{"id":709,"date":"2008-03-19T21:30:15","date_gmt":"2008-03-20T01:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/19\/southland-tales\/"},"modified":"2022-10-22T22:58:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T02:58:52","slug":"southland-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/southland-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"Sold out but not a soldier: Richard Kelly’s bizarre Southland Tales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I don’t know if the roughly 140 minute version of Southland Tales<\/em> that made it to DVD is a butchered or merely abbreviated version of a masterpiece, but what I just saw is an unholy mess. I’m one of director Richard Kelly’s apologists for his divisive film Donnie Darko<\/em>, which I found strangely affecting. Like Southland Tales<\/em>, it was heavily edited down before release, and the abbreviated theatrical version doesn’t even make logical sense. Its emotional appeal is hard to pin down, and yet I found it hugely involving and moving. I was rooting for Kelly on his big follow-up, and even though it made the best-of-the-year lists of both The New York Times<\/em> and The Village Voice<\/em>, I guess I’m on the losing team now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening moments recall Cloverfield<\/em><\/a> and the TV series Jericho<\/em> with ersatz home video footage of a nuclear attack on Texas. A long barrage of infographics, television fragments, and narration follows, outlining a tremendously involved backstory. Kelly has obviously created a huge fictional universe, the bulk of which proves superfluous to the comparatively simple story that concerns the bulk of the film that follows. Perhaps Southland Tales<\/em> is the first entry in this Kellyverse, and indeed, it is comprised of four chapters (starting, no doubt modeled after Star Wars<\/em>, with “Chapter 4”). But after this failure it’s hard to imagine Kelly securing the funding to complete additional chapters (at least as films; television or comics seem both more appropriate and more frugal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wallace
Be thankful I couldn’t find a still of them making out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ensemble cast is extraordinarily weird, featuring The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, plus a complement of little people. No less than five past and present Saturday Night Live<\/em> cast members also appear: Cheri Oteri, Amy Poehler, John Lovitz, Nora Dunn, and Janeane Garofalo (credited but I think I only spotted her in one shot near the end). Rounding it out are Miranda Richardson, John Laroquette, Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale in The Wire<\/em>), and Kelly-booster Kevin Smith. And is that the weird little French woman from The City of Lost Children<\/em><\/a>? You haven’t seen a movie until you’ve seen one with Wallace Shawn and Bai Ling making out. But in a way I suppose that makes sense; they are both aliens from another planet. Different planets, maybe, but still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Justin
Justin Timberlake shills for Budweiser (not shown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The music is likewise eccentric: Jane’s Addiction’s punk\/prog masterpiece “Three Days” figures in the dialogue as an enigmatic prophesy and as the introduction to the official movie website, and Moby does his best Vangelis impression for his original score. Justin Timberlake (filmed in separation to most of the action) serves as narrator but also stars in a bizarre musical interlude and\/or Budweiser commercial and\/or Iraq war commentary: “I got sold out but I’m not a soldier.” And, why not toss in pop star Mandy Moore?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know if the roughly 140 minute version of Southland Tales that made it to DVD is a butchered or merely abbreviated version of a masterpiece, but what I just saw is an unholy mess. I’m one of director Richard Kelly’s apologists for his divisive film Donnie Darko, which I found strangely affecting. Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,2],"tags":[1010,1022,1009,1007,1013,1018,1011,1023,1020,1024,1017,1012,1006,98,1015,85,1016,1008,1021,1019],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1-star","category-movies","tag-amy-poehler","tag-bai-ling","tag-cheri-oteri","tag-donnie-darko","tag-janeane-garofalo","tag-john-laroquette","tag-john-lovitz","tag-justin-timberlake","tag-kevin-smith","tag-mandy-moore","tag-miranda-richardson","tag-nora-dunn","tag-richard-kelly","tag-rock","tag-sarah-michelle-gellar","tag-science-fiction","tag-seann-william-scott","tag-southland-tales","tag-wallace-shawn","tag-wood-harris"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/southland-tales-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-br","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1394,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/speed-racer\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":0},"title":"It’s All Too Much in the Wachowski’s Live-Action Cartoon Speed Racer","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The good news is that the Wachowski's Speed Racer is fun and eye-poppingly extraordinary to watch. 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What will it be? What will it be? What will it be? Perfect for the Dork Report: a veritable masterclass in committee-think & graphic design don'ts... and it has to do with iPods! Still more new territory for Google. I guess they're aiming for .Mac here.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5692,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-hunt-is-weak-tea-in-a-time-of-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":3},"title":"The Hunt is weak tea, at a time that calls for strong coffee","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I watched Craig Zobel's The Hunt mostly out of curiosity, to see what the red hats were so worked up about. 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There is potential for satire somewhere in the premise, but it's too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hillary Swank & Betty Gilpin in The Hunt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunt-2020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunt-2020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunt-2020.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunt-2020.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/hunt-2020.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1153,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/dark-city\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":4},"title":"Into the never-ending night of Alex Proyas’ Dark City","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I recall Dark City being one of my favorite films of 1998, and I would have rated it quite highly had I been keeping score at the time. It is a bold science fiction film noir most obviously indebted to Blade Runner, but also to favorites Brazil (especially the sequences\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dark-city-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1997,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/scratching-in-the-dirt-peter-gabriels-scratch-my-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":709,"position":5},"title":"Scratching in the Dirt: Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As a Peter Gabriel fan for over two decades, it's difficult to admit that I find myself struggling to appreciate his first new album in many years. There have always been three core things to love about Gabriel's work: his literate songwriting, meticulous soundscapes, and emotionally expressive voice. 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