Southland Tales is a 2008 film by [[Richard Kelly]]. This is my Southland Tales wiki, it contains a wealth of information about the characters, subplots, and the different versions. Please send additional info, questions, and corrections to the contact form linked on the main page. # Notability At the time of its release it was exactly the kind of film I wanted to make. It became my favorite film. I (foolishly) stopped pursuing filmmaking as a result, feeling like that was the best we would ever get of its type. I did not return to the idea of filmmaking until 2019. The film was, in my opinion, the most ambitious [[Absurdist]] film released until 2022's [[Everything Everywhere All at Once]], which succeeded everywhere that Southland Tales failed and is an objectively better film, even if it does not have the same depth. Regardless, Southland Tales remains my first love. From what I understand, many people failed to connect with the comedy due to the dark tone of the setting at the time of release. Considering the dark and deeply absurd world we live in today, I think it is due for more recognition. # Philosophy The film is surreal, chaotic, extreme. With a massive ensemble cast of character actors and comedians and pop stars and a wrestler in one of his first leading roles. Every character is connected to nearly every other character through multiple threads. The idea was that there would be three chapters of a [[Prequel Saga]] in graphic novels and the rest in the film. Kelly has since said that there was more planned but he underestimated the amount of work, and that it had to be cut down from an even more ambitious plan because it was exhausting working on so many projects in parallel. # Plot The plot is complicated with many layers and many people coming away with a different idea of what it is. [[Pilot]] draws parallels between the events of the film as the Book of Revelations through many quotes in the theatrical release. The third and final graphic novel overlaps heavily with the beginning of the film. # Info - [[Fluid Karma]] ## Project Serpentine Dream Theory This seems to refer to the tests performed at the rift near Lake Mead, but may just generally refer to the [[Fluid Karma]] experiments. All three components of the project name are also the names of characters. Everything needs to be connected and intertwined and have dual identities. - [[Serpentine]] - [[Veronica|Dream]] - [[Simon]] Theory ## The Southland The real-life nickname for southern California around LA. Experiencing massive global warming with "record-breaking triple digit temperatures" such as Palmdale resident experiencing highs of 124 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the heat, it is often shown to be foggy and raining heavily. Traits not generally associated with that region of the world. ## Multiple Lovers Several characters are cheating on each other or make sexual advances towards others. Other than Madeline's brief outburst at the Smallhouse mansion and Bobby's "orgy" comment towards the end, no one ever addresses this or seems to find it odd. There is only an issue if it publicized. ## Past vs Future Selves The future selves have amnesia and so have forgotten most of who they were, but yet they show their own development and attributes from the time span. As for how far into the future they come from, it is never stated anywhere. ## The Power The name of Krista and Boxer's screenplay which prophesizes the end of the world. The screenplay is not a 1:1 representation. ## Fallujah The friendly fire incident between Roland and Pilot happened here in the past leading to Roland's discharge from the military and Pilot's facial scarring, but it is never really elaborated on. ## Abilene The site of the first nuclear attack in Texas. It's never explained who orchestrated the attack, only that it was terrorism. And it lead to all-out war on multiple fronts in the middle east. ## Forgiveness Forgiveness is a textual theme which synergizes with the new testament messianic themes. The forgiveness ending was introduced late in production and is not present in the [[2005 Draft]]. That draft had a downer ending where all of existence is annihilated. # Characters The ensemble cast is massive with around 30 named characters with speaking lines and contributing crucial elements of the plot. Most characters have dual identities or professions as well giving them additional depth and complexity. - [[Baron]] - [[Bart]] - [[Bing]] - [[Bobby]] - [[Boxer]] - [[Cyndi]] - [[Dennis]] - [[Dion]] - [[Fortunio]] - [[Inga]] - [[Kenny]] - [[Krysta]] - [[Madeline]] - [[Martin]] - [[Nana Mae]] - [[Pilot]] - [[Roland]] - [[Ronald]] - [[Serpentine]] - [[Simon]] - [[Starla]] - [[Takehashi]] - [[Teena]] - [[Teri]] - [[Vaughn]] - [[Veronica|Dream]] - [[Walter]] - [[Zora]] There is also a [[Southland Tales Character Diagram|flowchart]] of some of the character relationships, but the diagram generator fails to handle so many interconnections and will need to be remade. There may be differences compared to the individual character pages because the different versions are not split out. # Groups - [[Neo-Marxists]] - [[Frost Campaign]] - [[Treer]] ## Krista's Posse - [[Shoshana]] Cox - [[Deena]] Storm - [[Sheena]] Gee # Locations ## Neo-Marxists - [[Sidewalk Cafe]] - [[Neo-Marxist Compound]] - [[Beach House]] ## Frost Campaign - [[Smallhouse Mansion]] ## US Military / Government - [[USIDent]] - [[Planet Telex]] ## Treer - [[Utopia 3]] - [[Treer Plaza]] - [[Jenny