Southland Tales

Southland Tales

 

Despite the quite eclectic mix of individuals acting in this movie I watched the whole thing and I wasn't disappointed. There a number of reasons why I appreciate this movie but the fact that its very hard to put a label on it is one thing I like.

Plot:

A dystopian scenario that takes place in Los Angeles, which is on the brink of economic, social and enviromental disaster. What sparked this was a nuclear weapon attack on the states of Texas, wiping parts of it out. Now as a result, The U.S has become a police state.

Review:

Besides the various ambitions with combining genres, the mere scope of the directors vision, the actor line-up is in itself is quite hard to actually "believe". Whatever ideas one might get in their head when reading the line-up I strongly suggest that you try to ignore those ideas. This is a very unpredictable movie and I actually had some sort of revelation watching it. It is a completely overlooked and unexplored way of making movies in my opinion.

The characters all have their own lives and strivings in this movie but they are also in smaller or bigger ways connected. We get to follow Boxer Santoros ( Played by Dwayne Johnson) as he returns to the city from the desert, accompanied by amnesia. He has several connections high up within the movie industry and the political scene which makes alot of people interested in getting a hold of him. Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Krista Now is Boxers "old" girlfriend and portrays an adult movie star who gets her own tv-show. Justin Timberlake plays an army veteran whos gotten a job as some kind of sniper and is also curiously enough a narrator in the movie. He starts his acting with: "This is how the world will end, not with a whimper...but with a bang." And a bang it is indeed, it has downright infantile plump jokes, apocalyptic vibe, science-fiction-y dimension and add to that a satirical political commentary with some liking to the revelation parts of the bible.

This isnt necessarely a light movie, everything isnt really blurted out and explained for you as a viewer. I usually dont like seeing movies twice unless alot of time passes inbetween but I dont feel watching it again has any negative effects on this movie, quite the contrary. It is a ride and for you to be able to puzzle everything together you might want to try and go a second or a third time. It lacks the traditional cinematic structure and is at time somewhat confusing with its messages and characters. I can imagine it is one of those movies that you really like or you really dont, there is no in-betweens with this movie.

Trailer:



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