Mr. Floppy 11.16.08: Southland Tales

Posted by Peter Bielik on 11.16.2008

Drink a shot of peach schnapps every time you read Donnie Darko.

This week‘s film was suggested to me by 411s own Arnold Furious. I don't know if Southland Tales managed to get out to the general public (if I say it raced through theaters, it would be an understatement), but the fact is I expected a lot more from Donnie Darko director's new movie. Or better yet- something different.




Year of the cock-up: 2007

Budget: $15,000,000

Domestic gross: $275,380

Foreign gross: $99,363

Worldwide gross: $374,743


Richard Kelly made the world notice his name for the first time in 2001 with Donnie Darko, a movie I think everybody has at least heard of by now. Well, everybody- my dad hasn't heard of it. Neither has my mom. Or many of my friends. Actutally, there are a lot of people who don't know that movie even exists. But I digress. Absolutely ignored in cinemas, this film caught quite a second breath on DVD and found great popularity thanks to its mysterious plot, interesting music, good cast, attractive visuals and specific atmosphere. With every movie like Donnie Darko comes a pretty large group of admirers who find great pleasure in endless discussions about what the hell happened in the film. Was Donnie a lunatic? Did he travel through time? Who exactly is this rabbit guy? How come Patrick Swayze still gets work? This ambiguity was the main reason Donnie Darko became popular, because (pseudo)intellectuals around the globe could endlessly discuss on message boards which interpretation is the right one and what exactly do all the side-turns (pedophilia, criticism of suburban lifestyle, children's contests...) mean in the grand scheme. Kelly's debut was even compared to David Lynch's work. Lynch is another guy who can release a monstrosity like Inland Empire upon the world and coffee shop inteleectuals in turtlenecks will jump around in joy.

I've seen Donnie Darko few years ago without knowing anything about the plot. I just knew it was a cult film. I liked the mysterious atmosphere and I liked the ambiguity. The fact I didn't fully know what was going on added a lot to many scenes which wouldn't otherwise been so effective (for example when Frank the Rabbit appears in the theater).

Kelly however didn't intend for his film to be ambiguous in any way so after the success of the original, a Director's Cut was released. This cut set things straight- paralel dimensions and time travel. And funnily enough, the film lost a good chunk of its appeal this way. Suddenly, there was nothing left to think and wonder about. To me, it said something about Kelly's storytelling abilities. You know, to cut a film in such a way that it's punchline and plot escape a lot of viewers serves as a proof that the director has a problem with delivering his material in a comprehensible way. Of course, that's just my opinion, but I think if Donnie Darko's original form was the director's cut, the movie wouldn't reach such a cult status, because all the discussing about the plot would be non-existent.

My opinion aside, Kelly's first film became a modern classic, so it was clear he would get another chance to realize his wild visions. Kelly wrote the script for Southland Tales back in 2001, but after 9/11 several adjustions and rewrites were made. The original script was more or less a satire on Hollywood, but in the light of the terrorist attacks and their aftermath Kelly decided it was time to offer his commentary on the state of things and where exactly we may be headed. As a catalyst for his plot, he used a nuclear attack on Texas and how USA dealt with this situation. In March 2004, Kelly and Cherry Road Films began development of Southland Tales.

While casting the film, Kelly consciously sought out actors that he felt had been pigeonholed and wanted to showcase their "undiscovered talents". That's probably a sign that he began to believe in his own hype and became convinced that he, just like Quentin Tarantino, has the gift to discover talents where no one else would look for them. Donnie Darko worked out fine (Jake Gyllenhaal earned himself a career by his performance), but the crazy cast that Kelly unleashes upon the viewer in Southland Tales is truly something to behold. It's admirable he wanted to give some actors an opportunity to show what they can do, but he chose rather strange subjects. The Rock is good in action films and comedies, but he's not that good at playing someone suffering from amnesia. Plus, his way of acting out fear is so bad I really hope it was intentional. Another piece of work is Jon Lovitz as a cop working secretly with an extremist group who call themselves Neo-Marxists (don't even bother asking). He is one of the biggest casting whatthefucks I've ever seen.
There are other odd cast-members here – Christopher Lambert as an arms dealer, SNL cast as the Neo-Marxists and so on. Also there's a group of scientists in this film that develops a new power source called Fluid Karma (don't ask again) who look so bizarre, it's kind of uncomfortable to look at them.
The rest play their part only so-so, but at least they do not embarrass themselves and the only one who somewhat rises above others is Justin Timberlake as the narrator. I was caught off guard by this, because so far I haven't seen anything worth writing home about from him, but here he steals the damn film with his small role. The musical scene in which he sings "All these things I've done" by The Killers is probably the best part of the film.


