Red-flagging ‘Southland Tales’, Again

IMDB Keywords: Riot / Dream Like / Marxism / Dystopic Future / Ice Cream Truck

Lest we forget that the 2 and 1/2 hour, pre-apocalyptic, dark-Orwellian-comedy Southland Tales was broadly panned at Cannes over a year ago - in light of news that it has finally earned a release date - November 9th, The Guardian’s Shane Danielsen opts to start a pile-on redux, referring to Southland, boasting [?] such talents as Seann William Scott, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, as “the worst film I’ve ever seen” right out of the block. Reflecting back on 2006:

“Southland Tales was one of those rare Cannes moments…when more or less the entire audience was united in its contempt. As the film proceeded, there was the sound of jaws dropping, then titters of laughter - growing steadily louder as the audience contemplated the full panoply of horrors on display, which included Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, as Boxer Santaro, literally twiddling his fingers - yes, like Shaggy in Scooby-Doo - to convey his terror, and Wallace Shawn, one of America’s finest contemporary playwrights, dressed in a silver foil costume straight out of Radar Men from the Moon.”

Hindsight shows director Richard Kelly’s previous film, Donnie Darko, grasping hands with Little Miss Sunshine and Napoleon Dynamite to form the trinity of most overrated cult-hits of the decade, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that his next was dissed and dismissed at its overseas unveiling, then triaged in some kind of bombed-out bunker for another year of rethinking and visual retooling as a salvage attempt. Edits or not, Danielson concludes that Southland Tales “is unrelenting; there are no highs or lows - and no character development, nor any story to speak of. And no amount of creative re-editing will disguise that..”

tedzee | Permalink | August 2 2007 | Comments (View)