Southland Tales premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival,[9] and was released theatrically in the United States on November 14, 2007. The film polarised critics,[10] who responded unfavourably to its running time and sprawling nature in spite of its "intriguing vision", and only made $374,743 during its international theatrical run.[7] It has developed a cult following in subsequent years. Kelly has expressed interest in expanding the film into a franchise.[11]
As narrated by Iraq War veteran Private Pilot Abilene, on July 4, 2005, El Paso and Abilene, Texas were destroyed and hundreds of thousands were killed by twin nuclear attacks, sending the United States into a state of chaos, hysteria and a Third World War, with the government re-introducing the draft. The PATRIOT Act has extended authority, due to the overwhelming victory of the Republican Party, to a new agency known as US-IDENT, which keeps constant surveillance on citizens. In response to the recent fuel shortage in the wake of global warfare, the German company Treer designs a generator of inexhaustible energy, which is propelled by the perpetual motion of ocean currents, called "Fluid Karma".
In 2008 Los Angeles, Senator and GOP Vice-Presidential candidate Bobby Frost presides over the opening of US-IDENT with his wife, Nana Mae Frost, installed as its director. Right-wing film star Boxer Santaros awakens on the beach with amnesia after a three-day disappearance. After awakening, he does not remember his marriage to Senator Frost's daughter Madeline and has instead begun an affair with former porn star turned-talk show host Krysta Now.
Meanwhile, a group of Neo-Marxist revolutionaries composed of Cyndi Pinziki, Zora Carmichaels and Ronald Taverner hatch a plan to turn the national spotlight against US-IDENT. They have kidnapped Ronald's twin brother, police officer Roland, and plan to outfit Ronald in his uniform and car in order to stage a racially motivated double-murder.
Boxer and Krysta have written a screenplay about riots caused by the slowing of the Earth's rotation, in which Boxer will play a police officer. He goes on a ride with Ronald to prepare for his role, bringing a video camera with him. Ronald responds to a staged domestic disturbance call where Neo-Marxists Dream and Dion, disguised as newlyweds, fake an argument. Unexpectedly, another cop, Bart Bookman arrives on the scene, murders Dream and Dion, and takes the camera. Ronald and Boxer run out of the house in a panic. In the meantime, US-IDENT raids the Neo-Marxist headquarters, with the kidnapped Roland escaping by jumping into a dumpster.
Boxer is then contacted by one of Frost's aids, Vaughn Smallhouse, who sends a car to pick him up. Ronald meets up with Zora and tries to convince her that something has gone wrong; however, Zora has actually partnered with Bookman to murder the couple and injects Ronald with a syringe of liquid Karma, leaving him unconscious in the street. Nearby, Roland awakens in the dumpster and climbs out, only to be captured by Walter Mung, an ice cream truck-based arms dealer.
When Boxer arrives at the Frost mansion, Treer scientist Baron Von Westphalen and his entourage are also present. The Frosts receive a call from Pinziki, who demands $10 million in exchange for Boxer and Krysta's sex tape. During the conversation, it becomes clear that while Frost is seeking the presidency, Von Westphalen seeks world domination using the leverage of his energy machine. Boxer receives a phone call from Starla Von Luft, a US-IDENT monitoring agent who is posing as a character from Boxer and Krysta's screenplay, and asks him to meet her at the Santa Monica beach.
The next day, Krysta stops by Zora's apartment to buy drugs for the party, and takes the videotape of the double murder, mistaking it for her sex tape. At the beach, she puts it in a Neo-Marxist dropbox, so that the contents will later be made public, and Zora and Bookman are shot dead by police while attempting to steal back the tape. Nearby, Ronald awakens and sets out to find his brother. He encounters a young man named Martin Kefauver in an SUV and stops him from killing himself to avoid the draft, and the two go out in search for Roland. Smallhouse meets Pinziki at a nearby restaurant to exchange money for the sex tape, and warns him about the US-IDENT murder tape. Boxer arrives at the beach and meets Starla, who threatens to kill herself if he doesn't allow her to perform oral sex on him. Private Abilene shoots her dead from his perch at the top of the pier and Boxer runs off, only to be confronted by supposed friend Fortunio, who knocks him unconscious and returns him to the Frosts.
