SummaryThe city stands on the brink of social, economic, and environmental disaster. Southland Tales is an epic story set over the course of three days that culminate in a massive 4th of July celebration. A large ensemble cast of characters includes Boxer Santaros, an action star stricken with amnesia; Krysta Now, an adult-film star developing her own ... Read More
Directed By:Richard Kelly
Written By:Richard Kelly
Southland Tales
Metascore
Mixed or Average
44
User score
Generally Favorable
6.1
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
44
27% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
35% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
38% Negative
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
80
Funny, audacious, messy and feverishly inspired look at America and its discontents.
67
Southland Tales has a mood unlike anything I've seen: dread that morphs into kitsch and then back again. It's a film that tried my patience, and one I couldn't shake off.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.1
53% Positive
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
22% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
24% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Jan 20, 2024
10
As a European I can honestly say this is one of the most ambitious American movies I ever seen . It even works as a really smart and acid powered vision of the Hurt Locker if you zoom in on the Tavernier theme of an Iraq vet reincarnation of the coming of Jesus , or a 2001 kind of universal error . Guilt , societal fatal breakup welcome to the 21st century say Kelly and Moby .I suspect some of the themes are intended to be on the left side the politics, but surprisingly it's very eerily predictive of all the insane woke years that came after as well , it's about Bush years and extreme leftism all in one go. Genius . In a very weird and original way, and Kelly should've been a lasting director for it instead of being put on the curb after this film. It's not a David Lynch masterpiece even thoughit has multiple references to that genius , but it's special in its own way The film is a clever Mashup of the 00s zeitgeist, pornification of society, the coming of woke , the Bush Era , the extremes of internet , climate change so much in a 3 hours Cannes edition It has a touch of South Park in a way , by slaughtering both left and right wing staple themes , correctly predicting the whole blm / defend police thing and Trump and also being very smart about the big lie of the green revolution the nevergoing to happenalternatives to oil , green not being green, while also quipping about the Cheney reasons for invading Iraq Kelly is really underestimated in his intelligence in a short oeuvre of three headline films The music choices are stellar , Moby hits it put of the park , The Rock and Buffy are hilarious, Stifler is , stunningly , very eery . The film as a whole is a much more ambitious precursor of Don't Look Up , whole also being a hommage to 90s films and David Lynch , Coen stuff , and , I might add , it's a very non woke movie , obviously being pre woke Era This was the ambition of the 90s and 00s wrapped up, culturally and in films . I don't blame the left or right now , but the film hints at technology and internet itself being the reason for humankind to loose its soul indefinitely
60
You get the sense that Kelly is too angry to really find any of it funny. It's easy to empathize with his position, not so easy to remain engrossed in a film that's occasionally inspired but ultimately manic and scattered.
50
Love it or laugh at it, you will gaze on Southland Tales with awe.
38
There's a lot of "stuff" here, and Kelly's biggest problem -- he's got more than a few -- is that he can't tell his good material from his bad.
30
The English term "shambolic" best describes a slow-paced, bloated and self-indulgent picture that combines science fiction, sophomoric humor and grisly violence soaked in a music-video sensibility.
0
If a more incoherent and self-indulgent movie has been released so far this century, I'm not aware of it.
Oct 5, 2015
10
this movie is for the exceptional mind if you hated this movie you really are a stupid biomass for an excuse mr Kelly you have shown that even GODS like me love a master story teller like you congratulations for you are the only movie maker to be taken off earth to the next level of psysical life with brilliant stimulating minds earth is for the barbarians and you mr Kelly have graduated
Aug 23, 2010
6
Not nearly as disastrous as the critics say, I can't really call it great or even that good, but I can call it imaginative, interesting and very ambitious. OK it fails in many of it's goals, one joke about the future being more futuristic I particularly despised, but at least it was new, fun and somewhat entertaining. It was incoherent and messy, and the plot wasn't as well done as say Pulp Fiction but I still appreciated it for what it's tried to be.
Dec 24, 2015
4
"Southland Tales" was a movie in a unanimous vote , boring until the final stretch , because the end has been impressive, and with a well-known cast, but the movie was a touch on a surreal narrative border past full day of independence, I 'm not talking about the movie of Roland Emmerich, but of Richard Kelly. but not very bad idea.
May 8, 2018
1
Southland Tales is completely incoherent. It lacks any logic whatsoever. It is the perfect example of a writer/director thinking he can handle too much at once.
Aug 27, 2010
1
why, why, why, why, why?
Note to directors: if you're going to film whatever **** flies through your brain, at least have the common decency to make the final product less than 2 hours. That being said, it was probably the most well-acted roles I had seen by most of the big-name actors in the movie (most notably Justin Timberlake). But still, why!?
Production Company:
- Universal Pictures
- Cherry Road Films
- Darko Entertainment
- MHF Zweite Academy Film
- Eden Roc Productions
- Persistent Entertainment
- Academy Film
- Destination Films
- Inferno Distribution
- Wild Bunch
Release Date:Nov 14, 2007
Duration:2 h 25 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Have A Nice Apocalypse
Awards
Village Voice Film Poll
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Golden Trailer Awards
• 1 Nomination
