JustFocus had the chance to see Message from the King before its theatrical release on Wednesday, May 10.Here is the editor's review!
After Calvary, Vinyan, Colt 45 and Hallelujah , Belgian director Fabrice du Welz returns to the cinema with Message from the King, an energetic thriller shot in English. In this feature film, it is about a ruthless and bloody revenge. The story is this: Jacob King, a South African from Cape Town, lands in Los Angeles with $600 in his pocket and a return ticket to South Africa for seven days. His goal: to find the trace of his sister who disappeared recently. The discovery, 24 hours later, of his death will push him to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding this death…
The cast includes Chadwick Boseman (Get on Up, 42), Luke Evans (Tamara Drew, The Train Girl), Alfred Molina (The Da Vinci Code, Love is Strange), Teresa Palmer (Thou Shalt Not Kill, Knight of Cups) and Natalie Martinez (Kingdom, The Land).
A complex hero with a nagging motivation
"Grief. Guilt. Loss. The quest for identity. In a world of broken souls, how do you discover yourself? To discover the others?These are the themes that the director and British screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell wanted to develop in this film. Jack King is the opposite of a caricatured hero. While he has unwavering determination in an environment where violence has a prominent place, Jack is far from being a man plagued by evil and mischief. The complexity of this character arises in his deep humanity.
Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jack constantly oscillates between his two sides according to his adventures. Far be it from us, therefore, the image of a vigilante without rough edges and questions. With this alternation between very violent passages and slower rhythms, the spectator is invited to observe the landscapes, atmospheres and way of life of this city not very "angelic".
An original film with multiple references
Fabrice du Welz claims to be inspired here by some neo-noir thrillers of the 70s. He associates his work with Get Carter or The Point of No Return (whose title could very well apply to Message from the King). We find indeed the characteristic elements of this genre: a film often associated with a big city (here Los Angeles), which strives to follow the adventures of complex and ambiguous characters (Jacob King), in a gloomy, dark and often pessimistic atmosphere (Message from the King is no exception…). The director also claims to have been inspired by Sergio Leone's dollar trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, For a Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More), as well as some films by Sam Peckinpah, in which the latter offered violent reinterpretations of the western genre. Message from the King is therefore a work with multiple influences. But where the director succeeds in a masterstroke is by proposing a film far from being a pale copy of the works described above.
The film has its own originality, especially because of its impressive, effective and at times confusing photography. Signed Monika Lenczewska (Difret, Strange Heaven, Caterwall,…), it stands out for its accentuation of contrasts and its desire to use natural light. The neo-noir film is thus shot here in "full light", and on 35 mm silver film. If film noir or neo-noir takes place mainly after dark, Message from the King innovates by its scenes of action and violence almost always set in broad daylight.The music, haunting, perfectly accompanies the unequivocal quest of the protagonist. For this film, Fabrice du Welz collaborated for the third time with the composer Vincent Cahay.
With Message from the King, Fabrice de Welz signs a remarkable work that stands out in the genre of film noir. With an astonishing and powerful photography as well as a binary rhythm, the adventures of this antihero torn between rage and humanity hit the mark.Before being able to find the film on the big screen from Wednesday, May 10, discover without further delay the trailer more than vitaminized!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMUiETRpiLg
