Sarah Michelle Gellar’s porn star character, for example, is underestimated and dismissed, despite taking part in a complex conspiracy that drags in some of the most powerful people in the world. Instead, I think Kelly intentionally sought out actors who were perceived as washed up or in some sense ridiculous, like pre-Renaissance Johnson. I’ll leave it to others to explore the complex web of plot lines, references, digressions, and symbols. The cast is filled with actors who were seen as Grade C-types even at the time—Oteri, Jon Lovitz, John Laroquette, the guy from Highlander. Southland Tales: The Prequel Saga collects writer/director Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko) three graphic novels that set the stage to his second film, Southland Tales. 0 Comment Report abuse David. The city is alluded to in the (excellent) soundtrack and in the voiceover narration, but it reveals itself especially in the movie’s geographic expansiveness, the way it lazily stretches out across its setting. Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Southland Tales is one of the handful of greatest LA movies without being recognized as such. A hallucinating Justin Timberlake, shirt covered in blood, lip syncs to the Killers in a psychedelic arcade. Meanwhile, a genius scientist has discovered Fluid Karma, seemingly a source of unlimited free energy, drawn from the endless churn of the oceans. There Might Be Insights!!! I am trying to contact everyone I sourced from for permission as I go along, but if you find something you wrote here and do not want it as part of this collection, please drop me an email at dis at gruntle dot org and I will remove it. The movie is about Hollywood the culture and Hollywood the industry, if not so much Hollywood the place (In its aesthetics, Southland Tales is much more Venice Beach than Hollywood and Vine.) In his movie, Kelly is working through the idea of who is allowed to be taken seriously. The city is at once a central concern of the film and a subtle one. Eliot. If so, that’s appropriate; it’s a pretentious movie, in the best sense. Southland Tales is what happens. ‘Obvious’ hardly covered it. Boxer Santa ros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. The comic is the first half...the movie is … This script is a contribution from a hopeful author. Boxer Santaros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. Then there’s the question of Santeros and Now’s screenplay, The Power, which keeps mimicking real life…. Gorgeous, every frame. Here’s to the messes, and to Southland Tales. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Comfortably within the top 200,000 sites on the Internet! There’s little about the plot, as plot, that necessitates it being shot in LA, and yet there’s no way it could have been made anywhere else. DATE: APRIL 7, 2001 May 07, 2018 / Matt Bunker. But, well, there I go, getting into the plot without really meaning to. Zholla. Kelly is interested in Hollywood people on the down swing; he’s interested in value in Hollywood, how it’s perceived and what it means. In Los Angeles, a city on the brink of chaos overshadowed by the growth of the underground neo-Marxist movement, the film follows the criss-crossed destinies of Boxer Santaros, an action film actor stricken with amnesia; Krysta Now, ex-porn star in the midst of creating a reality TV show; and twin brothers Roland and Ronald Taverner, whose destinies, in three days—become intertwined with that of all mankind. A character who fulfills one of the most reviled stereotypes we have—the rich white kid who dresses and talks like a character from a rap video, complete with ridiculous doo-rag—is given respect and compassion, playing a key role in the bravura climax, one of the most indelible visuals I’ve ever seen on screen. In order to be able to respond to a newfound fuel shortage in the wake of global warfare, the German company Treer designs a generator of inexhaustible energy which is propelled by ocean currents, called "Fluid Karma". okay, i have just finished watching the movie southland tales and though i did like it, i was really lost! But now here is the director's cut, which is 20 minutes shorter, lops off a couple of characters and a few of the infinite subplots, and is even more of a mess. That movie, while one of the worst Arnold ever made, is peak meta-Schwarzenegger, the dopiest and most self-important of his blockbuster career, a symbol of overstuffed action movies with overmuscled action stars. Part of me questions whether it's even worth writing about, mainly because it offers so little of cinematic interest. So this is the part of the review where you might expect the shotgun to come out. Donnie Darko, the film that made Kelly’s reputation, is a claustrophobic movie, its suburban cul-de-sacs a metaphor for a time line looped back on itself. Because when it isn’t being ignored, it’s usually being reviled, which is a crime. The plot and the characters are so ridiculous they enter into the realm of mesmerizing. I’ve heard people suggest that this means that Kelly couldn’t get bigger names in his movie, but that’s wrong; coming off of Darko, his career would have been at peak buzz. 1 decade ago. Graphitti Designs and View Askew in conjunction with Darko Entertainment are proud to present this special collection prior t The stage is set and destiny continues towards its fulfillment at breakneck speed. Kelly arranges them in carefully choreographed moments that play out almost as skits within the larger narrative, and it’s here that they are allowed to achieve some sort of dignity, or at least self-determination. Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Southland Tales is a masterpiece. My only objection is the strong political undertone thats some what shoved down your throat. Lv 7. Southland Tales is a 2006 science fiction comedy thriller written and directed by Richard Kelly. In its centerless sprawl and wide boulevards, LA works for this movie in a way that a more cramped city like New York never would. While American wars rage in Syria and North Korea, the sprawling USIDENT surveillance system keeps tabs on us through both sophisticated electronic means and more old fashioned, soldiers-with-telescopes techniques. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Southland Tales, in sharp contrast, spreads out across its setting like it’s in no particular rush to get anywhere, mimicking the expansive interconnectedness it dramatizes, as vast and inescapable as the surveillance network that is at the center of both its plot and its themes. Southland Tales is a 2006 thriller and comedy-drama film and the second film of Richard Kelly. I propose that Southland Tales: Music from the Motion Picture be merged into Southland Tales. Southland Tales, one of the most polarizing movies to come out in the last decade, is many things: fascinating, byzantine, absorbing, definitely imperfect. I … The movie’s like that. It’s cliched to say that a city is a character in a film, so perhaps I’ll just say that Los Angeles is a ubiquitous presence in Southland Tales. During his disappearance, he’s shacked up with Krista Now, a porn star who wants to start a new life, and sees Santeros as her ticket out. 3.0 out of 5 stars I loved … Favorite Answer. It’s kind of a dismal feeling, to perceive so much competence and so little risk, but in a world of towering fan entitlement and an entire industry of nitpickers, it’s probably inevitable. The title refers to the Southland, a name used by locals to refer to Southern California and Greater Los Angeles. “Southland Tales” is set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles in the then near future of 2008. Sorry Eudox...someone should have told you. During pre-production, Kelly teamed up with fellow writer-director Kevin Smith, who plays General Simon Theory, and got the idea to convert parts of the script into three graphic … Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson) is the meathead action star who has amnesia and is married to the daughter of a presidential hopeful. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Vladimir. In Southland Tales, it is never clear what Kelly is aiming for, on either the micro or the macro scale. The Rock, Mandy Moore, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer dance to Moby in a scene right out of your senior prom. Answer Save. Since Andrew and the Dish team gave me carte blanche to write about what I want, I’m going to go ahead and abuse the privilege by writing a defense of a largely-forgotten, eight-year-old movie, Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales. Southland Tales, in sharp contrast, spreads out across its setting like it’s in no particular rush to get anywhere, mimicking the expansive interconnectedness it dramatizes, as vast and inescapable as the surveillance network that is at the center of both its plot and its themes. Explaining the plot of the movie could take up thousands of words—and in fact, already has. The PATRIOT Act has extended authority to a new agency known as US-IDent, which keeps constant tabs on citizens—even to the extent of censoring the Internet and using fingerprints in order to access computers and bank accounts. https://southlandtales.fandom.com/wiki/Southland_Tales_Wiki?oldid=4108. Discussed: Richard Kelly's fall from critical grace / The incomprehensible storyline of "Southland Tales" / Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia / Justin Timberlake lip-syncing to The Killers / The experimental convolution of a scene in which a fake policeman meets a real policeman who may be fake Southland Tales - Suicide Cult A staged domestic disturbance between Amy Poehler and Wood Harris from the Wire turned real shooting bleeds out into a paranoid escape across the foggy, overgrown lawns of suburban LA, set to The Pixies. "Southland Tales: The Prequel Saga" collects writer/director Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko) three graphic novels that set the stage to his second film, "Southland Tales". It's fussy and inert, like Part 4 of a PowerPoint slide-show based on a set of elaborately drawn storyboards that explain in excruciating detail the minutiae of the mythology behind … can someone please explain it to me? The audience did not react warmly to his hugely ambitious movie, and the film was drastically re-cut before hitting theaters in late 2007, when it failed to make much of an impact. When we enter the scene, Dwayne Johnson’s character Boxer Santeros, a Schwarzenegger-style movie star and fiancee of a powerful Senator’s daughter, has gone missing, having