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Southland Tales, 2006

Southland Tales

English

Germany, USA, France

Rating:5.5
jinni

Profile of Southland Tales

The mood of Southland Tales is suspenseful, mind bending, and cynical. The plot centers around conspiracies, a future dystopia, and chaos. It features dark humor and satire. Southland Tales is a thriller movie. Stylistically, it is postmodernist, features an all-star cast, and includes a voice over. In approach, it is serious and realistic. Southland Tales is set in Los Angeles. Note that it includes profanity and violent content.

Summary of Southland Tales

Director Richard Kelly's follow-up to 2001's surprisingly popular DONNIE DARKO is a sprawling dystopian satire featuring an all-star cast and a storyline that splinters off into strange and unexpected places. The film begins with a nuclear explosion in Texas, which sparks a full-scale war between the U.S., the Middle East, and North Korea. Kelly's central character is action-movie star Boxer Santaros (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who is suffering from a bout of amnesia upon returning from the desert. His reasons for being in the desert are hazy, but he's hooked up with porn star Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and together they have written a screenplay about the end of the world. Santaros tries to prepare for the film by taking a ride with a cop named Taverner (Sean William Scott). But the cop is actually Taverner's twin brother, who is working for a shadowy group of neo-Marxists who are trying to overthrow the government. Meanwhile, a brilliant scientist (Wallace Shawn) unveils an incredible new energy source, the end of the world as predicted by the Book of Revelations draws ever closer, and Justin Timberlake (who plays an Iraqi war veteran) provides a voiceover that fills in some of the gaps. As the film builds to its explosive climax, the reasons for Santaros's time in the desert become clear, and the various strands of the plot are brilliantly woven together.

SOUTHLAND TALES is packed with ideas, tangents, song-lyrics-as-dialogue (in particular, "Three Days" by Jane's Addiction), cameos from established stars, and plenty of references to the post-9/11 political landscape. Kelly's film is bursting with imagination, and it will undoubtedly need multiple viewings for everything to sink in. Comparisons to films as varied as Richard Linklater's A SCANNER DARKLY and David Lynch's DUNE are valid, but Kelly's movie inhabits a wonderful world of its own, and is one of 2007's most unique and inspiring pieces of filmmaking.

Details

Language: English
Country: Germany, USA, France
Release date: 22 September 2007
Runtime: 145 min

Cast and Crew

The Rock as Boxer Santaros / Jericho Cane in Southland Tales
The Rock

as Boxer Santaros / Jericho Cane

Seann William Scott as Roland Taverner / Ronald Taverner in Southland Tales
Seann William Scott

as Roland Taverner / Ronald Taverner

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Krysta Kapowski / Krysta Now in Southland Tales
Sarah Michelle Gellar

as Krysta Kapowski / Krysta Now

Photos

Southland Tales (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)
Southland Tales (2006)

Clips

Southland Tales
Southland Tales: Official Trailer

Critics Reviews

Entertainment Weekly
Southland Tales has a mood unlike anything I've seen: dread that morphs into kitsch and then back again. It's a film that tried my patience, and one I couldn't shake off.
TV Guide
Delivers equal parts overwrought tedium and mind-bending beauty, spiked with brilliant throwaway images that more than make up for Kelly's heavy-handed hot-button pretensions.

Users Reviews

Great!
It's a cross between the Coen brothers and David Lynch. And that's just great. that goes for the soundtrack as well. Although a bit confusing a times, the movie has a story to tell. Don't bother with popcorn, it's not that kind of movie.
dont bother watching
I liked donnie darko... allot... watched it like 5 times in total since it was released... and let me tell you this, southland tales is NOTHING like donnie darko whatsoever i was really looking forward to another "mindf**k" movie and sure, this...
Likely to see
Not for me

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