana Mokoena and Isidingo’s Hlubi Mboya.
Check out the extended,...
Synopsis reads: A Small Town Called Descent is the stylish debut feature from talented South African director Jahmil Xt Qubeka. The film follows three Scorpion agents in their investigation of xenophobic attacks that took place in a small town. A darkly humorous look at South Africa’s political dynamics, the film features powerful performances from the all-star cast of Vusi Kunene, Paul Buckby, Fana Mokoena and Isidingo’s Hlubi Mboya.
Check out the extended,...
- 7/30/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
We have new images as well as clips and the trailer in from BBC Films and the Weinstein Company's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," starring Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Desmond Dube, Tumisho Masha, Bongeka Mpongwana, David Oyelowo, John Kani, Vusi Kunene, Harriet Manamela, Colin Salmon and Idris Elba. The show airs on March 29th on HBO. Trailer and clips (same player): See more images from the show here. With nine novels published to date, "The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" book series chronicles the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, the eminently sensible and wise proprietor of the only female-owned detective agency in Botswana. Aided by her highly-efficient yet rather peculiar secretary Mma Makutsi, Mma Ramotswe investigates cases, helps people solve problems in their lives, and begins a special friendship with the highly respectable owner of a garage. More on "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" on MovieJungle.
- 3/25/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We have new images as well as clips and the trailer in from BBC Films and the Weinstein Company's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," starring Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Desmond Dube, Tumisho Masha, Bongeka Mpongwana, David Oyelowo, John Kani, Vusi Kunene, Harriet Manamela, Colin Salmon and Idris Elba. With nine novels published to date, "The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" book series chronicles the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, the eminently sensible and wise proprietor of the only female-owned detective agency in Botswana. Aided by her highly-efficient yet rather peculiar...
- 3/25/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We have new images as well as clips and the trailer in from BBC Films and the Weinstein Company's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," starring Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose, Lucian Msamati, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Desmond Dube, Tumisho Masha, Bongeka Mpongwana, David Oyelowo, John Kani, Vusi Kunene, Harriet Manamela, Colin Salmon and Idris Elba. With nine novels published to date, "The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" book series chronicles the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, the eminently sensible and wise proprietor of the only female-owned detective agency in Botswana. Aided by her highly-efficient yet rather peculiar...
- 3/25/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Screening tonight at the Los Angeles Film Festival and opening Friday in New York (and May 11 in Los Angeles), "The King Is Alive" is a high-minded project that never lifts off as intended despite all the right elements seemingly coming together.
Boasting a strong international cast including Bruce Davison, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Janet McTeer and David Bradley, the IFC Films release could have used some Bunuelean black comedy to spice up the dreary tale of 10 hapless American and European tourists stranded in an African desert ? with beautiful dunes and abandoned mine buildings in Namibia standing in for a nameless North African locale.
A film with verve and conviction "by" Dogme 95 co-founder Kristian Levring ? who adheres more or less to the movement?s "vow of chastity" that calls for natural lighting, hand-held camerawork, no optical work or filters, etc. ? "King" has a premise that falls into the general migration of jaded Western artistic souls away from glossy visions of capitalist culture.
At the core of the film is an attempt by the increasingly worried and deteriorating characters to perform "King Lear" as scratched on paper from memory by one (Bradley) of their group.
In other words, it?s "Survivor" with a classy agenda, real actors and a few deaths to spice things up. But Dogme 95 flicks and "reality" TV shows have not swept away all other culture just yet, thankfully. As a story, "King" is jagged and underwhelming. There?s nothing inherently gratifying about watching a group of civilized people turn into brutes and pathetic victims of fate. As a sun-scorched rumination on the themes of "Lear", the movie can?t pull it off literally.
The setup has a rickety old bus driven by lost Moses (Vusi Kunene) running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Several couples and lone travelers get out and seek shelter in derelict structures watched over by a desert-loving local (Peter Kubheka), who provides a poetic narration throughout. One experienced bloke (Miles Anderson) offers to go find help but warns of the danger they all face. Expecting to be back in five days, he sets off, and the others slowly starve, stand around in the sun and act foolishly, with the Bard to keep them sane.
