Southland Tales: Difference between revisions

* [[Jerkass Facade]] and [[Happy Place]]: Boxer has a mix in ''Jericho Cane'', a loose cannon cop who plays by his own rules. He slips into being Jericho Cane when he has schizophrenic breaks {{spoiler|because he is a deteriorating duplicate of the actual Boxer Santaros}}, characterized by talking in rapid gibberish and tapping his fingers.

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: By the film's end, there are maybe three major characters still alive, and it's implied that the world ends as soon as two of them let go of each other's hands.}}

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: The movie goes out of it's way to introduce dozens of characters exceedingly often. Unfortunately, it can't quite seem to decide which ones are supposed to be important...

* '''[[Mind Screw]]'''

* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Boxer's tattoos are symbolic representations of all the major world religions, and [[Word of God]] says that the tattoo that bleeds is the religion that "wins." {{spoiler|The tattoo of Jesus bleeds just before the Megazeppelin explodes.}}

* [[Show Within a Show]]: Krysta Now's script, "The Power".

** [[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 too and who bit parts in the film.

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

** Possible parody of ''[[Left Behind]]'': The character of Fortunio Balducci, the Baron's [[The Mole|Mole]]. [[Word of God]] confirms that, following the Book of Revelation, Fortunio is the False Prophet. His counterpart's name in ''Left Behind''? Leon Fortunato.

* [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch]]: "The fourth dimension will collapse upon itself... you stupid bitch."

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: As it is a Richard Kelly film, everything IS symbolic.

* [[WTH 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]] 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.])

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Southland Tales]]