Movie Description
The King is a 2017 American documentary film directed and co-written by American filmmaker, author and two-time Sundance nominee Eugene Jarecki, alongside co-writer and producer Christopher St. John. As indicated in the film title, the documentary is about Elvis Presley and America during his career. Blending archival footage, celebrity interviews and footage of significant American events such as the twin towers collapse, the documentary adopts Presley as a metaphor for the rise and fall of the American Dream.
While largely narrated by director Eugene Jarecki, perspectives which are drawn upon in the evaluation of Presley’s career include; Rosanne Cash, Alec Baldwin and Emmylou Harris. Captured across America in influential cities such as; Memphis, Las Vegas and New York, much of the documentary occurs within Presley’s own car, a 1963 Rolls Royce Phantom V which was bought by production for the film. Adopting the American film trope of the ‘highway narrative’ in the narration of the rise and fall of Presley and America, the documentary considers themes of race, materialism and success through the lens of musicians, historians, actors and journalists.
The film had its North American premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, after its international premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was released in the United States on June 22, 2018. Between its premiere at Cannes and its commercial release, the film's named was changed from Promised Land to The King. Described as, “the best recent film about how the hell we got here; and more†by David Ehrlich from IndieWireâ€, The King proved highly popular. Receiving an average rating of 7.2/10 by review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary generated $29,050 in domestic gross profit during the opening weekend of June 22 to June 24 and was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Historical Documentary at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards. The documentary was additionally nominated for the Best Music Film at the Grammy Awards, and the Golden Eye award at the Cannes Film Festival.
