Special Features
Southland Tales: Alluring But Bloated
Greg Kaczynski |
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 It’s the near future, 2008. There’s been another terrorist attack on American soil prompting the creation of a more powerful, more invasive Patriot Act producing an omniscient government company that controls the Internet (finally) and sees and knows every single thing we do: USIDent. Los Angeles is on the brink of social and economic collapse. In Venice, there are pockets of resistance to the surge of governmental power, groups of neo-Marxists who would like to topple capitalism and “dethrone God.” Meanwhile, a German scientist has mysteriously arrived in the States with a controversial but revolutionary system of Tesla-like energy. Oh yeah, and the elections are approaching.
This is the setting of writer/director Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, an odd mix of genres--comedy, political, sci-fi, action and musical (it’s true!)--that is fascinating to watch but doesn’t quite come together by the end. It’s a strange movie, obscure like Kelly’s feature debut Donnie Darko. And although it's entertaining, ultimately Tales is too convoluted, and viewers get the sense that perhaps Kelly is being snootily obtuse simply because he can.
It doesn’t help that Tales is technically chapters four through six in this whole story. The first three chapters, already published as graphic novels, are going to be re-released as one large collection coinciding with the film’s opening. While the backstory and characters are offered in the first mind-blowing minutes of the film, there is so much information that it’s likely that audience members who didn’t read chapters one through three beforehand might be left in the dust. Even if the opening is deftly followed, the following two hours will almost certainly leave viewers scratching their heads.
 The story double- and triple-crosses as the Neo-Marxists (led by a delightful Cheri Oteri) plot to use missing action star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson, who makes a stab at playing the neurotic, paranoid weirdo, but falls flat and is much more believable when he’s simply playing straight), who has amnesia, in a blackmail scheme against Senator Bobby Frost (Holmes Osborne). Also working with the anarchists is Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar, here playing against type and handling it surprisingly well), a retired pornstar who is trying to establish a completely new business model including a reality show and a line of power drinks. Boxer himself has a screenplay that he co-wrote with Krysta that he wants to get produced and which is becoming oddly prophetic. Working for and possibly against the domestic terrorists are twin brothers Roland and Ronald Taverner (the always fun to watch Seann William Scott).
On the government side of the story, there’s the senator, his wife, Nana Mae Frost (the strongest actor in the film, Miranda Richardson), their daughter Madeline Frost Santaros (Mandy Moore) and their advisor, Vaughn Smallhouse (it’s nice to see John Larroquette working again), all working behind the scenes to keep the senator electable. While in the background of it all, the eccentric Baron Von Westphalen (played by the properly eccentric Wallace Shawn) schemes to get his newfangled power supply (which runs on perpetual motion, can power all devices by electricity that will be transferred through the air and at the same time apparently produces a highly euphoric drug), Liquid Karma, approved by the government and general public.
Got it? Without giving much away, that’s the basics. There’s a lot going on here, and one can’t help but feel that multiple viewings might help make sense of this menagerie of characters and happenings. But upon a single viewing, the story feels crowded. Kelly crams far too many interesting ideas, exciting characters, objectives and plot devices into this two-and-a-half hours, biting off way more than he (or the audience) can chew. By the end of the film, which doesn’t satisfyingly provide any real conclusions, there’s nothing but disappointment that more answers weren’t presented. In fact, near the end, more questions come up: Will there be a sequel? More graphic novels? Regardless, viewers leave wanting more, which isn’t a good thing in this case, not after working so hard to keep up with the many plot twists; especially not when the line, “This is the way the world ends…Not with a whimper but a bang,” is repeated over and over in the film. There’s the expectation that the world is at least going to end.
 An example: in the last 30 minutes or so of the film, a fantastic concept is introduced, one of the few real a-ha moments of the movie. But by the time the credits roll, Kelly hasn’t done much besides use it as a device. The way some mysteries are explained is exciting, but it’s just not enough.
The film looks beautiful, however. Kelly handles the mix of near future Los Angeles and sci-fi technology well. USIDent is charmingly sterile, the citizens wonderfully scrubby and wild. The special effects have a Fifth Element/Repo Man gloss to them that seems just right. For those living in L.A., seeing the city be the backdrop for this violent, unpredictable future is riveting if not disconcerting. The opening is stylish, shiny and fast; the slick chapter titles, while sometimes feeling unnecessary, add to the overall experience. The music (by world-renowned Moby) is fun and appropriate, ranging from a send-back to ‘80s horror/sci-fi synth to pounding techno to more traditional film music.
All of this pretty wrapping aside, Southland Tales is a classic case of too much style over substance. It feels in-between and inconclusive, crowded and obtuse, yet, there is so much interesting stuff in this film it’s hard not to recommend it simply for the sheer spectacle and wonder of the non-predictable art house film that it is. Expectations must be set before going in: this film ultimately makes no sense. Kelly’s dystopian future story feels enigmatic to be enigmatic, and one has to wonder if there truly is any deeper meaning or clarity to be found.
Southland Tales is now playing in Los Angeles at the ArcLight Theater, the Landmark Theatre and Laemmle Monica.
For more information, visit southlandtales.com.
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