Southland Tales (2006)

Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Kelly

Writer:

Richard Kelly

Stars:

Carlos Amezcua, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Dwayne Johnson

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carlos Amezcua	...	Himself
Curtis Armstrong	...	Dr. Soberin Exx
Robert Benz	...	Tab Taverner
Todd Berger	...	Bing Zinneman
Dave Carlin	...	News Reporter
Joe Campana	...	Brandt Huntington
Chris Andrew Ciulla	...	UPU 4 Officer 3 (as Chris Ciulla)
Rebekah Del Rio	...	Vanessa Vera Cruz
Aaron Dillar	...	Jimmy Hermosa
Nora Dunn	...	Cyndi Pinziki
Shari Dunn	...	USI Dent Reporter
Michele Durrett	...	Starla Von Luft
Jon Falcone	...	Soldier Falcon
Leila Feinstein	...	Herself
Jaret Gardiner	...	Shane Laverne

Storyline

Southland Tales is an ensemble piece set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. His life intertwines with Krysta Now, an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Ronald Taverner, a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

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Plot Keywords:

boxer | amnesia | dystopia | chaos | nuclear attack | 

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Taglines:

This is the way the world ends.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, violence, sexual material and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

DVD site [jp] MySpace page

Country:

Germany USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2007 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

A káosz birodalma

Filming Locations:

Hermosa Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$123,428 (USA) (16 November 2007)

Gross:

$273,420 (USA) (14 December 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Cherry Road Films, Darko Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min 160 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Boxer's screenplay about the end of the world, his character is named 'Jericho Cane'. This is also the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in End of Days.

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Goofs

After Pilot Abilene (Justin Timberlake) sings "All These Things That I Have Done", Roland Tavener (Seann William Scott) is found lying on the ground. He gets up and starts to run, leaving his radio on the pavement. Later, we see Roland Tavener walking down the sidewalk with the radio back on his belt.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Private Pilot Abilene: [narration] In the aftermath of nuclear attacks in Texas, America found itself on the brink of anarchy.
[overlapping news reports]
Private Pilot Abilene: World War III had begun.
Private Pilot Abilene: The accelerated conflict in the Middle East placed significant restrictions on American access to oil. Alternative fuel sources became a lucrative commodity. Americans were transfixed by the terrorist's threat, and were willing to prevent another attack by any means necessary. Military checkpoints were erected at each State line. ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, a logo appears of a thumbprint over an American flag with the words: "DON'T TOUCH ME"

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Connections

References The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Wave of Mutilation"
(UK Surf)
Written by Frank Black (as Black Francis)
Performed by Pixies (as The Pixies)
Courtesy of 4AD Limited

User Reviews

initial thoughts on SOUTHLAND TALES

overly-ambitious? probably. puzzlingly dense? certainly. meandering and confusing? absolutely. SOUTHLAND TALES, richard kelly's much-maligned, oft-questioned, studio-crippled but still hotly-anticipated follow-up to DONNIE DARKO is guilty of most of the accusations that critics have hurled at it.

indeed, it's a mess - but it's one of the most beautiful, most engaging, most daring messes i've seen in awhile - especially considering the fact that this is a big-studio film with such an abundance of marquee stars. but it hits on many of the same themes that DARKO did - both metaphysical and spiritual - and that's promising to me, because it's indicative of a singular focus/concept that richard kelly wants to explore in his work. i once read an essay on the cinema of David cronenberg - i can't find it now, so i'll have to paraphrase - it mentioned that the best storytellers often spend their entire careers retelling what is essentially the same story, but executing it in different ways. with only two features under his belt so far, it's premature (downright offensive, some would say) to make kelly/cronenberg comparisons at this point - but if this kid keeps digging into the same subject matter over and over, he's eventually going to produce an honest-to-goodness masterpiece. and that really excites me.

think back to the theatrical cut of DONNIE DARKO, and how mystifying and enigmatic it was on yr first viewing. then think about the director's cut - did it feel "dumbed down" to you? like more exposition had been crowbarred in, so that the film would be EASIER for us to digest? there's some of that going on in SOUTHLAND TALES, and i'm forced to wonder if that was kelly's original vision, or if it was the result of studio interference. alternatively, the director might have gotten so tired of everyone theorising about DD, that he wanted to make certain plot points entirely unambiguous this time out. whatever the case, the end result is one the year's best films, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its flaws.

i've studied the graphic novel and the website, and i intend to delve deeper into both (including the ancillary sites). i might even need to see the film again before it leaves theaters - which will probably be soon, as this thing has "box office flop" written all over it (box office mojo reports a paltry opening-night take of $37,000), and has a "wide release" that includes all of 63 screens.

at present, we can be sure of a three things: ONE, SOUTHLAND TALES has so much going on, that it's literally boiling over, and it's going to take years for people to realise what a treasure this film really is. TWO, there is a TRUE maverick inside the gates of Hollywood, his name is richard kelly, and he's going to be here for awhile. and THREE, nobody rocks the cock like krysta now.