The Frosts and the city prepare for a party to celebrate the launch of Von Westphalen's Mega-Zeppelin, which runs entirely on Liquid Karma. On the Zeppelin, an upper-class party gets underway with the Frosts, Westphalen's entourage, and Krysta's entourage onboard. Boxer leaves the main hall of the ship in search of answers, and finds a room with three of Westphalen's scientists, who explain that he was selected to travel through a time rift in the desert at the time of his disappearance, and is, in fact, his future self. Furthermore, the generator has altered the ocean currents, causing Earth to spiral out of control, ripping holes in the fabric of space and time. The scientists show him the corpse of his past self, who they say killed himself. Boxer asserts that his suicide is impossible because he is a "pimp", and "pimps don't commit suicide." One of the scientists also states that dire consequences would unfold if two identical human souls were to make physical contact. Boxer presses Serpentine for details, revealing that Boxer was actually murdered in a car bomb and that Roland was the one who kidnapped Boxer and drove him through the rift. She also confirms that Roland and Ronald being the same person, with his past and present self are coexisting.
Outside where the city is, as a firefight ensues between rioters and the police, both Taverners crash into each other. Roland is shot in the eye but survives. Inside the ice cream truck, the Taverners hold hands, causing the truck to rise into the air along with Kefauver, who stands on top with a shoulder-mounted heat-seeking ground-to-air missile. US-IDENT headquarters is raided by Fortunio and rioters who kill Nana Mae Frost. Inside the Zeppelin, Boxer returns to the main hall and takes the stage for a dance number involving Krysta and his wife, Madeline. He interrupts the number to order an evacuation, or else he will kill himself. Kefauver fires a rocket at the Mega-Zeppelin, destroying it, before he jumps off the truck. As the Taverners continue to hold hands, a time rift begins to grow in the sky. Roland threatens Ronald with suicide if he does not let go and tells him to "remember Fallujah"[a]. Ronald replies that it was not their fault, with Roland conceding that it was friendly fire. Abilene narrates that a new age is beginning, with Roland as its Messiah, concluding that he is a "pimp" and that "pimps don't commit suicide."
Seann William Scott as Officer Roland Taverner / Private Ronald Taverner, identical twin brothers, one who is a kidnapped U.P.U.2 officer in Hermosa Beach, California,[13] the other who is working for the neo-Marxist group who have told him he kidnapped and drugged his brother.[14]
Bai Ling as Serpentine, the Baron's sultry girlfriend who is seen quite often throughout the film, serving as an ambiguous character that knows more than she lets on.
Jon Lovitz as Bart Bookman, a violent police officer in love with Zora Carmichaels.
Mandy Moore as Madeline Frost Santaros, Boxer Santaros' wife and daughter of Senator Bobby Frost.
Holmes Osborne as Senator Bobby Frost, the father of Madeline Frost Santaros and husband of Nana Mae Frost.
Cheri Oteri as Zora Carmichaels, a Neo-Marxist and Bart Bookman's love interest.
Amy Poehler as Veronica “Dream” Mung, a Neo-Marxist activist.
Lou Taylor Pucci as Martin Kefauver, a young man who is drafted into military service for the Iraq War.
Wallace Shawn as Baron von Westphalen, a villain who utilizes ocean waves to create a source of power. He is the great-grandson of Jenny von Westphalen.[14]
Kevin Smith as Simon Theory, a legless Iraq War veteran who works for Baron von Westphalen.[16]
Wood Harris appears as Neo-Marxist activist Dion Element. Zelda Rubinstein and Beth Grant portray Dr. Katarina Kuntzler and Dr. Inga Von Westphalen, respectively, both being members of the baron's entourage. Will Sasso plays Fortunio Balducci, while Janeane Garofalo appears as General Teena MacArthur, whose scenes only appear in the Cannes Cut.[18][19]Eli Roth cameos as a man who is shot by US-IDENT while on the toilet.[20][21]
Production
Kelly wrote Southland Tales shortly before the September 11 attacks. The original script involved blackmail, a porn star, and two cops. After the attacks, Kelly revised the script. He said, "[The original script] was more about making fun of Hollywood. But now it's about, I hope, 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."[17] He described the film as a "tapestry of ideas all related to some of the biggest issues that I think we're facing right now . . . alternative fuel or the increasing obsession with celebrity and how celebrity now intertwines with politics".[22] With the film's premise of a nuclear attack on Texas, Kelly wanted to take a look at how the United States would respond and survive while constructing a "great black comedy."[22]
Kelly's breakthrough film, Donnie Darko, was released in the United States on October 26, 2001, the same day the PATRIOT Act was signed. Two months before Southland Tales was released, he announced the launch of Darko Entertainment.[23]
Kelly said: "[Southland Tales] will only be a musical in a post-modern sense of the word in that it is a hybrid of several genres. There will be some dancing and singing, but it will be incorporated into the story in very logical scenarios as well as fantasy dream environments."[24] Kelly said the film's biggest influences are Kiss Me Deadly, Pulp Fiction, Brazil, and Dr. Strangelove. He called it a "strange hybrid of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick".[25] The film often references religious and literary works; a policeman says, "Flow my tears," in reference to a Philip K. Dick novel of that name. ("Taverner" is the name of the main character in the same book and suffers identity problems of his own.) Pilot Abilene (Justin Timberlake) quotes Biblical scripture from the Book of Revelation in narrating the film and allusion is made both to Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and an altered version of T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men.[26]
Filming was slated to begin in July 2004, but after a year, it had not begun. Dwayne Johnson joined the cast in April 2005, and principal photography was slated to begin August 1, 2005 in Los Angeles.[13] Filming began on August 15, 2005, with a budget of around US$15–17 million.
