The Age of Commercialism

Good start, but then it gets ruined

An Exercise In Nonsense

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

first, for its simplicity. than - for the status of an old known story. not the last - for the final lesson. a beach. two guys. real different. the temptation. and the fundamental change. and, sure, Grieg. at first sigh, a version of Faust. the hidden desire. and the profound metamorphosis. and the change of places. nothing new. but surprising for the admirable manner to use this pieces. for performances. and for an end who deserves applause. because it is only a circle. desires, meets, the happiness. and, sure, the price. like reward.

"The Mountain King" is an American 20-minute short film from 16 years ago written and directed by Duncan Tucker. It was Tucker's first work as a filmmaker and a couple years later "Transamerica" followed. Since then, i.e. for over 10 years, he has not made a new film and looking at this short film here, this may be a really good thing. Terrible, terrible watch. extremely realistic scenario that two guys meet at the beach. Of course, they don't ignore each other but the banters starts and then they have sex immediately right after of course. Oh yeah, who cares if these two abuse drugs, one basically talks the other into it, makes him an addict perhaps, that they have unprotected sex with random strangers (regardless of their sexual orientation), of course went these two be a couple and happy together so much only because they are gay right? Well.. guess what. I did not. This film is 100% bait, tries so hard to be different and controversial with no basic talent of how to tell a story properly. A disastrous effort and I would be ashamed to have worked on it, no matter if before or behind the camera. Needless to say the two actors in here never made it big in the last 15 years. Their lack of talent is clearly visible. Stay far far away from this film and I can't believe people actually gave this piece of utter garbage a 10/10 rating.

two young men. a beach. a summer house. and profound change of life for one of them. nothing special. maybe a parable or a Coelho story. but, it is only a short movie. seductive, shining, wise. at many short films. strange, it is a gay story but not about sexual options. its subject is the choice who defines life. courage/ occasion to discover yourself. art of joy. and desire to build your new beginning. the first scenes and the last are extraordinaries. Paul Dawson and John Sloan does touching roles, in fact pieces of way to be free out of world expectations. it is something magic in this film. and necessary. like a wake up. or, only, like a meeting as seed.

I don't agree with the person who wrote the title as "just wow." His comment was written in 2002, unlike what he predicted, neither of the actors become famous. How does that title "mountain king" fit with this movie, I don't understand.There are some questions that can't be answered. In the end, why did the hustler wear the straight guy's clothes, and the straight guy was forced to wear the hustler's clothes, then walk around the beach. And he had to wear a pair of dark purple speedo as his underwear. Does that suggest that he now becomes a hustler himself? Was it an isolated island, so if he ran out of money, he had to do that in order to make some money in order to leave the island? If so, how did he get to island at the first place? Why did the hustler take a boat, where was he heading to? And if the hustler broke into that beach house without permission, where did they get the food to eat for that night? If that hustler was indeed living at a friend's house, why did he leave the stranger alone in his friend's house? Cinematography was good. I especially like the part when they both were dancing with the music, and we can see the silhouette against the beautiful sunset.