lost his memory in a mysterious event in the desert. … It's a surrealist, fractured look at our current sociopolitical climate, it's satirical highs and toilet humor lows, a volatile combination of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick, and a loaded post-modern comment on our expectation from film … Richard Kelly's Southland Tales is an insanely bizarre and macabre film with Lynchian undertones. Please rate the script at the bottom and leave constructive feedback, it's extremely valuable. It’s the Era of the Critic Proof, the age of celebrating the perfectly fine. Original music was provided by Moby. Two feminist neo-Marxist radicals fight for revolution and respect from government officials who underestimate them. "Southland Tales" is abridged! You won’t understand everything happening in the movie the first time you watch it, and you aren’t really meant to. These are (Book 1) Two Roads Diverge, (Book 2) Fingerprints and (Book 3) The Mechanicals. They are available together in the one graphic novel as Southland Tales: The Prequel Saga. Written and directed by Richard Kelly. FOR MORE MOVIE EXPLANATION VIDEOS PLEASE LIKE AND COMMENT THIS VIDEO! Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Set in the then-near futureof 2008, the film … Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. After I saw the first cut of Kelly's "Southland Tales" at Cannes 2005, I was dazed, confused, bewildered, bored, affronted and deafened by the boos all around me, at the most disastrous Cannes press screening since, yes, "The Brown Bunny." I think that the content in the soundtrack article can easily be explained in the context of the film itself, and the film's article is of a reasonable size that the merging of the soundtrack will not cause any problems as far as article size or undue weight is concerned. This is explained by the film’s structure. so tell me all you know in detail about it, pretty please!any sort of explaination will help! Tones and moods butt up against each other; in individual scenes, characters behave as thought they’re in different movies. "Southland Tales" is the product of the same literalist sensibility that produced the second version of "Donnie Darko." It’s led to lots of perfectly crafted, perfectly unambitious, perfectly safe movies, the type Manohla Dargis aptly summarized, in her positive review of Southland Tales, as “elegantly art-direct murder.” We’re in an artistic age where the omnipresence of critical judgment has led so many creators to create from a defensive crouch. A lot of the initial material will be sourced (with credit and linkback) from various locations, so we can establish a base of info to refer to. Wallace Shawn’s mad scientist wears the haircut of a synth player from some 80s Euro band; Cheri Oteri’s witless revolutionary/con woman makes up for her bad plans with a talent for violence; Zelda Rubinstein, the diminutive actress from the Poltergeist movies, quotes T.S. NEXT UP REVOLVER (2005)! I enjoy watching my friends faces as they try to make sense out of this movie (HINT: you can't make sense out of it!). Southland Tales takes place during a three-day heatwave just before a huge 4th of July celebration. Most of the information in this FAQ can be attributed to three main sources: The three graphic novels that serve as a precursor to Southland Tales. Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, a science-fiction comedy about the aftermath of the Third World War, is set in Los ­Angeles circa 2008, roughly three years ­after a sudden nuclear attack on Texas. All of them are portrayed as at least partially comic, and yet all are allowed to entertain grandiose schemes and levels of self-importance. The film features an ensemble cast including Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake. I highly recommend you see the movie and read the prequels before going further. But none moves me like the big shaggy mess that is Southland Tales, and in their workshopped perfection, they sand away the natural impurities that are the source of character. Helpful. … Southland Tales opens with “Chapter IV: Temptation Waits” and closes with “Chapter VI: Wave of Mutilation.” Many had no idea where the first three chapters had gone. In The Power, Santeros’s name is “Jericho Kane,” a reference to the Arnold Schwarzenegger schlockfest End of Days. Relevance. Ten years ago, a critical audience at Cannes sealed 'Southland Tales’ fate. In its centerless sprawl and wide boulevards, LA works for this movie in a way that a more cramped city like … Southland Tales is a 2007 film, set in the near future of an alternate history, that is a portrait of Los Angeles and a comment on the military-industrial news-tainment complex. Please help me compile, analyze, and detail out all of the far flung info. Southland Tales is probably the worst (and best) movie I have ever seen. Southland Tales is a 2006 thriller and comedy-drama film and the second film of Richard Kelly. 