If you want to see this movie, if you want to truly experience Southland Tales for all it is worth, do not read this review. For that matter, do not read any review. It is not that I include spoilers or intend to spoil the film for anyone, but there is no way to do it justice in words.
Seriously, Richard Kelly's sophomore outing is filled with so much information and is presented with such sheer enthusiasm and ambition that it would be best to experience and react to the material in as raw a form as possible. No, I don't want you to skip reading this but Southland Tales is just that kind of movie that is best to enter with no preconceived notions aside from your own pent up anxieties.
Still with me? Okay, you have chosen to venture into my reactions to Southland Tales, a film so chock full of content that it may require - no, demand - multiple viewings in order to properly digest what is there. That said, upon my lowly single viewing I have to say that this movie is nearly incomprehensible. Scenes begin and end with little relation to what goes on before and after. Many sequences would go by and leave me absolutely dumbfounded by what I had seen. When the film ended and I left the theater, I could not help but wonder what I had just seen. Was it a stroke of genius? Was it some glorious disaster? Is it a misunderstood potential classic? Perhaps it was just a plain old run of the mill bad movie? I am tempted to go with glorious disaster.
Now, I do not require my films to be spoon-fed to me. I do not require a straightforward narrative that gets wrapped up with a nice little bow upon its conclusion. To take it a step further, I don't even need to understand the movie in order to like it. Take a look at films like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway, heck, even take Kelly's debut Donnie Darko, all films that take a little while to crack, if that is even possible. However, when it comes to Southland Tales it feels like a mess. It is a tough film to wrap your mind around, though I am not sure it is actually worth the time.
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