Southland Tales: Difference between revisions

''[[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.

** 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.

* [[What 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]].

: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.]]''}}