Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Set in the futuristic landscape of Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Boxer Santaros is an action star who's stricken with amnesia. His life intertwines with Krysta Now, an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and Ronald Taverner, a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.
Southland Tales is a sprawling, maximalist apocalyptic satire that defies easy categorization — Richard Kelly's follow-up to Donnie Darko is genuinely one-of-a-kind in its ambition, blending political allegory, pop culture pastiche, musical numbers, and sci-fi conspiracy into a singular, chaotic vision. Its Novelty is undeniable; nothing quite looks or feels like it. The plot, however, is a genuine liability — notoriously convoluted and self-indulgent, it collapses under the weight of its own concepts and never coheres into satisfying narrative logic. Acting is a mixed bag: Dwayne Johnson and Sarah Michelle Gellar bring committed, oddly effective performances, while others feel miscast or directionless, landing somewhere above average overall. Cinematography is competent and stylized but not especially distinguished. The ending carries a certain surreal grandeur but frustrates as many viewers as it rewards, earning a middling score.