Post-production
Kelly sent the organizers of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival a rough cut of Southland Tales on DVD assuming that it would not be accepted.[28] Much to his surprise, they loved it and wanted the film entered in competition for the Palme d'Or. He stopped editing the film and was also unable to complete all of the visual effects in time for the screening.[28] Kelly's film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2006 with a length of 160 minutes.[29] Kelly describes the negative reaction at Cannes as a "very painful experience on a lot of levels" but ultimately felt that the film "was better off because of it".[28] After the film's festival release, Southland Tales was purchased by Sony Pictures (via their label Destination Films) and Samuel Goldwyn Films, originally Sony Pictures Classics, Screen Gems and TriStar Pictures were up for US distribution rights.[30][31]
Universal Studios had originally optioned the U.S. rights, but after the Cannes screening, it was sold to Sony, although Universal still retained studio credit only and some international distribution rights. Kelly sought more financing to finish visual effects for the film, and he negotiated a deal with Sony to cut down on the film's length in exchange for funds to complete the visual effects.[32]
Kelly edited the film down to the basic storylines of the characters portrayed by Scott, Gellar, and Johnson. The director also sought to keep the musical number performed by Timberlake, based on "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers which he felt was the heart and soul of the film.[17] Editorial changes were made to restructure the order of the film's scenes, including re-recording all of Timberlake's voice-over. The director also added 90 new visual effects shots to the film and removed 20 to 25 minutes of footage from his initial cut.[33]
The soundtrack for Southland Tales was released in stores and online on November 6, 2007. Amongst the songs not available on the soundtrack but featured in the film are Muse's "Blackout", The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done", and Blur's "Tender". Additionally, tracks from Radiohead, Louis Armstrong, Beethoven, Kris Kristofferson, and several tracks from Moby's Hotel:Ambient are likewise absent from the album. The reason for the exclusion of some of these tracks, like the song by The Killers was as a result of a dispute with the record label.[28]
The track "Memory Gospel" was used from time to time by the CBC Radio One program Q in the background of an opening monologue given by host Jian Ghomeshi.[36]
Release
Marketing
Southland Tales was initially planned to be a nine-part "interactive experience", with the first six parts published in six 100-page graphic novels that would be released in a six-month period up to the film's release. The feature film comprises the final three parts of the experience. A website was also developed to intertwine with the graphic novels and the film itself.[13] The idea of six graphic novels was later cut down to three. The novels were written by Kelly and illustrated by Brett Weldele. Kelly wrote them while making the film and found it very difficult as it pushed him "to the edge of my own sanity", as he remarked in an interview.[28]
Director Richard Kelly at a screening of Southland Tales
Following its May 21, 2006 premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, where it was poorly received,[10][37] the final version of the film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2007.[38] The film was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on November 9, 2007, in partnership with Destination Films and Samuel Goldwyn Films,[39] but eventually opened in limited release in California on November 14, 2007. It opened in Canada, as well as nationwide in the United States, in just 63 theaters,[7] on November 16, 2007. The film was released in the UK on December 7, 2007, exclusively to UK cinema chain Cineworld in a limited number of locations.[citation needed]
Home media
The Region 1DVD was released on March 18, 2008, in North America and the Region 2 release was on March 31, 2008, in the United Kingdom. The film was released on Region 4 DVD in Australia on April 30, 2008. Special features include a 33-minute documentary USIDent TV: Surveiling the Southland and a 10-minute animatedshort filmThis Is the Way the World Ends (which was not included on the R2 and R4 editions). On March 25, 2009, the R2 DVD was released in France.
