Click Image for Trailer.Southland Tales is writer/director Richard Kelly's second film, his first being Donnie Darko. Southland Tales is very much in the vein of Independent cinema both in production, story, and visuals. Production was the film had a rough road, shooting was delayed a year until the full cast was in place and funding came after it's festival release. Cherry Road Films funded the initial production for around 15-17 million, which is quite a lot for an independent, but due to the cult following and video release success of Donnie Darko, Kelly was in a prime spot to get better funding for Southland Tales. The films initial edit was 160 minutes long and once it hit festivals it was purchased by Sony Pictures. Kelly and Sony negotiated a deal where more funding for post production would be granted if the film's length was cut. Once more funding came in, Kelly added 90 visual effects and cut the film by 20-25 minutes. The film itself got horrible reviews, especially at the Cannes film festival and it only brought in around $350,000 at the box office. One could say Southland Tales was a hugely independent failure, but don't underestimate the complexities of Kelly film making abilities.
Visually the film was some what traditional in terms, but what was interesting was the use of flat colors within the film. I think Kelly tends to keep his images very dismal and gray, which fits the mood of this film, which puts the present day US in a doomsday situation. But where this films independence really shines is in it's content. Kelly has a unique voice in film and his stories are unique and very complex in nature. Donnie Darko is a prime example, if anyone had visited the website for the film it is very detailed in it's background stories and outlining stories. Southland Tales is the same way, it is actually only three parts of a six part story, the other three were written into books and were going to be released monthly up until the release of the film, this however did not work out. The film starts with the start of World War III, and the US has now blocked off state boarders and citizens need state visa to enter other states. Extremist groups develop and radical political parties and developed. The story centers around an action film actor who suffers memory lose who has ties to right winged political members. He is being sought out by the US and kept tabs on by a Neo-Marxist group. The film is narrated by an Iraq veteran who spins the tale with among other things quotes from the book of Revelation. The film is a satirical fantastical story critiquing ideas of religion and post 9/11 America. Kelly describes it as "creating a piece of science fiction that's about a really important problem we're facing, about civil liberties and homeland security and needing to sustain both those things and balance them." He also sites the films inspirations were the films Kiss Me Deadly, Pulp Fiction, Brazil, and DR. Strangelove. I would recommend this film to people who liked Donnie Darko because it's in the same nature of that film, a world on the brink of destruction with science fiction themes and rips in time. Although not critically of financially successful, the film is worth seeing and Kelly again displays a unique and independent way to weave a good story. Let's just hope Richard Kelly gets the praise he deserves as an American independent film maker.
3 comments:
As you mentioned "Southland Tales" received horrible reviews. Did the film even come to Milwaukee? If it did it didn't stay long.
What interests me about Kelly is that despite whether people like or the hate the guy's films he definitely stays true to his own voice and makes the films he wants to make. Donnie Darko didn't do that well but then did fairly well when the DVD was released. I wonder if the same thing will happen with Southland Tales (although I highly doubt it).
While many people think of Kelly as an "indie" director, especially after Dark he clearly isn't trying to stay in that niche as Southland Tales has a pretty big budget and bigger named actors.
After the horrible reviews I wonder how Kelly's next project will do and whether he'll get the funding. He's very interesting because he can't quite be pegged as an independent or Hollywood director. He uses larger funds to create aesthetic worlds that require more production, however his ideas are not that mainstream, as they're usually more challenging.
Jacob, the film did indeed come to Milwaukee, however, it only screened for like a week at the Mayfair Mall theater (a horrible place for the film in my opinion). I bought the film in hopes that it wouldn't be as bad as I had heard. A big fan of Donnie Darko, I expected to be truly entertained and mystified once again. Well, mystified I was, but entertained...not so much. I was totally confused by the movie and basically thought it was stupid. I liked the concept of the end of the world and all, but the combination of the strange and obnoxious cast list, the crazy high tech imagery, and the intense storyline of the film left me pretty worn out. I think Richard Kelly made a big mistake on this one, and wasted a lot of money doing it. I also thought it was horrible marketing to put the film alongside three or four or whatever graphic novels costing $20 a piece. So in order to get the whole story, you're looking at $80 to $100. Ridiculous.
These are interesting reviews and comments, I only wish I'd been able to do this sooner. I've been waiting to comment on this film because I had gotten it in the mail from Blockbuster a week before this post and STILL have not been able to watch it.(yeah ive had it that long) I'm a fan of Donnie Darko and so thought I would check out Kelly's sophomore attempt at film making. Even though, what made me curious about the film was its all star cast of what some might consider the very best of Hollywood's worst actors and pop stars. I couldnt believe this cast, but then again, Kelly proved his direction of actors well in his first film, so maybe he's magic behind the camera. I watched the trailer and thought that the film look "interesting" and thought I'd give it a try. So although i still haven't seen it I wanted to comment on this post nonetheless. I'm sure as soon as finals are over it'll be priority, also because I'm tired of looking at it sitting on my desk.
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