von Westphalen (Megazeppelin)|Jenny von Westphalen]] # Production Southland Tales was primarily filmed on 35mm film. The "home video" segment was filmed on Sony HD digital cameras. # Easter Eggs This film is so incredibly dense on every frame that it is impossible to take it all in on the first viewing. Or perhaps even the tenth. Many many frames of the film contain words, numbers, and artwork which allude to something else but are never addressed. Some of them are just in universe references. Some are foreshadowing which is only noticeable on repeat viewings. Others are references to real world events. ## Hacking Things > Hacking Things with Things > > Take the thing and do the thing with the thing and then you move the thing over to the thing where the thing is with the thing next to the thing. Then you put the thing with the thing under the thing that has that thing over the thing. After that you're going to want to use the thing with the thing that looks like a thing that has been out in the thing too long. Thing is, those things all start to look the same after awhile unless the thing with the thing that is missing that one thing has... \- Hacker tip of the week, visible on [[Cyndi]]'s screen when receiving the blackmail payment from [[Bobby]] ([[Southland Tales Cannes Cut]] only) ## Arcade Fire The arcade where [[Pilot]] peddles non-prescription pills and [[Fluid Karma]] is named "Fire", likely a reference to the band Arcade Fire. The background image behind the logo is a black and white image of people sitting in chairs with goggles on which I believe is from nuclear testing photos from the 50s. # Issues ## Production While Southland Tales didn't have the same level of production trouble as other films such as [[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus]] (where the lead actor died before its completion) it still had several problems. One was, due to scheduling conflicts, they only had a single day to film with [[Pilot]]'s actor. This creates a series of gaps in the film, where [[Pilot]] is never on screen with [[Roland]]. A flashback between the two could have made a huge different in the decipherability of the film. Instead, a lot of exposition is given in narration and newsreels, and the audience is pretty much expected to have read 300+ pages of the [[Prequel Saga]] in order to puzzle it out. Principal photography of the film took place between 30-40 days (accounts differ somewhat). With Geller saying that around 90 pages were filmed. The [[2005 Draft]] has over 130 pages, implying that around one third of the script never made it to film in the first place. I think that these obviously missing pieces contribute massively to the sense of surrealism in the film. But had they been present, it would have been four hours long. It seems pretty clear to me that Kelly wanted to make a trilogy and nearly figured out a way to film it all in one go. The team decided to submit an "unfinished" (according to Kelly) version to the Cannes film festival, where it received a massively negative reaction. I think that Kelly hoped the film festival would bring in more funds to help finish the film, instead it marooned the film on a desert island. From what I understand, it was mostly film students that ended up taking on the task of working to add the [[Doomsday Scenario Interface]] into what became the theatrical release a year after it's intended release date. ## Plot Holes Given how complex the film and lore is, there are a lot of false plot holes and misconceptions that people have about it. My goal is to collect here only the ones I feel certain are actual holes in the officially released graphic novels and [[Southland Tales Theatrical Cut|Theatrical Cut]] of the film. With this in mind, I feel that most of the actual holes are minor, and on par with or even less than other complex franchises. Because everything is so intertwined, removing one subplot or line quickly creates dropped threads and I suspect most of these are due to that. - Why do [[Krysta]] and [[Cyndi]] have a meeting introducing her show, which was already aired that day, when it is later shown that [[Cyndi]] is the one editing that episode? - [[Walter]] gives [[Zora]] a gun when she only asked for blanks. This is due to an extended version of the scene that was cut down where he says that he has a minimum price to sell, so she buys the gun too as a compromise. - The film is supposed to take place over the three days leading up to Independence Day on July 4th, but on the first day [[Boxer]]'s camera says the date is July 3rd already - Why didn't [[Zora]] kill [[Ronald]]? She clearly didn't care about killing [[Bing]] in the same scene. - Why doesn't [[Walter]] react to [[Veronica|Dream]]'s death? According to the credits they have the same last name and in the [[2005 Draft]] at least, he was her father. - Why did [[Walter]] kidnap [[Roland]]? In the [[2005 Draft]] it was because he blamed [[Zora]] and [[Neo-Marxists|The Lighthouse Gang]] for his daughter's death, but that motivation seems to be missing from the film. Furthermore, where the hell is he taking him? - How does [[Cyndi]] know about the murder tape so that she's able to tell [[Vaughn]] about it? What's the deal with [[Zora]] and [[Cyndi]]'s conversation about the tape with the murders? Was [[Cyndi]] in on getting [[Veronica|Dream]] and [[Dion]] killed? Did [[Cyndi]] just not know that it wasn't fake? There's no explanation in the [[2005 Draft]] or [[Southland Tales Undated