Kelly has stated that the film's biggest influences are Kiss Me Deadly, Pulp Fiction, Brazil and Dr. Strangelove. He also calls it a "strange hybrid of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick". OK, whatever the hell that means. The film often references religious and literary works, such as Phillip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men and of course the ever-popular Bible. I already wrote that Donnie Darko had many unnecessary side-turns, but Southland Tales is so full of characters, plot, references and whatever else, it's really impossible to keep up with the pace of the film. It's no secret that the film is divided to chapters IV-VI, which is not a reference to the original Star Wars trilogy (although I suppose in this kind of film, anything can reference anything, so maybe I'm wrong), but a prime result of the fact that Kelly decided to release the FIRST half of the story in the form of comic books. I haven't read them, only a short synopsis on wikipedia. If I didn't, I wouldn't have missed anything important as just like with Donnie Darko- the less you know, the more you can enjoy the ride.

After finishing the main shoot, Kelly sent the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival a rough cut of Southland Tales on DVD assuming that it would not be accepted. Much to his surprise, they loved it and wanted the film entered in competition for the Palme d'Or. He stopped editing the film and was also unable to complete all of the visual effects in time for the screening. This initial positive reaction (which is quite puzzling as far as I'm concerned- where they high or what?) quickly disappeared after the film's premiere at the festival itself. The reaction was very negative and Kelly was forced to cut his film down from the original 160 minutes to more bearable 144. Universal Pictures had originally optioned the U.S. rights, but after the Cannes screening, it was sold to Sony, although Universal still retained some international rights. Kelly sought more financing to finish visual effects for the film, and he negotiated a deal with Sony to cut down on the film's length in exchange for funds to complete the visual effects, so maybe that's the main reason the self-indulgent filmmaker shortened his masterpiece.

Southland Tales were released in limited capacity and because there was obviously no interest from both the critics and moviegoers alike, a wider release never happened. So even though the film was fairly cheap (especially for the scope that Kelly was aiming for), it made absolute shit at the box office. Same thing happened with Donnie Darko and Domino (which was written by Kelly). It's almost starting to become a trend for the young filmmaker.

I have seen Southland Tales and even though I'm not by any means an enemy to weird films (I liked Lynch's Lost Highway), it's not something I would want to watch again. The entire film simply felt too full for me. I liked the beginning showing how US operates after the attack on Texas, I liked the Timberlake musical part and some other bits and pieces, but as a one meaningful piece, Southland Tales just fell flat for me. It's one of those films which are best described as an author's masturbation. It's megalomaniacal. Here, the author simply wanted to include too much stuff and get highly philosophical without actually knowing if he has what it takes to do those things.
Kelly may yet prove he really is a great filmmaker, but he probably bought into his own hype way too soon. One thing I'll give to him and the movie though- I haven't seen anything quite like it before. I just don't know if I want to watch something similar.






Quite an easy choice this week. Richard Kelly was his biggest enemy with Southland Tales. I'm not saying the guy is a dumb wannabe. He must be a very intelligent person to be able to put together intertwined plots like this. Some ideas presented are interesting. It's just that he needs to learn how to deliver his films, so they can be digested by someone who doesn't have the time or will to read stashes of additional material and re-watch the film three times to fully understand it. Once he starts to work on his concepts and delivers them in a simpler and more effective way (for the intellectuals out there- that doesn't mean worse), he may have great success.
His next movie, The Box, looks quite interesting (although from what I've read it's based on an old Twilight Zone episode). He has a good bankable star in Cameron Diaz in it and the plot is interesting while fairly simple at the same time (with enough room for some smart additions). That will be the make or break film for Richard Kelly. If that film flops again, he's probably done for good. So good luck.

Since Southland Tales was a Richard Kelly vehicle, I hereby proudly present him with the Mr. Floppy award.




I don't know if I would suggest this film to anyone. Even after the cutting, it's still overly long and IMO poorly paced. Halfway through, I was really bored which didn't happen when I was watching Donnie Darko. If you like bizarre and weird films- watch it. If you're a die hard fan of either of the actors- watch it. If you absolutely loved Donnie Darko- watch it. But other than that- I don't think you're missing anything if you pass this puppy up.

But it may be interesting when you're high- so potheads, go right ahead.:-) Not that I'm advocating drugs here.


- Peter