Alas, Lear loses his reason and "King" gets blinded and lost in its wilderness of characters one doesn?t know or care much about. By the time Leigh?s desperate waif is enduring abuse from the one serious malcontent (David Calder), and Ray Davison) wanders off into the sands and finds out some discouraging news, the film?s tragic agenda has warmed up for a series of predictably nasty and miserable epiphanies.
As the remaining castaways, McTeer, Romane Bohringer, Brion James, Chris Walker and Lia Williams circle the movie like hungry predators. But Levring, who has worked for more than a decade as a commercial director, is trying to be the star and sucks up all the available air with his erratic style, leaving the viewer breathless in a bad way.
THE KING IS ALIVE
IFC Films
Newmarket and Good Machine International present a Zentropa Entertainments production
Screenwriters: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas Jensen
Producers: Patricia Kruijer, Vibeke Windelov
Executive producers: William A. Tyrer, Chris J. Ball, David Linde, Peter Aalbaek Jensen
Director of photography: Jens Schlosser
Editor: Nicholas Wayman Harris
Color/stereo
Cast:
Henry: David Bradley
Jack: Miles Anderson
Gina: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Liz: Janet McTeer
Catherine: Romane Bohringer
Charles: David Calder
Ray: Bruce Davison
Ashley: Brion James
Moses: Vusi Kunene
Kanana: Peter Kubheka
Running time ? 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Boasting a strong international cast including Bruce Davison, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Janet McTeer and David Bradley, the IFC Films release could have used some Bunuelean black comedy to spice up the dreary tale of 10 hapless American and European tourists stranded in an African desert ? with beautiful dunes and abandoned mine buildings in Namibia standing in for a nameless North African locale.
A film with verve and conviction "by" Dogme 95 co-founder Kristian Levring ? who adheres more or less to the movement?s "vow of chastity" that calls for natural lighting, hand-held camerawork, no optical work or filters, etc. ? "King" has a premise that falls into the general migration of jaded Western artistic souls away from glossy visions of capitalist culture.
At the core of the film is an attempt by the increasingly worried and deteriorating characters to perform "King Lear" as scratched on paper from memory by one (Bradley) of their group.
In other words, it?s "Survivor" with a classy agenda, real actors and a few deaths to spice things up. But Dogme 95 flicks and "reality" TV shows have not swept away all other culture just yet, thankfully. As a story, "King" is jagged and underwhelming. There?s nothing inherently gratifying about watching a group of civilized people turn into brutes and pathetic victims of fate. As a sun-scorched rumination on the themes of "Lear", the movie can?t pull it off literally.
The setup has a rickety old bus driven by lost Moses (Vusi Kunene) running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Several couples and lone travelers get out and seek shelter in derelict structures watched over by a desert-loving local (Peter Kubheka), who provides a poetic narration throughout. One experienced bloke (Miles Anderson) offers to go find help but warns of the danger they all face. Expecting to be back in five days, he sets off, and the others slowly starve, stand around in the sun and act foolishly, with the Bard to keep them sane.
Alas, Lear loses his reason and "King" gets blinded and lost in its wilderness of characters one doesn?t know or care much about. By the time Leigh?s desperate waif is enduring abuse from the one serious malcontent (David Calder), and Ray Davison) wanders off into the sands and finds out some discouraging news, the film?s tragic agenda has warmed up for a series of predictably nasty and miserable epiphanies.
As the remaining castaways, McTeer, Romane Bohringer, Brion James, Chris Walker and Lia Williams circle the movie like hungry predators. But Levring, who has worked for more than a decade as a commercial director, is trying to be the star and sucks up all the available air with his erratic style, leaving the viewer breathless in a bad way.
THE KING IS ALIVE
IFC Films
Newmarket and Good Machine International present a Zentropa Entertainments production
Screenwriters: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas Jensen
Producers: Patricia Kruijer, Vibeke Windelov
Executive producers: William A. Tyrer, Chris J. Ball, David Linde, Peter Aalbaek Jensen
Director of photography: Jens Schlosser
Editor: Nicholas Wayman Harris
Color/stereo
Cast:
Henry: David Bradley
Jack: Miles Anderson
Gina: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Liz: Janet McTeer
Catherine: Romane Bohringer
Charles: David Calder
Ray: Bruce Davison
Ashley: Brion James
Moses: Vusi Kunene
Kanana: Peter Kubheka
Running time ? 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/24/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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