Draft|Undated Draft]] either (need to double check this later) so this may be the one plot hole that has been around since the beginning. - What [[Neo-Marxists|Neo-Marxist]] cell ends up with the murder tape? In the [[Southland Tales Theatrical Cut|Theatrical Cut]] this might be confusing because the decentralized nature of the movement isn't explained. However, in the [[Southland Tales Cannes Cut]], it is shown (C 1:47:16) that this cell is actually run by [[Simon]] and has no overlap with the other cells we see. ## Contradictions There are some disagreements between the [[Prequel Saga]] and the [[Southland Tales Theatrical Cut|Theatrical Cut]]. - [[Fortunio]] is said to be a professional gambler in the [[Prequel Saga]] while he's a drug dealer and pimp according to [[Pilot]]'s narration. He could be all three, but it seems more efficient to just call him an all around petty criminal. - The [[Prequel Saga]] leans heavily on [[Krysta]]'s prophetic powers, but they are barely even alluded to in the film. # Incorrectly Regarded as Errors ## Krysta and the Second Boxer Tape Why doesn't [[Krysta]] go to [[Cyndi]] with the second [[Boxer]] tape? This one is pretty clear, even ignoring the fact that [[Cyndi]] already knows about it. 1. [[Krysta]] thinks she already gave her that tape and from her perspective, it ended up somewhere it didn't belong. In other versions of the script, she actually says something to this effect. 2. [[Krysta]] isn't interested in the money, she wants the tape to go public. [[Cyndi]] specifically says that she doesn't "work in distribution" (to [[Vaughn]]) and [[Krysta]] would know that too. # Theories ## The Fourth Dimension While traveling through the rift is implied to be time travel in the film the dual nature of so many characters and the massive differences between the past and future selves strongly indicates that it is more like two different universes colliding. However the prequel script contradicts this reading and says no it's really about time travel even going so far as to reenact Back to the Future III and visit native americans that once lived where a theme park now resides. But whatever model of time travel they're using, it doesn't seem to mind if the past self is killed. ## The Two Witnesses > Revelation 11 tells the tale of two witnesses who appear in Jerusalem to speak out against the sins of mankind. They are eventually killed by this tormented by their prophecies. \- [[Pilot]]'s Narration (T 28:56), and the [[Southland Tales Cannes Cut]] narration is nearly (C 30:27) identical While the above is said overlaid with [[Ronald]] and [[Boxer]] driving away, it doesn't seem to fit them. Or it is [[Boxer]] and [[Krysta]] who are specifically said to have written prophecy - their prophecy torments [[Baron]]. But he doesn't kill them, they die because the zeppelin is shot down. It fits better with [[Dion]] and [[Veronica|Dream]] who are specifically said earlier to be working to expose the "sins" of [[USIDent]]. They are killed by [[Bart]], although on behalf of [[Zora]], he is a member of [[USIDent]]'s apparatus, and it is clear from [[Nana Mae]]'s dialogue that she had been gunning for them so he may have killed them even without [[Zora]]'s influence, she just told him where they would be and gave him an excuse. The whole reading from the bible narration was added late in production, with none of it being in any version of the script that I have access to. So there's no way to see if this originally was part of a different scene. More likely than not, this was just "on brand" for Pilot spouting Revelation and the actual lore around the Two Witnesses was understood neither by Pilot nor Kelly. # Resources - https://web.archive.org/web/20190217075443/http://www.priscillaelliott.com/index.php?/art-direction/southland-tales/ - https://www.priscillaelliott.com/southland-tales - https://web.archive.org/web/20071014211134/http://martinmercer.com:80/ - (concept art/storyboards) - http://www.roncobb.net/40-Southland_Tales.html - http://www.jkfineart.com/flag-series # References ## Articles - https://www.salon.com/2007/12/19/southland_tales_analysis/ https://archive.thinkprogress.org/reader-request-southland-tales-renewable-energy-and-the-draft-8a1b4c79b875/ - https://web.archive.org/web/20160925193426/http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/southland-tales-richard-kelly - https://web.archive.org/web/20161022113302/http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/southland-tales-richard-kelly-script - https://www.vice.com/en/article/ypp8x5/southland-tales-richard-kelly - https://www.vice.com/en/article/8qqywz/southland-tales-richard-kelly-interview - https://www.avclub.com/glitter-doom-and-elephants-fucking-an-oral-history-o-1846123331 ## Fansites - https://fyeahsouthlandtales.tumblr.com/ ## Reviews - https://www.angelfire.com/film/flux88/2007/SouthlandTalesK.html - https://www.thewickerbreaker.com/area-52-southland-tales/review-39 - https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthlandTales/comments/rtrdff/my_take_on_the_cannes_cut/ - https://www.thewickerbreaker.com/area-52-southland-tales/review-1 ## Criticism - https://scriptshadow.net/10-screenwriting-mistakes-to-avoid-courtesy-of-southland-tales/ - https://www.widrfm.org/single-post/reel-retrospective-my-lengthy-defense-of-southland-tales ## Info - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405336/faq/ - https://www.onesixthwarriors.com/threads/southland-tales-timberlake-on-a-mutant-barret.53082/