Review of Southland Tales (2007) by Douglash. — 14 Jan 2008

I can't remember the last time that a film generated such a dramatic rift within the critical community. I guess Kelly must have struck a nerve somewhere. Anyway, if your concept of cinema is circumscribed by the notion that a film must first be good in order to be great, then I'm guessing you'll hate this.

On the other hand, if you're willing to concede that sometimes a film can be downright awful as measured by all prevailing standards of reason and aesthetics, but (god only knows how) still achieve a measure of greatness in spite of itself, then Southland Tales is probably worth your consideration.

Sure. It's self-indulgent to the point of solipsism, but so is the postmodern hyper-capitalist anti-culture it seeks to parody. For my money, it's the most challenging North American film released in 2007.

And given the spate of exceptional films American directors turned out last year, that's really saying something.