Southland Tales

When I saw this film at the cinema it was impressive, in a complex, what-the-hell-is-going-on sort of way – much like Kelly’s previous film DONNY DARKO, which was a much simpler time travel story, in comparison. SOUTHLAND TALES also contains time travel/fourth dimensional aspects but it is so much more. In fact, one of the criticisms that could be levelled at TALES is it tries to cram to may ideas into it, and not simple ideas either. On one level it is a political and social satire, on another it is pre-apocalyptic story and on another it is a commentary on alternative fuel. It also doesn’t help that, like another well-known sci-fi epic, it is a trilogy that starts at episode four, so we come into the story without too much idea of what had gone on beforehand. Of course, if you are really interested the first three episodes are available as a graphic novel from Graphitti Designs and View Askew, Kevin Smith’s production company (order now from Amazon). In fact, Smith has a part in the film but like some of the other guest stars is almost unrecognisable.

Watching it for a second time on DVD it is no more fathomable but with so much happening it is possible to pick up on some things that were previously overlooked. Although the premise of the movie is simple: A nuclear attack on a small US town puts the country on full alert, with the government taking advantage of this to push its various agendas to control its citizens and the information it keeps on them (sound familiar?). Of course it is riddled with corruption and croneyism. But in California, the Southlands, life seems to be carrying on as usual in its hedonistic, sun-drenched oblivion, except for a few pockets of resistance and the arrival of a mysterious German company that arrives with a solution to worsening energy crisis that the war in the Middle East has perpetuated.

In this world we meet Boxer Santaros (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a movie action star, and while it may not have been much of an acting stretch for Johnson, he was surprisingly good at bringing the character to life so that we were behind him). Santaros, whoo also happens to be the son-in-law of a powerful politician, has amnesia after going missing and has befriended Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) an adult film star who is developing her own reality television series and related merchandising, while helping Boxer write a screenplay. They, and some of their Marxist underground cohorts, have kidnapped a police officer and are using his twin brother to help carry out their plot to expose and destroy the government’s corruption. But it gets more complicated than that with sub-plots and interconnecting and parallel stories and a whole load of weird characters that would take pages to try and explain. The best thing to do is see it and go along for the ride, then see it again to try and figure out what was going on.

This ensemble piece has some great performances, one of the most surprising being Justin Timberlake (right), who is almost unrecognisable, with a massive scar disguising his pop-star looks. However he does do a song that is a match, in its surrealness, for Jeff Bridges’ bowling musical interlude in THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

While it is supposed to be a comedy it is no lightweight and will require you to engage your brain before watching, and considering the amount of mindless sci-fi that has come out, and will come out in during the summer, this is a welcome change. Whether it is a work of genius or self-indulgent rubbish is really up to the viewer to decide. However, it is definitely worth a look at least once or twice, and with DVD commentaries from director Kelly and Kevin Smith, which may add further confusion but entertaining confusion.

SOUTHLAND TALES is out now from Universal Pictures and available from major retailers including Amazon and Play.