"This is the way the World ends. Not with a whimper but a bang."Richard Kelly (yep, Donnie Darko!) re-written T.S. Eliot lines (The Hollow Men) are circulating for a while in different cinematic contexts, but after the Southland Tales' disasterous Cannes premiere in 2006 we had to wait more than a year to enjoy it (the original 160 minutes became 144 in the theatrical version). Kelly gave enough time to read the prequel comics which shows the first three parts of the story. Southland Tales, the movie tells the final 4th, 5th and the 6th chapters. So here is my first, crucial advice: do not watch the film before reading these comics! Download or order them I don't care, just one thing don't forget: I warned you, without them the film might be a "bit" confusing... (Even if the first ten minutes tells briefly about the previous happenings a'la The Kingdom..)
"Two identical souls are walking on the face of the Earth. What will happen if they will shake hands?"
It could have been the main question of the movie (literally it is), but you feel already that cannot be so simple in Kelly's film. What else then? Damn, I felt that I cannot avoid to answer this question...
What if Iwould say it is about the end of the World? About the dead end (what a talkative expression...) of the American politics, about the end of all the dreams of today's technical and social visions. A perfect, actual, that's why very scary distopia about our straight way to the Hell, where the teenage sex is already a pop song, where an Orwellian police (USIdent) controls all our lives, where some Neo-Marxist underground cells are the only "hope", where Boxer Santaros
(omfg: The Rock!), a very bad actor (inside and outside of the film's world, too), and Krysta Now, some
cheap porno-media celeb are the key figures, our heroes...
Everything is started with tho flashes. Almost didactic: the collapsed WTC towers in Kelly's film transformed into two devastating nuclear mushrooms. In the 4th of July (when else..), 2005 Texas disappeared from the Earth. The World War 3 started, and the unavoidable - and well known - consequence came: oil shortage hit America. Only the new juice, the so called Fluid Karma can replace it. But that one has even bigger consequences. And "This is the way the World ends..."
... and the story starts. 2008, 3rd of July, just before the new presidential elections in the USA. Familiar, isn't it?:)
It's a typical "love or hate" film. You will hate because of the terrible acting, the confusing story, the not realistic but more stylistic visuals. And you will love it because of the same. The terrible acting is part of the concept: Kelly's unbelievable brave decision to use these characters just strenghtens the desperate situation. What a world we have with this "heroes"? Then the confusing story: it isn't at all - but you need to read first the comics, as I told you. That's all. And what about reality? I'm sure that the cinematic values within the sci-fi genres were never rooted theirselves into the ground of reality. Hey, if you tell a (Southland) tale, don't be afraid to use less realistic techniques. Kubrick, Lynch, and yes, even Fellini did the same. I believe Kelly is in a very good track, and if he won't be disappointed about the temporary, ephemeral critics (that made big the mentioned directors), and realizes that the aim is not to repeat the Donnie Darko's universal success, he can be part of these cinematic elite...
A bonus picture is necessary according I mentioned Fellini. Got it?
"Have a nice apocalypse!"
10/10
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