King of California
by Christopher C. Happ 2008

I enjoyed this movie but not for the usual reasons. Michael Douglas’s performance is stellar as the charming, crazy, obsessed, lunatic father of Evan Rachel Wood,...
[+] Read Full Review

King of California
by Christopher C. Happ 2008

I enjoyed this movie but not for the usual reasons. Michael Douglas’s performance is stellar as the charming, crazy, obsessed, lunatic father of Evan Rachel Wood, (Miranda). There are really only three central characters and a number of no names. Pepper, played by Willis Burks II is an old jazz musician, an old friend of Charlie, (Douglas’s character.) The movie is about delusions of grandeur and obsession. It is a cute movie with lots of humor and a bit of drama. I gained a special message from this movie. I will not ruin the plot for you, but what moved me was Douglas’s eccentricity. Much like an artist, his character is obsessive, manic and joyful. There is one line where Miranda, in an opening dialogue refers to her experiences with her father as “Taking a ride on the bipolar pony�.

This is a story about a quest and a father and daughter. Charlie is painted as manic. Like an artist, he becomes obsessed with an idea, and there is no letting go. That is the message for me, that to get in touch with one’s muse, one must have a dash of mania and the ability to detach from the normalcy of life. The reclusive, writers, artists and musicians in the world are not distracted by a normal life. They live in their heads and the outer world is simply a validation of their script. They do things for the sheer joy. There is intense focus, usually referred to as mania but in fact, I see it as a total commitment to the work, no matter how trivial to others. These people intimately know every facet of their work, every surface, smell, blemish and texture of their project, every stroke, every note, and every word. It is a total immersion, an attention to detail and just the pure satisfaction of creating, for no other reason than creation itself. Charlie is not an artist but was once a jazz musician. We hear of the starving artists. They starve because their work is so important that there is little time for the normal 9-5 thing, hence little money. They are willing to live in small shacks and rooms, in order to pursue their obsession. Some get noticed and reap the rewards of their commitmentâ€"some just starve but even they live a life that they chose. These are the bums and losers of the world. Think about Picasso, Bukowski, Dali and Bach all fired by the muse. Nevertheless, their reward is the ability to do what they want, when they want, in the way that suits them. There is one scene where Charlie is feverishly digging and Miranda asks why he doesn’t work. Of course, she means at a paying job like hers at McDonald’s. He says, “What’s your definition of work?â€� Work is not always about earning a living but about living. The film is moving and gives me hope. This is more about the relationship of a father and daughter, fraught with tension, triumph and eventual understanding. We would all be better off with a dose of Charlie’s world.