On September 8, 2008, it was announced that it would be one of the five films released on Blu-ray on November 18, 2008. The only new special feature announced was an audio commentary by Kelly. On October 26, 2020, Arrow Video announced a remastered version approved by Richard Kelly released on Blu-ray on January 26, 2021. This release includes both the original theatrical cut and the Cannes cut.
Many critics responded unfavorably to the film's long running time and sprawling nature. Roger Ebert described the Cannes screening as "The most disastrous since, yes, The Brown Bunny."[10]Salon.com critic Andrew O'Hehir called the Cannes cut "about the biggest, ugliest mess I've ever seen."[40]Jason Solomons, in The Observer (UK), said that "Southland Tales was so bad it made me wonder if [Kelly] had ever met a human being" and that ten minutes of the "sprawling, plotless, post-apocalyptic farrago" gave him the "sinking feeling that this may be one of the worst films ever presented in [Cannes] competition."[41] A handful of the American and European critics, however, were more positive.[42]The Village Voice critic J. Hoberman, for example, called Southland Tales "a visionary film about the end of times" comparable in recent American film only to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.[43]
Critical response
41% of 106 reviews compiled by review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes are positive, and the average rating is 4.9 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Southland Tales, while offering an intriguing vision of the future, remains frustratingly incoherent and unpolished."[44] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 44 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[45]
Glenn Kenny, in his review for Premiere criticized the film's style, "Kelly's camera placement and framing are at best textbook and at worst calamitously mediocre."[46] In her review for the Los Angeles Times, Carina Chocano wrote, "You get the sense that Kelly is too angry to really find any of it funny. It's easy to empathize with his position, not so easy to remain engrossed in a film that's occasionally inspired but ultimately manic and scattered."[47]David Edelstein's review in New York magazine criticized the film's writing, "Kelly aims high and must have shot off his own ear, which is the only way to account for the dialogue."[48]
On the program Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper and guest critic Michael Phillips gave the film a negative review. While Roeper called the film "Two hours and twenty-four minutes of abstract crap," Phillips felt that "the film has a head on its shoulders despite the fact that it can't find any direction" but nevertheless gave the film a thumbs down.[49] In his written review, Ebert gave the film 1 star out of four, stating he admired Kelly as a "cinematic anarchist", but criticized him for having "no sympathy at all for an audience unable to understand his plot", lambasting the narrative and dialogue as incomprehensible.[10]
J. Hoberman defended the film, yet again, in his review for the theatrical cut. "In its willful, self-involved eccentricity, Southland Tales is really something else. Kelly's movie may not be entirely coherent, but that's because there's so much it wants to say."[50]Manohla Dargis also gave the film a positive review in The New York Times, writing, "He doesn't make it easy to love his new film, which turns and twists and at times threatens to disappear down the rabbit hole of his obsessions. Happily, it never does, which allows you to share in his unabashed joy in filmmaking as well as in his fury about the times."[37]
The film remains enigmatic to many viewers and even some of its makers. In a 2011 interview, Justin Timberlake himself said, "To me, Southland Tales is performance art. I still don't know what that movie is about."[51] In 2013, Kelly said he considered this work as "the thing that I'm most proud of, and I feel like it's sort of the misunderstood child or the banished child."[6]
Box office
Southland Tales grossed $275,380 in limited release at the North American box office and $99,363 in Turkey and United Kingdom for a worldwide total of $374,743,[7] against a production budget of $17 million.[5][6]
Future
In January 2021, Kelly announced that developments are underway to expand the film into a franchise with intention being that the original cast return. The filmmaker explained that the original film is "chapters 4–6",[b] while a prequel project will explore "chapters 1–3"[b] with intentions being to do so through an animation medium, while additional projects can explore events that take place in 2024.[11] He stated that discussions are ongoing as to whether the projects should be released as films or in a long-form format through a streaming service.[52]
↑ In the third prequel graphic novel Part Three: The Mechanicals[12], it is revealed that in this incident, during Roland's time as a soldier, that he threw a grenade under the influence of Fluid Karma, causing Abilene to be injured.
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