James Cole Clay // Film Critic
KING COHEN
Rated UR, 107 minutes
Directed by: Steve Mitchell
Starring: Larry Cohen, Fred Williamson, JJ Abrams, Martin Scorsese, Eric Roberts
Few filmmakers have more fun on-set than director Larry Cohen (ITāS ALIVE trilogy), mainly because he can create a set anytime, anywhere. Larry Cohen is the definition of guerrilla filmmaking but on more rambunctious scale filming car chases and frantic action scenes without permits. The documentary KING COHEN celebrates his career with talking head interviews, clips and photos from the royal subjects he worked with and inspired including JJ Abrams, Fred Williamson, Martin Scorsese, and even Tara Reid. While the filmmaking is wildly conventional, Cohenās story is incredible and filled with nothing but a love for life and making films.Ā Ā
At first glance, you may not be familiar with Cohenās workand if you could indulge this writer for a minute I can tell you about how āKing Cohenā came into my consciousness. I was attending Fantastic Fest in 2017,āa genre film festival in Austin, Texasā Cohen was in town to attend a retro screening of MANIAC COP 2, which is an absolutely insane movie starring Robert ZāDar. The film ended around 11 pm, which is prime time for drinks at an Alamo Drafthouse and Cohen proceeded to give the best Q&A Iāve ever seen for a crowd of maybe 80 people. I ended up covering the screening and realized Larry Cohenās work has been in the background of my little film loving brain for the majority of my life, I just didnāt know it.Ā Ā
The documentary directed by Steve Mitchell comes from a place of absolute love for this filmmaker who paved the way for many artists who came after and he inspired a generation of filmmakers to produce greatness on the fly. His style is like jazz, but for high-concept filmmaking. Over the course of the doc, Mitchell recounts Cohenās filmography which has some highlights including the ITāS ALIVE TRILOGY (you can read our coverage here), THE STUFF, BLACK CAESAR and even PHONE-BOOTH starring Colin Farrell.Ā
Cohenās footprint is all over the film industry today and his vigilante approach to the art form would never fly by todayās standards, but damn if KING COHEN isnāt an inspiring film.
FINAL GRADE: B
Bonus Features Include:Ā
- A Soundtrack is included with the original score by Joe Kroemer
- An Audience with The King: Which is 45 minutes of additional interview footage of Cohen telling stories
- More Stories From The Kingās Court: Raw interview footage from Eric Roberts, Traci Lords, Eric Bogosian, Tara Reid, Fred Williamson and Michael Moriarty and many more.Ā
- Hello World: A collection of Larry Cohenās film festival greetings.Ā
- Theatrical Trailer
KING COHEN is now available on Blu Ray, iTunes, and other digital platforms.Ā