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A King and His Movie

Original title: La película del rey
  • 1986
  • 1h 47m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
524
YOUR RATING
A King and His Movie (1986)
ComedyDrama

Buenos Aires movie director, very fond of legend of King of Patagonia and Araucania, decides to make a movie about it.Buenos Aires movie director, very fond of legend of King of Patagonia and Araucania, decides to make a movie about it.Buenos Aires movie director, very fond of legend of King of Patagonia and Araucania, decides to make a movie about it.

  • Director
    • Carlos Sorin
  • Writers
    • Jorge Goldenberg
    • Jorge Goldenberg
    • Carlos Sorin
  • Stars
    • Ulises Dumont
    • Julio Chávez
    • Villanueva Cosse
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    524
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Carlos Sorin
    • Writers
      • Jorge Goldenberg
      • Jorge Goldenberg
      • Carlos Sorin
    • Stars
      • Ulises Dumont
      • Julio Chávez
      • Villanueva Cosse
    • 7User reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 9 wins & 2 nominations total

    Photos6

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    Top cast38

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    Ulises Dumont
    Ulises Dumont
    • Arturo
    Julio Chávez
    Julio Chávez
    • David Vass
    • (as Julio Chaves)
    Villanueva Cosse
    Villanueva Cosse
    • Desfontaines
    Roxana Berco
    • Lucia
    Ana María Giunta
    Ana María Giunta
    • Madama
    David Llewelyn
    • Lachaisse
    Miguel Dedovich
    • Oso
    Marilia Paranhos
    • Lulu
    Ricardo Hamlin
    • Maxi
    Rubén Patagonia
    • Quillapan
    César García
    • Bonnano
    Carlos Rivkin
    Sergio Raso
    Hilda Rey
    Jesús Berenguer
    Jesús Berenguer
    Fernando Bravo
    Fernando Bravo
    Diego Varzi
    Rubén Szuchmacher
    • German Translator
    • Director
      • Carlos Sorin
    • Writers
      • Jorge Goldenberg
      • Jorge Goldenberg
      • Carlos Sorin
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews7

    7.0524
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    Featured reviews

    Samuel-Maldonado

    Satire, not comedy

    La Película del Rey follows a spurned director who suffers a string of unfortunate setbacks, who each time becomes more and more determined to finish his project. The journey of the director as he tries to get funding, train actors, and improvise scenes is exciting, and the string of misfortunes that befalls him can sometimes be humorous, but jumping into it in a comedic mindset, La Pelicula del Rey fell pretty flat. Although the situations in this Argentinean comedy can be outlandish and the movie has some great moments, it is not especially funny as a whole. The satire of the film is rich, however, and provides the real value of the movie. If you're in the mood for a comedy, go elsewhere, but if you're looking for a clever satire about the Argentinean film industry, this is your movie.
    10rolandoe

    The story behind the story of this brilliant film

    Sorin's movie is based on a true story. In 1972 Juan Fresán,a very creative man from the advertising world, began filming "La Nueva Francia" a film that would tell the story of Orélie Antoine de Tounens, a French madman that proclaimed himself King of Patagonia. The project was described as un "underdeveloped superproduction".

    The project failed, as it fails in Sorin's movie, due to lack of funds and also because in 1974 Fresan had to go to exile.

    Sorin had been the cinematograpehr of La Nueva Francia and based on that experience he began his own project. Fresan never approved Sorin's project.

    Some footage of La Nueva Francia was found by Fresan in 2004 the same year he died a few months later. That footage including interviews to people involved in the project, including Sorin,was turned into a documentary film by Lucas Turturro called Un Rey para la Patagonia, that premiered in 2011
    6GNantes

    Great movie that deserves more recognition

    Taste is an uncertain gift. It can be educated, cultivated, as long as you have curiosity, a true need to provoke and appease it. Forty years later, or almost, at the moment when these words have become a record for history, or for a chat between coffees, it can be said that what most viewers enjoy watching is an enigma: we have six comments on IMDB and only five hundred votes. Among many explanations and reasons, there is one that explains a lot: 'A king and his movie' ( La película del rey) was ahead of its time. We see in it how its director worships poetry, which is manifested not only in the words but in the silence of the landscape and also perfectly in it's characters' misery. It is certainly not a perfect neither an excellent film. It is, on the other hand, a powerful and sufficient film, somehow magical, and when it ends leaves you with candor in your chest, perhaps in that corner that inhabits our soul. If it gives you a bad taste, don't worry, come back later, but come back, because taste is something that you earn, sometimes later rather than sooner.
    10gga

    One of the best Argentinian movies

    How to express the pain and suffering of a director in a small country as he struggles to bring his movie to life and every circunstance is against him? Carlos Sorin, one of the most experienced Argentinian directors working in commercials, has done it so well, that I feel extremely proud to have worked with him years ago. With a touch of surrealism and some great performances, he creates a story to behold, as we don't know if to laugh or cry at the truth of his message. A celebration of the artist as a crazy fool.
    10karpool

    Delightfully surreal excursion into the world of filmmaking

    A film crew in Argentina prepares to shoot the wild-but-true adventures of a man who in 1860 declared himself "King of Patagonia." The director's artistic vision and his producer's business sense struggle to complete the project while dealing with the complications of losing their financial backing, fighting government red tape, and juggling an off-the-street cast and crew -- including live pigs -- in an old bus.

    As the movie weaves back and forth between real life and scenes from the film they are trying to create, the project disintegrates into a madness that parallels that of the King of Patagonia. Amid a surreal desert landscape, left with only mannequins as his actors, the director's dreams turn into dust and blow away in the Patagonian wind. But all is not lost...

    This is an excellent movie, echoing the real-life attempts of Sorin to make his film about de Tounens, the historical figure who, inspired by stories of travellers returning from South America, decides to make the freedom of the Aracuana indians his goal, by proclaiming himself their ruler.

    Entertaining, bizarre, funny, touching -- definitely worth the viewing.

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    Storyline

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 28, 1986 (Argentina)
    • Country of origin
      • Argentina
    • Language
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Der Film des Königs
    • Filming locations
      • Carlos Pellegrini 1047, Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina(Production studio)
    • Production company
      • Motion Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 47m(107 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby

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