The Tale of King Crab

Released Apr 15, 2022

1 hr. 46 min.

Adventure

Drama

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List

90%

42 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Luciano is a wandering outcast in a remote, late 19th-century Italian village. His life becomes undone by alcohol, forbidden love, and a bitter conflict with the prince of the region over the right of passage through an ancient gateway. When the quarrel escalates, Luciano is exiled to the distant Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego where, with the help of ruthless gold-diggers, he searches for a mythical treasure, paving his way toward redemption. However, in these barren lands, only greed and insanity can prevail.

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Critics Consensus

Visually striking and narratively absorbing, The Tale of King Crab is a real cinematic delicacy.

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nefasto r

Visually striking, enigmatic and let's admit it, a bit slow. But what an interesting way to tell a tale.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

isla s

This film is slow to build, plot wise but I'd say the last part/section (just over an hour in) is most haunting. It's a tale about desperation, perseverence and greed. I feel its meant to be about redemption but I'm not sure that's ultimately the case. Can a man change his character later in life? perhaps or perhaps not. If you like arty, folklore type films then this may be worth a watch, otherwise not so much. I'm not certain I fully 'got' this film but I did like the ocassional landscape shot.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis' The Tale of King Crab opens with a moment that I found completely inviting. We're in Tuscia in the company of a group of grizzled Italian fisherman, their faces weathered as much by the storms of life as by the elements of mother nature. They are here to drink, have a bite to eat and to swap stories – not personal stories, mind you, but mythological tales. We don't do this anymore. People in groups these days are too bound up in discussing politics and personal inconveniences. Spinning tales as old as time seems to have gone out of fashion. The tale being told is quite wonderful. It takes place not too far from Tuscia in a small village of Vejano near the opening of the 20th Century. The central figure is Luciano (Gabriele Silli, who bears an odd resemblance to Michael Shannon), a sweaty, bearded drunk who returns after many years to this small town where his father is the local doctor. He doesn't make any friends, let's just say, upon his return. First, and without a reasonable explanation, he smashes open the front gate of the local prince (Enzo Cucchi). Then he falls in love with the daughter of a respected farmer (Severino Sperandio) whose anger over the presence of this man is bad enough, but his fury over his apparent affections for his child are crossing the line. Then we find out that there is a competitor – the prince himself has designs on marrying Emma not really for love, we suspect, but for the opportunities afforded by the union. Much is too much and Luciano makes a decision that land him in exile on the god-forsaken island Patagonia. Luciano's tale at this point kind of takes a left-turn. After being exiled to the island where he takes on the identity of a now-dead priest whose company he shared. The priest told him of a treasure that was left on the island by pirates and the only way to get it is to follow the footsteps of the king crab. He goes in search of the king crab, carrying the bulky crustacean in a bucket. Then he runs across a group of thieves looking to pilfer the legendary treasure for themselves. They want it for greed, Luciano wants it because it might be a way off this stinking island. I like where this movie has its head. It is slow-going, but it is one of those movies in which you are completely and totally engrossed at every single moment. It reminded me somewhat of Cast Away wherein we are asked to simply observe. There isn't a ton of dialogue so we are asked to watch and see. It feels like a story being told and you can imagine many different variations as the story is eroded and hones and sculpted by years of telling and telling and re-telling. It is that movie with a quality of holding you in its spell and telling a story that you know you'll hear differently the next time.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Alessio Rigo de Righi

Director

Matteo Zoppis

Director

Gabriele Silli

Luciano

Maria Alexandra Lungu

Emma

Ercole Colnago

Ercolino

Bruno Di Giovanni

Padre

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

For the most part, the filmmakers are after their own period-thick blend: how respect for oral tradition and love for a ripping yarn can be a gateway to invention and allusion.

Apr 29, 2022

Full Review

Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

By turns beautiful and ugly, occasionally infuriating in its obfuscation and disconnect, always slow and intriguing...

Apr 28, 2022

Full Review

Carson Lund

Slant Magazine

A film that so clearly takes delight in the unfolding of a story and the unpacking of an enigmatic character is refreshing in an arthouse landscape where such narrative qualities are often relegated to secondary concerns.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 19, 2022

Full Review

Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

The Tale of the King Crab, despite seeming slightly derivative or slow, is -- in tune with the protagonist -- intoxicating. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/5

Dec 20, 2022

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

This movie shot on striking locations in unusually rich, delicate color is at once bluntly realistic—the lives depicted being mostly poor, rough, and uneducated—and eccentrically parabolic.

May 31, 2022

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Sr. Rose Pacatte

St. Anthony Messenger

This beautifully filmed arthouse story meanders its way across the screen and invites us to think about life’s meaning and what is important. It also shows us that violence solves nothing.

May 26, 2022

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Synopsis

Luciano is a wandering outcast in a remote, late 19th-century Italian village. His life becomes undone by alcohol, forbidden love, and a bitter conflict with the prince of the region over the right of passage through an ancient gateway. When the quarrel escalates, Luciano is exiled to the distant Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego where, with the help of ruthless gold-diggers, he searches for a mythical treasure, paving his way toward redemption. However, in these barren lands, only greed and insanity can prevail.

Director: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Screenwriter: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis, Tommaso Bertani, Carlo Lavagna
Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Production Co: European Union, RAI Cinema, Centre National du Cinéma et de L'image Animée, Programa Ibermedia, Shellac Sud, INCAA, Ring Film, Ministero della Cultura (MiC), Regione Lazio
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 15, 2022, Limited

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