SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

antiflakflak I liked this movie because of the juxtaposition of sort of mythological California and the whole mystery surrounding California with the very pragmatic realism that now envelopes modern California. The mythology of California is juxtaposed with the pragmatic reality that has been imposed upon the cultural domain, wherein once upon a time mythology was revered, now the practical has complete dominion and dreaming and capturing a lost mythology is suspect and only madmen contemplate such fanciful non pragmatism. I give this movie a thumbs up.

sean kenney It reminded me a bit of my father and felt nostalgic and adventurous. It was my kind of quirky with a touch of reality. It brought out the child in me and reminded me why we believe in anything and the magic of it. An exploration into the complicated relationships with family while freshly building promise that a single goal, no matter how awkward, can be the binding piece of the puzzle in a fragmented father and daughter bond. Displays how judgment of those we do not understand is sometimes unwarranted and without any imagination, while the imagination of those we judge roams freely without lack of faith. Humbling, funny, and happy go lucky.

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.

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..