King of California (2007)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Thanks for the memories!

Excellent but underrated film

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

A surprising heartfelt performance between Evan Wood and Michael Douglas. A very mature poetic handle by writer/director Mike Cahill.I felt the actual search for treasure part was nice, but it was more a journey between the repair of father/daughter relationships. Wood plays a very understanding daughter who's father (Douglas) has just been released from a psych ward. Gently nudging him back to reality, she doesn't judge or act on his peculiar behavior. But knows, they are stuck together no matter what. I enjoyed the very quirky unfolding of the story. We do get the sense that this could be all one big put-on by someone who is clearly acting on impulse, but it pulls back just in the right time to charm you. I liked this movie and am surprised it didn't get as much attention as it should've. Excellent.

"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.

It's the Sideways vibe and feeling again. Watching generates that 'sweet feeling'. Music is well planted to some scenes of the movie giving it 'sweet flow'. Ending is a bit complicated initially. Had to watch it again to pickup on details. 1st Charlie preparing dishwasher gift. He gave her credit card that she could use. Then he uses plastic container to make extra trip to the 'hole' just before they turn on the lights in Costco. What do you think is he doing? 2nd he looses scuba diving gear to get through the narrow passage. I thought director left it to the viewer to create own ending and decide if Charlie lives or not. It's not so. The final scene- had to play that scene twice to confirm: Chinese swimmers. There are 7 men coming out of the ocean but only 6 continue walking together. Who is the 7th man? :-)