The King is Alive interweaves the madness, the foolhardiness, the greed and the ferocity of human nature that Shakespeare depicted so brilliantly in Lear back in 1606, and shatters us again and again with its insights made refreshed.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 3, 2014

:ags in the middle, growing more interesting -- if hardly more original -- only as the situation deteriorates.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2008

The endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.

| Jul 6, 2008

I spent much of the movie marvelling about how the form and style of the Dogme film fit perfectly into the story, and how none of the players seemed like they were pretending, even when they were being theatrical.

| Original Score: A | Jun 21, 2007

Here is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.

Full Review | Aug 6, 2006

It's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...

| Jun 24, 2006

The real problem is the way the story tries so hard to incorporate Shakespearean themes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 10, 2004

Even for a Dogma 95 movie, this one is unusual because it features a remote, exotic setting and a Shakepearean subtext.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 6, 2004

About as far from a Shakespearean stage but as close to Shakespearean essence as it can be.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 13, 2003

While I'm sure the idea was to show how isolation and desperation could augment these emotional scars, the descent happens so quickly that when tragedy strikes my emotional response was one more of indifference than involvement.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 19, 2003

An imaginative film that feels ten times more genuine than any ten movies of the "Castaway" variety (or as I like to call it, "The 90 million dollar Fed-Ex Commercial")

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 18, 2003

Somebody should really plop these guys down in front of an old Rodgers & Hammerstein spectacle.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 10, 2003

Admittedly not for all tastes, but I liked what I bit into even if there was some sand in the offering.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 25, 2002

Levring's film isn't nearly as smart or original as he seems to think it is.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2002

By the time you figure out who's who, you've almost ceased to care.

| Oct 21, 2002

... sitting through "The King Is Alive" was a tedious exercise that tried my patience and bored me.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 21, 2001

Despite astonishing camera work and editing, it just gets duller and duller even as the story is supposedly heating up.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 10, 2001

A piece of art rather than reality -- and a slo-o-o-w piece of art, though it rewards your patience.

| Nov 9, 2001

Pick-me-up, this ain't. But fascinating, it is.

Full Review | Sep 21, 2001