Kings (2017)

Directed by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven | 92 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Halle Berry, Daniel Craig, Lamar Johnson, Kaalan Walker, Rachel Hilson, Issac Ryan Brown, Callan Farris, Serenity Reign Brown, Reece Cody, Aiden Akpan, Gary Yavuz Perreau, Ce’Onna Meilani Johnson, Lorenz Arnell, Lorrie Odom, Lewis T. Powell

The Black Lives Matter movement has only officially existed since 2013, but could have been founded much earlier. At the time of the 1967 Detroit race riots, for example, filmed by Oscar winner Katheryn Bigelow in ‘Detroit’ (2017). The aggravated assault of Rodney King by four police officers, in particular the fact that the perpetrators were acquitted, sparked violent riots in Los Angeles in the spring of 1992. The clashes lasted six days and cost as many as 63 people. life. Nearly 2,400 others were injured and more than 12,000 were arrested. The messy drama ‘Kings’ from 2017 is set during these so-called ‘Rodney King Riots’. The film starts off energetically with that other incident that caused a lot of unrest among the black population at the time: the murder of Latasha Harlins. The 15-year-old girl was shot dead by Soon Ja Du, the owner of a supermarket, who thought she wanted to steal a bottle of orange juice. She hadn’t noticed that Harlins had money in her hand and just wanted to pay. Du got off with five years’ probation, community service and a $500 fine and was released from jail, much to the anger of blacks, of course.

‘Kings’ looks at the race riots through the eyes of Millie Dunbar (Halle Berry), a single woman who has devoted her life to caring for underprivileged foster children. She has about eight of them, ranging in age from two to sixteen. Millie is the type who would like to take care of all the pathetic children she meets on the street. It’s quite a struggle, but thanks to the help of the oldest of the children, the good teenager Jesse (Lamar Johnson), she still manages to make ends meet every time. They are not well off, but there is enough love and that is already a lot in the deprived area in which they live. The mood changes when the rebellious William (Kaalan Rashad Walker) moves into the family. While Millie tries her best to earn money for food and drink in a fair way, and Jesse follows her in, William just takes the little ones on a ‘shoplifting spree’. And then there’s the girl Jesse has a crush on, Nicole (Rachel Hilson), who is mad at the whole world. Jesse wants to protect her from evil influences from types like William, but Nicole finds that rebellious actually quite exciting.

Millie has regular quarrels with her neighbor, the gruff writer Obie Hardison (Daniel Craig). Obie is a bit of a weirdo; one minute he’s throwing couches and chest freezers from the ceiling, the next he’s having fun playing with Millie’s kids. The Turkish-French director and writer Deniz Gamze Ergüven – who broke through in 2015 with the beautiful Oscar-nominated ‘Mustang’, nominated for the Oscar for best foreign film and for whom this is her first English-language film – clearly didn’t know what to do with the character, because suddenly Millie appears to secretly harbor warm feelings for him, his bad moods have disappeared like snow in the sun and we are treated to a misplaced erotic dream. The grumpy neighbor becomes the prince charming who offers rescue in times of need. Ergüven apparently had several thoughts with her film. The images of Rodney King being kicked and the aftermath of the lawsuit can be followed constantly via the ever-roaring television in the Dunbar house in the background – and sometimes also in full screen. The time frame may be clear. But it is not clear which direction she wants to take with her film. She captures the fights and riots in an exciting way, and the total chaos and devastation Millie must feel when she discovers that her children have become involved in the battle are penetrating. But for some inexplicable reason, she laces those strong scenes with snatches that seem to belong in other movies. In a light-hearted romantic comedy, the clip where Millie and Obie are tied to a lamppost wouldn’t have been out of place, but it feels out of place in this context.

Halle Berry has struggled with her choice of roles since she won her Oscar for ‘Monster’s Ball’ (2001). Here her performance is as erratic and erratic as the film itself. At times her class shines through, but in the next scene she can rage like mad again (and not in a positive sense). Not only does Craig have the thankless job of playing a poorly written character, but he doesn’t seem too excited about it. Would he himself already realize that his character has nothing to do with this film? As if Ergüven was looking for a counterpart for all those aggressive police officers; luckily, there is also a white person who turns out to be on the right side. Once the riots have erupted, she no longer gives her viewers time to catch their breath. The second half of the film is top-heavy, making ‘Kings’ seem to last much longer than 92 minutes. The young actors Johnson and Hilson are the few bright spots in this chaos.