Review : Southland Tales, director Richard Kelly (of Donnie Darko infamy)
This film try’s to reach with too much scope toward too many themes, too many genres … Sci-fi / Comedy / Drama etc packed in here supposedly, but each seems to defeat the others possible movement, I can see/feel what is being attempted here, but sadly it doesn’t come off in the wash. Any great creative if they’re lucky foolhardy or ambitious enough, will probably attempt something like this film once in their career if they’re worth they’re salt, only to crash land in the wreckage of their own ambition and desires, this is not to say that films like this shouldn’t be made as its important directors and writers reach and stretch themselves, but it must be recognised when they don’t come off. Whether films do or don’t come off as it where is somehow separate from the attempting to make such films, that said what lessons can be learnt ?

The issues:

Casting :
The cast is too diverse seems too much a miscellany or hotch potch, and is peppered with actors who could rarely be taken seriously, and who all come with too much baggage and connotations and known character styles they fail to escape from. Maybe the budget was too large and the choices and options too various and everyone was pulled in ? but none the less it doesn’t seem to work, half the dialog seems to be between actors fearfully wooden and self conscious of their screen presence or ones who’ve misconceived or who have no clue as to what kind of film they’re partaking in. as though at some points the actors think they’re in a comedy an then they alternate to thinking they’re in a serious film with mystical dialogs, in a way this film is self defeating at every turn. This must have been quite painful for Richard Kelly to make as he must have been hoping he could somehow pull it together in editing or something. Previously richard has perhaps been known for lesser known actors starring in his works, which adds to the sense of fresh realism, an alternate but plausible version of our reality, and the choice to use all these mainstream actors somehow kitchify’s and addles the work all but completely. Stops it working as a whole it becomes some kind of pastiche patchwork of parts that could never be made to work with each other and the conflictory enjambment seems almost continuous. In Donnie with its central role and and hungry relatively unknown actor Jake Gyllenhaal who came with little screen baggage … presence wise, things worked believably.

Too many Influences moods elements:
This film lies very uncomfortably somewhere between twin peaks, brazil, the fifth element with some kind of sunny californian cinematographic soap feel of say baz lurhmans ‘romeo and juliet’, and some touched attempts at lebowski esque surrealism, they’re is an underlying theme of media induced societal schizophrenia and a heavy dash of conspiracy and distrust leading overall to the ‘no story effect’ where no discernible gripping parables or human messages maybe discerned, and those plots employed seem somehow throwaway, other story elements that are rammed into this film include – oil crisis, world war 3, post nuclear, terrorism, media control, doppleganger’s, 4th dimensional rifts, alternative energy, new wave drugs, the list goes on like some over engorged list of thematic ideas.

The narration:
Like Bladerunner … if you need to stick narration in, most often it means something is very wrong or the studio don’t understand your film and are worried about it. It certainly doesn’t help the viewers belief in the tangibility of the world presented, although the other flaws in southland tales are such that even without narration it still refuses to work.

obviously richard can write and direct but in this case the film falls over itself.

good bits:
The opening suburban celebration barbecue scene – pre the narration, seems perhaps like the sting the film was sold on, the mood is genuine and interesting up to that point, the barbecue house scene almost seems totally real no doubt documentary no actors involved to balls it up, and develops high expectations of the film to follow post the nuclear explosion, the commencement of the explanation and narration to set the scene for the film seems to be a complete disconnection, and at this point a second film starts riddled with hollywood style over inflated fake knackery.

I’d best end here an say this film will be interesting to those who study film, to see what happens when reaching too far or scope creep occurs with a large budget in the hands of an ambitious creative who both writes and directs a film and has all the options he wants available to him. Often limitations lead to more originality.

Interesting to note the cast are in reverse order of magnitude on the credits, as though to reduce their recognition and identification with the film. perhaps this was a post the rushes choice on they’re part ?