The slang term "disasterpiece" never seemed particularly functional to me until right about now. Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's deranged pop art epic Southland Tales is an offbeat nuisance that does just about everything wrong and yet somehow evoked from me nearly the same dizzy, head clouding, gut wrenching sensation Darko did years ago. It's not as complete a vision, but it's certainly grander in scope and ambition. Sadly, most of the elaboration fills our heads with moot points rather than sharper realizations. It's no Donnie, but there is that inescapable fascination we get while watching a brilliant talent fall on his face, and admittedly still coming up relatively unscathed. Kelly is funny, biting, belligerent, insane, and scintillating here over the course of a much too long 145 minute runtime (cut down from an original, less coherent version and not including the 3 part graphic novel prequel series with content that's not essential to understanding the film but certainly helps in parts). Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is cast here as Boxer Santoros, an action hero with amnesia who may be the harbinger of apocalypse. He's recruited by an entrepreneurial porn star named Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and convinced that he's been working on producing her screenplay which has seemingly tapped into a psychic energy making it quite prescient. Their stories tie into several parallel narratives involving a dangerously advanced government corporation called USident with global domination on the brain, or if not that, something equally as big and cartoonish. They have a curious interest in Boxer as well as the two seemingly ordinary Taverner twins (Sean William Scott in dual roles) who have some inexplicable connection to the big events in America's future. Trying to synopsize the plot further would only make it murkier. Needless to say, it's an elaborate tapestry of pop culture parody, sci-fi suspense, and social satire. It's a mess, but a brilliantly inspired mess with loads of eye candy and dazzling dramatic and comic moments. For Kelly fans there's bound to be a bit of a sinking feeling over the step down he's taken here, especially given how this was prophesized to be his big step up (the hype machine phrase "his Pulp Fiction" stings with particular vigor now that we've seen the final product). Call it trash. Call it a misunderstood masterpiece. I say "disasterpiece" and I'm sticking with it.
Friday, March 21, 2008
DVD of the Week: Southland Tales
The slang term "disasterpiece" never seemed particularly functional to me until right about now. Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's deranged pop art epic Southland Tales is an offbeat nuisance that does just about everything wrong and yet somehow evoked from me nearly the same dizzy, head clouding, gut wrenching sensation Darko did years ago. It's not as complete a vision, but it's certainly grander in scope and ambition. Sadly, most of the elaboration fills our heads with moot points rather than sharper realizations. It's no Donnie, but there is that inescapable fascination we get while watching a brilliant talent fall on his face, and admittedly still coming up relatively unscathed. Kelly is funny, biting, belligerent, insane, and scintillating here over the course of a much too long 145 minute runtime (cut down from an original, less coherent version and not including the 3 part graphic novel prequel series with content that's not essential to understanding the film but certainly helps in parts). Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is cast here as Boxer Santoros, an action hero with amnesia who may be the harbinger of apocalypse. He's recruited by an entrepreneurial porn star named Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and convinced that he's been working on producing her screenplay which has seemingly tapped into a psychic energy making it quite prescient. Their stories tie into several parallel narratives involving a dangerously advanced government corporation called USident with global domination on the brain, or if not that, something equally as big and cartoonish. They have a curious interest in Boxer as well as the two seemingly ordinary Taverner twins (Sean William Scott in dual roles) who have some inexplicable connection to the big events in America's future. Trying to synopsize the plot further would only make it murkier. Needless to say, it's an elaborate tapestry of pop culture parody, sci-fi suspense, and social satire. It's a mess, but a brilliantly inspired mess with loads of eye candy and dazzling dramatic and comic moments. For Kelly fans there's bound to be a bit of a sinking feeling over the step down he's taken here, especially given how this was prophesized to be his big step up (the hype machine phrase "his Pulp Fiction" stings with particular vigor now that we've seen the final product). Call it trash. Call it a misunderstood masterpiece. I say "disasterpiece" and I'm sticking with it.
