Southland Tales - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
IT’S been some time in coming but Southland Tales – writer-director Richard Kelly’s eagerly-anticipated follow-up to Donnie Darko drew a mixed response from Cannes.
Some people walked out, others described it as virtually unwatchable but some continued to hail Kelly as a unique talent within Hollywood.
Set in Los Angeles in 2008, the film picks up at a time when the city stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster.
Taking place over the course of three days that culminate in a massive 4th of July celebration, the film features a large ensemble cast of characters that includes Boxer Santaros (The Rock), an action star stricken with amnesia, Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott), a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.
Like Donnie Darko, it uses a lot of pop music throughout and is further notable for featuring Justin Timberlake as a crazed Iraq war veteran selling a spiritual drug.
Kelly described it as “political pop art” that’s designed to push people’s buttons. But he admitted to being surprised by the depth of feeling generated towards it.
Many critics have damned it as a ridiculously overblown piece of work that’s also impenetrible.
But Kelly defended much of its content at the subsequent press conference, saying: “The film is meant to be a tapestry of ideas all related to some of the biggest issues that we are facing right now -whether it is homeland security or alternative fuel or our increasing obsession with celebrity.
“I tried to use humour to talk about some very serious issues we are facing as a country and a planet,” he continued. “It’s pop art but political. It’s aggressive and confrontational and we need more art like that.”
Among the film’s many emotive plot-lines is one involving the imagined impact a terrorist nuclear attack could have on the United States.
While the country’s growing fascination for celebrity is also explored through Gellar’s porn star – who has her own drink line, a talk show and a reality show.
Gellar, who attended Cannes with Kelly and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, was quick to defend its themes, claiming they were very close to the truth.
“I have watched specifically America change to this crazy height of celebrity,” she explained. “What seemed ridiculous to us three years ago has slowly evolved into something real.”
The film is playing in competition at Cannes – although it has failed to emerge as a front-runner for the prestigious Palme d’Or.
It will be released in UK cinemas later this year and looks certain to be a huge talking point.
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