Southland Tales is a bit of a lost film. It premièred in Cannes in 2006 and was pretty much laughed out of town. Director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) then spent a lot of time in the editing suite chopping about 20 minutes and adding numerous special effects. It was eventually released in November 2007 and, according to Box Office Mojo, has made just $357,036 worldwide, which is pretty damning for a film that cost over $15 million.
…or it would be if you could actually find a cinema that was showing it. In the U.S.A. it was confined to just 63 screens, and I’ve only seen it because Odeon run one-off ‘Director’s Chair’ screenings of ‘art-house’ (i.e. not money making) films. Did anyone even see a trailer on T.V.?
So at the end of all that is it actually worth watching? The answer has to be a resounding ‘yes’. Southland Tales is gigantic, chaotic, overblown and utterly glorious. It mashes together David Lynch, Phillip K. Dick, Wild Palms, 2000 A.D. and the Hollywood blockbuster. Who would have thought that one of the most exciting films in years would star The Rock, American Pie’s Stiffler and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
Ask me what happened in it and I could only give you the basics but, like Donnie Darko, that is the point. The characters themselves exist in incomprehensible times so why should the audience know everything? Some critics have described the film as ‘impenetrable’ but what they mean is that it demands your attention and is challenging in a way that few films are. Like all great films this one will be debated for years.
The future is bright for Southland Tales. Home cinema is good enough to do it justice and I believe that once word gets out this will become a cult classic and that in years to come we will see it’s influence in the work of a new wave of young directors.
9/10
Dwayne Johnson and J.Timberlake are surprisingly talented actors; but i’m still trying to figure out what Southland Tales was about… then again, maybe it’s really obvious: life in Los Angeles is blurred, clutter, flashy and not always meaningful.