I see in the L.A. Times that Southland Tales director Richard Kelly is still bitching and moaning about the people who didn't "get" his overbaked would-be magnum opus, and is now pulling an ageist card.
"The movie was made primarily for a younger audience," Kelly added, "people who watch 'South Park,' read the Onion, watch 'The Daily Show,' 'The Simpsons,' read graphic novels. And we were taking it to the toughest audience in the world, much older and kind of snobbier. But it was an honor to be there, to be included, so with the honor you take the punches to the face."
Okay, I'll sign up for that test.
1) "Younger audience"? Damn. I just turned 48. It's not looking too good.
2) "Watch 'South Park'"? Own every season out on DVD. So, yeah.
3) "Read The Onion"? Yeah. Worked with its head writer (least he was last time I checked) Todd Hanson once, too. Do I get extra credit, asshole?
4) "Watch 'The Daily Show'"? On occasion.
5) "Watch 'The Simpsons'"? See question 2.
6) "Read graphic novels"? Not regularly. I'm a bit more old school. Those Jack Kirby DC collections coming out now are boss, as the kids say. I know Watchmen. Do the Persepolis books count?
Sounds like maybe I pass. And yet—yet!—I still believe Southland Tales is a pile of know-something-ish dogshit, and doubt that cutting it by all of 18 minutes and making Justin Timberlake redo his narration ala Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now (or, rather, whatever approximation of Martin Sheen Mr. Timberlake is capable of) is gonna fix it. I'd say you clearly didn't take enough punches to the face, sir.
UPDATE: A slightly younger film critic who shall not be named here adds, in conversation: "Not to mention that a single 'South Park' episode does more in about a half-hour with cardboard and paste than Southland Tales does in its entire two-hours-plus running time."
Damn! You are harsh. I think Timbersnake needs to smoke some more cigs before he can approximate Mr. Sheen's indelible voice-over.
I do take some satisfaction in not buying into the Donnie Darko hype.
Posted by: Aaron Aradillas | September 20, 2007 at 10:11 PM
Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko was as unwatchable as The Butterfly Effect. I'm not surprised Southland Tales is getting negative buzz.
Posted by: Jordan | September 20, 2007 at 10:40 PM
If it's too jumbled, you're too old.
Posted by: Sam Adams | September 21, 2007 at 09:12 AM
What Mr. Kelly fails to acknowledge (and perhaps fails to realize) is that the Onion-reading, Daily Show-watching audience does not just consist of a limitless pool of under-25s willing to swallow whatever high-concept trash is at the theater this weekend. In some ways, they're probably much more demanding and fickle than a festival audience. Whether or not Southland Tales qualifies as high-concept trash I can't say (having not seen it) but since the above-mentioned audience also tends to be pretty vocal, I'm sure we'll all find out soon enough.
Posted by: WP | September 21, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Sounds like Kelly's been hanging out with Kevin Smith too much... And does he not realize that some of his film's most ardent/only supporters (Hoberman, Taubin, et al) aren't exactly what you'd call the "younger audience"? Whatever. When it comes to cinematic art, I'll take Robert Kelly's batshit crazy magnum opus myself.
Posted by: wells | September 21, 2007 at 05:20 PM
I'll admit to enjoying "Donnie Darko" (haven't seen the director's cut, and based on what I've heard, I will continue to not see it), but I recently read an interview with Kelly in which he described himself politically as "probably a neo-Marxist". What a douche.
Posted by: bill | September 21, 2007 at 07:03 PM
PROBABLY a neo-Marxist?? Way to hedge your bets, Kelly.
Posted by: WP | September 21, 2007 at 08:13 PM
Can't we just go back to tremendous Size Queen posts about books?
Please? This is making my grandmother uncomfortable.
Posted by: Bemo | September 21, 2007 at 10:07 PM
I tried to find the interview where I read that "probably a neo-Marxist" quote, and, in all fairness, I couldn't. I'm pretty sure the quote is accurate, but take it with a grain of salt, I guess.
To make amends, here's another quote I found, from an interview Kelly gave to hybridmagazine.com:
"When you’re a storyteller and you’re really detail-oriented like I am, you have to know the location, the year, the season..."
Jesus, talk about detail! I wonder if he even worked out what all the characters' names were, and which actors might play them.
Posted by: bill | September 21, 2007 at 10:15 PM
I can't wait to see the film but having read the graphic novels (and I'm an old fart at 35 so what business did I have doing that?) and now seen the trailer, I can guarantee it's a mess.
I love how Kelly is trying to make excuses for the fact that he didn't execute his vision for the film. I don't know if his ideas are half baked (I suspect they are) or if he's bought into "Donny Darko" fanboy hype to the point where he really believes he's something special...but he better just take this failure like a man and quit making enemies through his arrogant, narcissistic douchebaggery.
Posted by: don | September 23, 2007 at 12:47 AM
Whoo, boy, you're right, Bill--that quote is definitely a keeper. Perhaps Kelly should devote the rest of his career to making film versions of Beckett plays, so as to free himself from his compulsive need to attend to minutiae like establishing a location. What a contribution to the cinematic arts that would be.
Posted by: WP | September 24, 2007 at 10:57 AM
Not having seen the DONNIE DARKO but knowing it Mobius Strips and opportunist in introducing 80's music (kids, do you LIKE the rock and roll music?), any semblance of goodwill he may have generated with that flick he destroyed with his "screenplay" for DOMINO.
His interviews about writing DOMINO mirror the SOUTHLAND junket soundbites. Only the intended audience in DOMINO needed to be savvy and rabid about BEVERLY HILLS 90210 (it's a self-referential plotpoint in the film) -- an audience that's older than the one he's shilling for SOUTHLAND TALES.
Richard, just pick a zeitgeist and go with it.
Posted by: Tiffany Leigh | September 25, 2007 at 12:18 AM
Having said that, some of the screen compositions in the trailer looked ultra sexy and lovely.
But the movie seems to be dogged by all the "if it looks like a Howard The Duck and walks like Howard The Duck" talk.
Posted by: Tiffany Leigh | September 25, 2007 at 12:19 AM
Hi everyone. Deeds, not words shall speak me.
I am from Brazil and learning to write in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "These conditions number into and through the marrow, contrasting muscular resulting and netting that can however lighten only."
Thanks for the help ;), Yvette.
Posted by: Yvette | September 01, 2009 at 02:55 AM