Southland Tales: Difference between revisions

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[[File:southland-tales-poster-0_2605.jpg|frame|[[Mood Dissonance|Have A Nice]] [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|Apocalypse]]]]

''[[Southland Tales]]'' is a 2007 [[Science Fiction]]/[[Black Comedy]] film from director Richard Kelly, the follow-up to his 2001 cult hit ''[[Donnie Darko]]''. While planned as a mainstream breakthrough, things didn't really pan out that way. The combination of a large budget and Sony's decision to shelve the film after lackluster showings in a handful of cities means that it's not likely to show profit for years to come. Nonetheless, ST did make some critics' year's best lists and has found a modest [[Cult Classic|cult following]] on DVD.

The plot is difficult to summarize, and considered intensely nonsensical by many, but here's a thumbnail version. After a nuclear attack in Texas, the government has taken a more authoritarian role. There are several interlaced conspiracies for and against it, with the constantly infighting Neo-Marxists being the most notable opposition group. A dandyish scientist (Wallace Shawn) who has developed a way of deriving energy from ocean current seems to have a hand in everything. And oh yeah, all of time and space seem to be on the edge of self-destruction. It really, really helps if you are at least passingly familiar with the [[Book of Revelation (Literature)|Book of Revelation]].

Imagine if you will ''[[Mulholland Drive]]'' mixed with ''[[Armageddon]]''. Or an American ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]'' that manages to match the imagination and multiply the incomprehensibiltyincomprehensibility.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Ronald Taverner, stemming from his tour in [[My Greatest Failure|Fallujah.]]

{{quote| '''Pilot Abilene''': He could not forgive himself for what he had done to me.}}

* [[Playing Withwith Syringes]]: The secret tests done on U.S. soldiers using Fluid Karma. Covered mostly in the graphic novels, but movie shows what happens when these syringes get out into the general populace.

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** [[Philip K. Dick|"Flow my tears, the policeman said."]]

** Almost all the chapters are allusions: ''Two Roads Diverge'' is an allusion to [[Robert Frost]], ''Fingerprints'' likely to Leonard Cohen, ''Temptation Waits'' to [[Garbage]] and ''Memory Gospel'' to [[Moby]]. The final chapter is called [[Pixies|Wave of Mutilation]]. ''The Mechanicals'' is named after an improv group that Kelly took a liking tooto and who have bit parts in the film.

** The corrupt senator and his running mate are named [[Robert Frost|Frost]] and [[TST. S. Eliot|Eliot]].

{{quote| [[TST. S. Eliot|"This is the way the world ends."]]}}

* [[Tag-Along Actor]]: Boxer with Taverner.

* [[WTHWhat the Hell, Casting Agency?]]: The entire cast. [[Sarah Michelle Gellar]] cast as a porn star, [[Dwayne Johnson]] cast as an amnesiac, and very dweebish actor, engaged to [[Mandy Moore]], playing a foulmouthed heiress, Sean William Scott playing two traumatised soldiers with identity issues, [[Amy Poehler]] and Wood Harris as extremely stupid terrorists, [[Justin Timberlake]] as the disturbed and disfigured narrator, [[Kevin Smith]] as an Iraq War veteran, [[Wallace Shaun]]Shawn as a glam-rock criminal mastermind, Bai Ling as his laconic girlfriend, that kid from ''Thumbsucker'' playing a street punk, Christopher Lambert playing a small-time arms dealer, and Jon Lovitz as a terrifyingly dead-eyed neo-nazi cop. It may not be spot-on, but damn it it's surreal to see these actors [[Playing Against Type|in roles so different to how you'd assume them to play]]. <br /><br />This was actually done quite intentionally, although (like a lot of the film) the intended effect is not really that clear. In other words, the setup is there but the punchline isn't. Excerpted from an Internet-based article: "The biggest disappointment of Southland Tales resides in its most promising conceit, a cast populated by B-to-D-list celebrities ranging from Wallace Shawn to Zelda Rubenstein to Christopher Lambert. There's a wealth of satirical material to be found in [this] generation's curious veneration of kitsch, and I'd hoped Kelly's cast list indicated a deeper explanation of the connection between pop culture and regression touched upon in Donnie Darko..." (Full article [http://cinevistaramascope.blogspot.com/2008/04/pimps-dont-commit-suicide.html here.])

{{quote| '''Pilot Abiliene''': ''[[Opening Narration|They say the path down the road not taken concludes with a stairway to heaven. The gates would not open for another three days, and Boxer Santaros was searching for the key.]]''}}