The Mountain King (2000)

Pretty Good

Please don't spend money on this.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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

What does the title even mean? This short film wasn't even set in a mountain but instead a beach! Who is the mountain king? Is it the hustler? If it is the hustler, then he wouldn't be king since he's meant to be the dirt bag who preys on men for money. I honestly don't know why they even added in a normal guy on this because it makes the story too innocent which is not meant to be. He should've like called the cops when the hustler stole his clothes and of course his fishing hat! God he just is so lame!After seeing this movie, I realised it's a complete waste of time. Don't get your hopes up with them being a couple, believe me!

two young men. a beach. a summer house. and profound change of life for one of them. nothing special. maybe a parable or a Coelho story. but, it is only a short movie. seductive, shining, wise. at many short films. strange, it is a gay story but not about sexual options. its subject is the choice who defines life. courage/ occasion to discover yourself. art of joy. and desire to build your new beginning. the first scenes and the last are extraordinaries. Paul Dawson and John Sloan does touching roles, in fact pieces of way to be free out of world expectations. it is something magic in this film. and necessary. like a wake up. or, only, like a meeting as seed.

The hustler wore the straight guy's clothes, because he wanted to get a new pair, he liked the preppy style and it simply made him happy to get a new outfit. Plus it matched his new watch :) The straight guy had to wear something to return to his hotel. And i also think it made him happy, it left a little "memory" of he guy he just met on the beach.It was a fairly empty island at that time of the year, the hustler got there in the first place with his client, or when he still had some money.He took the boat to return back to New York.He didn't break into the house, his client left him in there when he had to "go back to the city".

This little film, which went largely unnoticed in 2001 at most film festivals, is an incredible tour de force. An uptight, middle-class tourist (reading Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy") on a lonely beach is approached by a sleazy, obnoxious hustler. The hustler seduces -- there is no other word for it -- him into the water and then into a luxurious beach house. There, the two lives collide in a tidal wave of sex, excitement, drugs and release. Like the accompanying music (Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from the "Peer Gynt" suite), the film builds to an emotional crescendo that will have you on the edge of your seat. It's almost impossible to describe the emotions. It's just...WOW. The encounter with the dangerous, sleazy, manipulative hustler opens up the frigid tourist, releasing emotion like a volcano. Even when he realizes that things haven't ended up quite as safe as he'd like (abandonment, theft and breaking-and-entering being only some of the things we realize have occurred), the film's final minute is a jaw-dropping visual statement about risking everything in order to gain life. Director Duncan Tucker is someone to watch for in the future! (And so are his two actors -- just incredible!)