THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND (2020) - WHEN WE MUST KNOW WHEN TO GROW UP
The King of Staten Island opens with main character Scott ( Pete Davidson ) driving. He closed his eyes, deliberately and for a long time, and opened them when he nearly crashed into the long line of vehicles in front of him. He survived, even though his vehicle bumped into another vehicle and caused a minor accident. He looks like he has a desire to die, but awakens from that desire at the last second.
Scott is someone who has absolutely no motivation to live. He spends most of his time at the places where his friends hang out, smoking marijuana, selling drugs and playing basketball. He also still lives with his mother, Margie ( Marisa Tomei ) and her sister, Claire ( Maude Apatow ) who will be entering college.
Looking at her, I wondered what such a character could give her? My doubts disappeared over time as I saw the film which was indeed a comedy film on paper, but it also brought a lot of themes that I did not expect would touch me deeply. And it's all thanks to the character Scott and the actor Pete Davidson .
More than two hours is indeed long enough for a comedy film. But what makes this film stand out is not its duration, but how The King of Staten Island is also a semi-biopic of the main character himself. Here, Scott's story is indeed inspired by a true incident that happened to Pete Davidson .
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One of the most influential into the story is the death of Pete Davidson's father , who interestingly is named Scott Davidson, just like the main character in the film. And just like Pete , Scott also lost his father while serving as a firefighter. As the film progresses, Scott seems difficult to forget the death of his father, even though his death occurred when he was a child and now he is 24 years old.
Taking a very personal story has the potential to make Scott look awkward because of course the character wants to be different from the cast, but Pete Davidson dares to play Scott very well, even though his appearance often looks the same throughout the entire film, he can still give quite the appearance. to raise the theme of a film that is quite heavy.
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The death of his father did have a very big impact on Scott, even to make him reluctant to commit, such as not believing to enter into a deeper relationship with his friend, Kelsey ( Bel Powley ) even though they had frequent intercourse. Himself who is afraid of commitment has also resulted in him never thinking of having his own place to live.
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But he still insisted that he was okay, even when his friends made jokes about his father's death he laughed too and said that he didn't miss a bit. All that changes when his younger brother moves to college and his mother meets a firefighter who is also single due to divorce, Ray ( Bill Burr ). In the end, he had to find a place to live on his own because they thought Scott was an adult.
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All of those changes make Scott explode, especially since Ray has the same job as his father which Scott considers an insult to his father's death. "What are you trying to do to me? Have I suffered enough? " Scott snapped at his mother. With The King of Staten Island , Pete Davidson may not only be acting but also confronting himself and his past and that is what makes Scott's character come alive.
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When viewed from the film itself, The King of Staten Island might feel more like a slice of life film about someone whose life is chaotic. The very open structure of the film sometimes causes the narrative of the film to run freely and out of the focus of the main character, so that there are several scenes where the scene just passes without any completion that really closes.
And that's quite unfortunate, because even though Scott's character depicts the past of the main character, sometimes we are not really given the opportunity to get to know him more deeply which ends up making the whole film go away even though it carries a fairly heavy theme and a longer duration. than enough to sustain everything.
But that doesn't mean The King of Staten Island is an empty film. Pete Davidson and his characters are more than enough to make this film not only funny, but also touching and sweet in unexpected ways. With his character, Scott, we also come together to know when we should grow up and move on .
And in this film there is also Steve Buscemi , so that can be a bonus in itself.