Have a Nice Apocalypse: Richard Kelly's Southland Tales

When a writer/director's debut movie is met with a shower of critical acclaim, I would imagine it puts a lot of pressure on them when it comes time to make their sophomore effort. The expectations are immensely high, but despite this, the filmmaker does have a valuable tool in their favor. Since their first feature was met with positive feedback, they will most likely be guaranteed the freedom to do whatever they want. That being the case, why not go for broke and make the movie you always dreamed of making? It'd be an even bigger risk to pass it up and take on another project, for this could be the one and only shot to create a particular vision.

Craig Brewer did it with the follow up to his conventional debut, Hustle and Flow, with Black Snake Moan. The chances he took were enormous and in my book, they paid off. The movie was not a commercial success and Brewer's deal with Paramount fell through, so I hope he's at least satisfied the picture exists. Black Snake Moan is one of those movies, I think, that will gain momentum as the years progress. Sophomore projects, unfortunately, often follow this pattern, and while it may not seem ideal, there's always anticipation the filmmaker will still get to see their movie properly recognized in their lifetime.

Richard Kelly had a stunning debut with Donnie Darko, a multi layered science fiction picture that also closely observed the hardships of adolescence. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, nobody cared and it looked as if it might never see the light of day. But then a funny thing happened. The picture got a small release, the critics responded positively, and the video release almost immediately attracted a horde of obsessed fans. Theater screenings began to emerge, a director's cut was released, and the world finally knew who Richard Kelly was and eagerly waited to see how he planned to blow their minds next.

Southland Tales is obviously a very important and personal work for Kelly. Keeping in mind that he may only get one shot at bringing it from page to screen, he pounced on it and never looked back. While the politics in Donnie Darko were subtle but certainly present, Southland Tales is out for blood. It was first unveiled at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival in a two hour and forty minute cut that left a good portion of the audience booing or heading for the door. How could something that felt so right to Kelly feel so wrong to the masses? In response, Kelly chopped seventeen minutes away, added a voice over narration, and was able to secure a release of less than one hundred screens. The question that remained was whether or not an audience would ever discover the movie as they had his debut.

Before finally seeing Southland Tales on DVD, I had read a swarm of negative reviews and a handful of praise, and while I'm not one to normally take in other opinions until after I've seen the picture myself, for some reason I could not help it. It had been a long time since I had grown so intrigued to see a movie, no matter how disastrous it was supposed to be. Lucky for me, the reviews really didn't give away anything that might ruin the experience, if there was going to be one. It was as if both sides of the fence were struggling to determine how they should describe the picture.

I've watched Southland Tales twice now, and I'm not sure how to quite convey it myself. The first time was a bit overwhelming more than anything; Kelly stuffs the picture with so much that it's often difficult to keep up with what is going on. The casting only adds to the confusion. Kelly has assembled a group of faces you never thought you'd see in the same movie, let alone one about the apocalypse (although many of them have been in movies you felt might lead to the apocalypse). And yet, even after the bewilderment of my initial run through, the movie continued to hold my brain hostage with scattered images and biblical quotes.

To put it simply, Southland Tales is about the United States of America in 2008. There's been another nuclear attack, this time in Texas, and the event has led to paranoia and widespread panic. The government has complete control over what people do, even spying on them while they take shits in an airport restroom. It's a presidential election year, and the hope is that the Republicans will win in order to put someone in office not afraid to "take charge." All the while, scandals are heating up that could affect the election and throw the country into even greater chaos.

Yeah, I'd have to say that's the super abridged version. To go into great detail about what happens in Southland Tales would take many, many pages. The more important question, of course, is does the movie accomplish what it sets out to do? When I was through, did I feel like it enhanced my life as a moviegoer in some way or another? After the first viewing, I was certain of three things: either, it was a masterpiece I had yet to grasp; it was a complete and dismal disaster; or it was settled somewhere in between greatness and pretentiousness. Seeing the movie a second time was beneficial not just because I understood it more on a plotting level, but also because I found more reasoning behind the odd slapstick and the occasionally vulgar dialogue. Plus, I found myself further sucked into the collage of fever dreams Kelly has so vividly cooked up, many of them complimented by Moby's transfixing score.

I have a hard time going along with the conclusion that the movie has nothing to say. If there's a problem with the picture, it's that it has too much to say. I am anxious to see the longer version, if nothing else just to know what had to go and if it would have plugged some more of the movie's themes together. This is Kelly's response to everything he finds wrong with America, and he's thrown it all into a big pot and stirred it up. It's disorienting, but then again, so are the realities of the issues being addressed. Too much coherency would be missing the point; I truly believe Kelly meant for us to be genuinely flustered with the movie's events.

Now back to the casting. Many reviews have ripped into Kelly, saying his choices were clever for clever's sake, but I don't buy it. Sure, seeing The Rock, Jon Lovitz , and Seann William Scott onscreen together was surreal and a bit distracting at first, as was adjusting to the fact that, yes, that's Christopher Lambert (!) standing next to Cheri Oteri. But once again, I think this was yet another way to let the viewer know that this is an America where nothing is what it seems, a place where rules are no longer going to apply. The world is about to end, so all bets are off.

I've been amazed at how much pure hatred has been slung at Southland Tales. It's not that I don't sympathize with the negative points of view; I guess I just tend to have a contrary response when a movie wears its aspirations on its sleeve as nakedly as this one does. I wonder if a lot of the movie's detractors are pissed off because they get the sense that Kelly doesn't give a fuck if we connect with the movie or not. This is a bleak outlook, although it's not one that would shock me. I, for one, have thrashed movies that felt like they were intentionally shutting me out. I'm forgiving with Southland Tales due to Kelly's gift of making me an active observer. It's established from the start that he doesn't want me to be a part of the action; he wants me to be an outsider capturing each moment as if it's a breaking news story. Whether or not this theory will bring others to appreciate the picture down the road is near impossible to predict. Let's have faith that the outcome of Kelly's movie doesn't come true before we can find out.


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