Review of Southland Tales (2007) by Kristen F — 22 Nov 2009

Just re-watched this flick today ... it's been about a year and a half since I bought it/last saw it. When I first gave it a glimpse, I had that proverbial "mind-fuck" where my brain imploded and scattered thoughts of time travel, the space-time continuum, teen horny-ness, and political satire all over the back wall.

Go ahead, ask me what this movie is about. It's about so many things that even the movie got lost along the way. Part action, sci-fi, political thriller, musical, comedy, shit - what doesn't this movie have? Can we just talk about the cast? It is incredibly diverse.

It's really out there - bravo to the casting directors. Booger, That creepy short lady from Poltergeist, Cheri Oteri, Buffy the Vampire slayer, Amy Poehler, Stiffler, Silent Bob, Justin Timberlake, a cameo by Eli Roth where he is shot in the chest while taking a dump, The Rock, John Lovitz, Mandy Moore, that guy who voices Rex the green dinosaur in the Toy Story movies, and Will Sasso and so forth.

It's ridiculous. This movie is ridiculous. It does ask questions, A LOT of them, and I guess in some ways it answers them. Biblical allusions, metaphors, similes, shit, this movie has all of the above.

There are some things in this movie that were really well executed, and then you have the shot storm that is everything else. The Ice Cream Truck vs a Hummer/ATM crash scene was brilliant and looked delightful - there were some Donnie Darko shout-outs throughout - some great [but horrifically odd] lines as well.

Notable ones: "If you don't let me suck your dick, I'm going to kill myself." and "His fucking dick was 200 inches long!" and "She just told me to go eat a dick!" This movie has so many layers that you could watch it a thousand times and catch something you didn't see before.

This is true with a lot of films out there, but the difference with this one is no matter how many times you watch it, it will make less and less sense. Logic is pushed to the side, and it takes one for the team.

Does this movie suffer from over-thinking it? Could be the opposite as well. With the soundtrack, Moby does a fantastic job with the originals - you can definitely tell it was very Moby-ish and future-y.

The Killers, The Pixies, I think I heard a little Radiohead, Janes Addiction, one of my favorite classical music pieces by Beethoven, and my top favorite: The National Anthem half in Spanish and half in English with a string quartet doing something that is unfamiliar to my ear behind the singer.

It blew my mind. Anyway, don't do what I did: watch the movie and then review and judge it right away. Give it time to sink in. It has to settle first. There is so much going on - pay attention to the background - the subtleties of this movie really made it for me.

The news reports in the background, the news tickers and many screens with all the shit going down on them - fireworks VS car bombs and such. Oh, and midgets. They are sprinkled across the film ... little cop midgets, government employed midgets, and so forth.

[some great imagery for you: midgets being sprinkled throughout a movie.] I was hungry after the flick though - some bitch shoving her mouth with Cheetos really got my stomach a grumbling. Just wow. What was to be expected? It's Richard Kelly's sophomore effort, and it shows.

I think I may want to see The Box, and see what other fucked up shit Kelly has up his sleeve.