Southland Tales: The Movie You Didn't Know You're Glad You Missed

Decided to rent a movie the other night and remembered a trailer I had recently seen for "Southland Tales".

From the director of "Donnie Darko", I expected something weird. But I hoped it would at least make SOME sense.

The first trailers I saw for this movie made it look like just a modern drama. But a recent trailer I saw on another DVD promoted it as a "near-future" sci-fi flick. It looked like the kind of movie that would require some thinking and provoke some thought. Turns out it only provoked head scratching for me.

From beginning to end it's clear this movie has a social/philosophical/political message. But I honestly couldn't tell what it was. There was so much material that was either completely unnecessary or so covered in convoluted metaphor that the plot is almost completely missing.

I like movies that don't spoon-feed everything to you. I enjoyed Donnie Darko and other films like "Brazil". But this flick is so devoid of story that even the creativity of the remaining experience is totally unworthy of attention or emotional investment.

Bummer.