Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [45]
Israeli-born actress-turned-director Dana Lustig imposes a flashback/flash-forward structure on this low-budget film, which is fashionable but not essential. It’s a character piece, not a caper or a police procedural, despite the presence of those story elements…and these particular characters make it worth seeing.
62. KING OF CALIFORNIA
(2007)
Directed by Mike Cahill
Screenplay by Mike Cahill
Actors:
MICHAEL DOUGLAS
EVAN RACHEL WOOD
WILLIS BURKS II
LAURA KACHERGUS
PAUL LIEBER
KATHLEEN WILHOITE
If you were asked to name Michael Douglas’s best performance, any number of films might spring to mind: Wall Street, Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, or possibly Wonder Boys, which won him critical plaudits even though audiences didn’t flock to the film.
In my opinion he gives his finest performance in a little film that virtually no one saw called King of California. Douglas disappears into the character he’s playing, a wild-eyed dreamer quite unlike anyone he’s ever brought to life before. Most important, he makes us believe that the guy is real. (He even has an interesting backstory: a jazz bass player, he always played his own brand of music, never bending to popular trends. Douglas studied the bass in order to look convincing for the few moments we see him playing his instrument.)
Just released from a mental institution, Douglas returns home to discover that his teenage daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) has not only grown up but has become self-reliant. Living alone, she’s found ways to cope, as a way of protecting herself from the instability of her existence. Even the future of their house is uncertain: it’s mortgaged to the hilt and sits at the edge of a brand-new suburban development.
Wood quickly realizes that her father hasn’t changed: he’s just as crazy as ever. While institutionalized, he’s been reading up about the history of Southern California, and is certain that forgotten Spanish treasure is sitting underground not far from where they live, waiting to be discovered. It’s just a matter of determining the exact spot and digging.
I won’t reveal any more of the story, except to say that Wood is swept up in this Quixote-like quest, against her better judgment. The father-daughter relationship is further explored in flashbacks that deftly counterpoint the present-day adventure. The undercurrent of rampant development (and all it represents) buzzes throughout the proceedings, adding a nice touch of social commentary to the central story.
King of California was written and directed by Mike Cahill, who attended film school at UCLA but got sidetracked from pursuing a career in the movie business. He spent many years writing novels, but when he finally decided to tackle a screenplay, he contacted his old classmate Alexander Payne, who was so impressed with the result that he agreed to coproduce it along with his Sideways partner Michael London.
The idea germinated in Cahill’s mind for a long time, without his even realizing it. As he said at the time of the film’s release, “I have been driving from a small town about ninety miles away from L.A., off and on, for fifteen years or so. I grew up in California and I’ve been watching the landscape change. I’ve always thought about all the stuff underneath there that’s getting covered up.”
What I love about King of California is that you’re never sure exactly where it’s headed—and even when you think you are, it goes further than you’d ever expect. Douglas has a great finale and then the film closes out with a coda that provides one extra smile, as it hearkens back to an idea planted much earlier in the picture.
Sad to say, this movie disappeared without a trace, which may make it difficult for Cahill to get backing for other movies. If people would only give it a chance, I think they might experience the same sense of discovery that appealed to me so much.
63. THE KING OF MASKS
(1997)