In case you are wondering, you probably just won't get it.
Watch the Trailer here.For the record I did warn you that my reviews weren't going to be of the latest films, mostly just what I pick up along the way.
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| This is the sight of Manface running away from a film. Get used to it! |
I don't have much to say about it to be honest. I started watching it on the sofa with Manface who walked out after 10 minutes with his usual proclamation of 'this is sh**!' Although this time it was more of a 'this is sh**... right?'
It seems one thing Southland Tales is conclusively good at is making you doubt yourself in your boredom. It creates a real 'is it me, or him?' scenario which succeeds perfectly in perpetuating it's 'you just don't get it' culture. It's almost like an emotionally abusive partner; you should be aware that you're a little stupid for loving it, but instead it convinces you that if you don't love it it's because you're stupid.
In Manface's defence I could tell he tried really hard to stick around this time, but Southland Tales is massively trying. It almost became the third ever film I couldn't be bothered to finish.
Southland Tales is set in 2008, three years after a nuclear attack on Texas which has wiped out half of the state. Now America, and soon the world, is powered by a perpetual motion power called fluid karma rendering oil irrelevant. The main narrative follows Boxer Santos (Dwayne Johnson) an action movie star and the husband of a Senator's daughter who is suffering with amnesia. His struggle with identity is compacted as the lines between his forgotten past, blank present and imagined future blur. He is unknowingly having an affair with Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) a porn star with a plan for total stardom starting with her 'topical' chat show, album, energy drink and dubious ties with the Neo Marxism movement. Finally we have Ronald Taverner (Seann William Scott) an LAPD officer and another character suffering a bout of severe memory loss on the search for his supposed twin brother Roland.
If this sounds complicated, trust me its only the tip of a thoroughly and pointlessly convoluted iceberg. Usually I quite like this kind of hodgepodge of narrative, it adds a kind of chronological realism and allows the reader to pick for themselves what they deem relevant all the while desperately pondering over those they though not. In writing my summary I've missed out a lot, I've probably confused or mistaken even more. However, trying to write a concise synopsis for the film kind of represents how I felt about watching it. I really couldn't be bothered. The effort of processing it genuinely isn't worth the payoff. I love Donne Darko (2001) but Richard Kelly has really missed the mark with this one.