5 people found this helpful. Director: Richard KellyInitial release: May 21, 2006 Running time: 160 minutes Initial DVD release: March 18, 2008 MPAA rating: R. Most of this wiki contains MASSIVE spoilers. Area 52 - Southland Tales Reviews / 365 Days Of Resolution / About 365 Days of Resolution; Resolutions and Results!!! Home; Archives; Authors; Sponsors; FAQ; News; Contact; After having it explained to him seventeen times, The Rock finally got the ending of Inception. And it was the beginning of the end for Schwarzenegger as unironic action star, a relative box office dud from an actor who was once the most reliable draw in Hollywood. All of this, I’m sure, makes the film sound deeply pretentious. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Southland Tales Wiki is a FANDOM Movies Community. Since Donnie sacrificed himself and closed the tangent universe, our reality was saved. … Southland Tales revolves around three main characters. However, he did not destroy the alt. Among its many references and influences are the great film noirs of the past, and like those films Southland Tales is usually experienced in a state of mild confusion, comprehension always lagging just behind the progression of the Byzantine plot. A lot of people have seen "Southland Tales" and the reactions have been either they really loved it, or absolutely hated it, aside from the polarizing reactions, the common reaction among fans and haters is that not many understand it. I got really tired of there not being one, group, centralized place on the internet to collate all of the analysis, theories, information, spoilers, and general bits and bobs about Southland Tales on the internet. Unbeknownst to anyone but its inventor Baron von Westphalen and his closest associates, the generators alter the currents and cause the Earth to slow its rotation, and the transmission of the energy to portable receivers (via quantum entanglement) is ripping holes in the fabric of space and time. In 2006, Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly premiered his second feature film, Southland Tales, at the Cannes Film Festival. The story really gets rolling when Santeros goes on an ill-fated ride along, ostensibly to research a movie role, with a cop named Roland Taverner—or is it Ronald? It's not all that obvious in the feature proper, due to half of the story being told in a tie in graphic novel (whatever idiot thought that would work should be shot), but Southland Tales can best be described as the future of Donnie Darko's tangent universe. Stuff I Wrote Precomputer... That One Stoner; Is It 4:20 Or Not??? The title refers to the Southland, a name used by locals to refer to Southern California and Greater Los Angeles. El Paso and Abilene, Texas have fallen victim to twin nuclear attacks on July 4, 2005—a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions which has sent America into World War III. It’s an age of recappers and social media chatterers and Rotten Tomatoes, and so the response has been the rise of artwork designed to appease them rather than to take the kinds of risks that, sometimes, lead to transcendence. Well, with Southland Tales he’d made the Kenneth Branagh version. "Southland Tales" is Richard Kelly's follow up to his hit cult film "Donnie Darko". The film is an international co-production of the United States, Germany and France. Boxer Santa ros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. It was first released in 2006 to almost uniformly terrible reviews, and has since found an audience with fans who love it for its great ambition, its disdain for common sense, and its prescient use of neo-Marxism, … Graphitti Designs and View Askew in conjunction with Darko Entertainment are proud to present this special collection prior to the movie release. The Cannes boo is the annual terrorist attack of film festivals. Though it’s a 9/11 movie and a War on Terror movie and a political movie, show business is at the heart of its themes. All three graphic novels were written by Richard Kelly, with artwork by Brett Weldele. True Detective, Drive, Haim—I enjoy each of these, sometimes a great deal, and I’m happy they exist. Sothland Tales is a good movie. Southland Tales is an epic story set over the course of three days that culminate in a massive 4th of July celebration. But among film fanatics, the movie has been a much-argued-about talking point for more than … Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Non-Challenge Content / Old School Blog; So Wait??? 1 Answer. The characters are pulled into these moments in surprising ways. In fact, there already is a section of the Southland Tales … In 2016, I implore you to give it a shot. Suffice is to say for now that Southland Tales is the story of America in the age of terror, an America where a nuclear terrorist attack on Texas leads to a massive surveillance infrastructure, a nascent resistance movement, and the desperate search for an alternative energy source in a world where the Middle East is on fire. The rampant fear of pretension has been one of the great mistakes of our current aesthetic era. But you don’t need to understand all of what’s going on for the themes to resonate, or to enjoy the many fantastic set pieces, which are sometimes hilarious and sometimes gorgeous. It’s not hard to see how this might happen in a narrative that focuses on Bush-era paranoia, surveillance, porn star reality shows, the apocalypse, time-travel, secret societies, meta … The title refers to the Southland, a name used by locals to refer to Southern California and Greater Los Angeles. 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