SPHE Press Release: Southland Tales

Ronald Epstein · 01-07-2008, 04:56 PM

"Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is perfection!"
-Harry Knowles, AintItCool.com

“Fascinating and Extraordinary!”
-Jette Kernion, Cinematical

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Mandy
Moore and Justin Timberlake Star in Richard Kelly’s Futuristic Thriller

SOUTHLAND TALES

On DVD March 18, 2008

Culver City, CA (1/7/08) – From acclaimed writer/director Richard Kelly, the visionary creator behind the modern classic Donnie Darko, comes another exercise in mind-bending cool with SOUTHLAND TALES, available on DVD March 18, 2008 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with bonus materials that include a making-of featurette and animated short. The film is a dark comedy about the absurdities of political extremes that bring about the end of the world. Featuring an all-star ensemble cast including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Scorpion King, Walking Tall) Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge, TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Seann William Scott (The Rundown, American Pie), Mandy Moore (A Walk To Remember, Saved!) and Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan), SOUTHLAND TALES will be available for the SRP of $24.96.

Hailed as a “gloriously sprawling spectacle!” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice) and “funny, audacious, and feverishly inspired” (Manohla Dargis, New York Times), the film also stars Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Cheri Oteri (TV’s Saturday Night Live) and Jon Lovitz (The Producers).
The making-of featurette “USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland,” peels back the curtain to reveal secrets and revelations from this epic story of a world on the brink of collapse, featuring interviews with Richard Kelly and the cast. Audiences will also get a chance to expand the film’s unique experience with the never-before-seen animated short, “This is the Way the World Ends,” written and directed by Kelly.

Synopsis
The city stands on the edge 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 (Johnson), an action star stricken with amnesia, Krysta Now (Gellar), an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Roland Taverner (Scott), a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

Written and directed by Richard Kelly, produced by Sean McKittrick (Donnie Darko), Oliver Hengst (First Snow) Katarina Hyde and Bill Johnson (Just Friends).

Bonus Material
“USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland” Featurette
“This Is the Way the World Ends” Animated Short

DVD Catalog #: 18283
DVD UPC Code: 0-43396-18283-7
DVD SLP: $24.96
Order Date: 2/14/08

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Cameron Yee · 01-07-2008, 06:48 PM

I was surprised to see this release, thinking the film would go wide at some point. Apparently not.

TravisR · 01-07-2008, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cameron Yee

I was surprised to see this release, thinking the film would go wide at some point. Apparently not.

Yeah. Plenty of great movies never get a release (not that you're implying differently) but if Southland Tales couldn't at least ride Donnie Darko's coattails to a bigger release then I'm not real hopeful for it being a particularly good movie.

Elijah Sullivan · 01-07-2008, 09:54 PM

Naturally, they are going to wait to announce the original, 3-hour Cannes cut of the film until we've all bought this. I pass. If it does well enough to get a deluxe version with Kelly's director's cut, I'll check this out, but this release is just your typical double-dip in the making.

Aaron Silverman · 01-08-2008, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR

Yeah. Plenty of great movies never get a release (not that you're implying differently) but if Southland Tales couldn't at least ride Donnie Darko's coattails to a bigger release then I'm not real hopeful for it being a particularly good movie.

From Ebert's review:

Quote:

After I saw the first cut of Kelly's "Southland Tales" at Cannes 2005, I was dazed, confused, bewildered, bored, affronted and deafened by the boos all around me, at the most disastrous Cannes press screening since, yes, "The Brown Bunny." But now here is the director's cut, which is 20 minutes shorter, lops off a couple of characters and a few of the infinite subplots, and is even more of a mess. I recommend that Kelly keep right on cutting until he whittles it down to a ukulele pick.

My hopes are not high.

Paul_D · 01-11-2008, 04:07 AM

This got a wide release here in the UK.

Having followed it from original development through the Cannes controversy and given that a few UK reviews said the new cut was a vast improvement over the Cannes cut, I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately, it really was painful. Fair enough Kelly was trying to do something different (albeit similar to some of Darko's themes), but it just doesn't work - I can see why the panning was so extreme. The commentary about the direction the developed world is heading in resonates, but the delivery is just so poor. Like a really bad version of Mulholland Drive. I hate talking down a piece of work thats so obviously tried to be bold and say something, but I just can't recommend it on any level. Being such a big Darko fan only compounded my disappointment.

Summary:
Poor acting from a cast who don't look like they have any clue what they're acting in.
An interesting premise marred by some silly characters and incoherant plotting.
Some jarringly pretentious dialogue.
A few distractingly bad FX shots.

Obviously for Darko fans out there it might be too hard to resist at least renting, but definitely approach with caution, and keep those expectations low.

Edit: there's quite a neat quote from a reviewer over at rotten tomaotoes forums that sums up the randomness of some the plotting and ideas quite nicely:
"Throughout the movie someone is saying random bible passages and The Rock's character apparently can hear god towards the end as can some other characters, although the audience cannot hear what they are hearing, and there is a floating ice cream truck."

Mark_TS · 01-12-2008, 05:51 PM

ST got a 10 day "Limited" release. I must have blinked -or it never came to Seattle;
Limited then probably means NY LA Chi SF DC

Cost $18 million (over the line)
has made back roughly $1 million theatrically.

It was 'ready' for release in June 2006, but didnt show until late Nov 2007;

Probably why SONY is on life support these days-too many of these kind of these pictures under their belt.
And since few have heard of the film-DVD sales may lag.

Reggie W · 01-13-2008, 10:36 AM

Actually it was not ready for release in 2006 but he took what was basically a work print to Cannes. I think Kelly is a very interesting filmmaker but his ideas are often larger than the film he is making. If you look at the two cuts of Donnie Darko they are very different and the first cut was the better cut in my opinion. Mainly because it left more to the imagination and had a better flow. I have not seen Southland Tales yet but the reviews seem fairly 'love it' or 'hate it' which seems to indicate there is something good there. It is a very big and ambitious project with the three graphic novels setting the stage for the film. I think this means he never meant this film to reach a wide audience and therefore the reaction to it makes sense.

Jason Seaver · 01-14-2008, 08:28 AM

No Blu-ray release? I'm not saying this is a particularly good movie - it's a mess, actually - but half its appeal is "looking and sounding amazing".