Scott BresslerMost of the time our Old Movies column focuses on just that: movies which are old. But this week, we’re going to use it to refer to movies that are fresh out of theaters, newly on DVD and deserve a second look from those who skipped them when they were in theaters. Each of these films came out in the later half of 2007 but were overshadowed by some of the very best movies of the decade.
‘Southland Tales’
I’m not recommending this movie outright. I will actually say that I didn’t especially like “Southland Tales.” However, I found it endlessly fascinating as an attempted piece of satire and as a testament to the ability of some directors to get funding for movies that just don’t make sense.
“Southland Tales” is writer/director Richard Kelly’s follow-up to his cult favorite “Donnie Darko.” This one is a very loose retelling of the Book of Revelations, set in an alternate Los Angeles of the near future. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays Boxer Santaros, a beefy action-film star married into a political family with some aspirations of his own. He’s sleeping with a porn star (Sarah Michelle Gellar), harboring delusions of grandeur and has helped her write a screenplay that may or may not predict the end of the world.
In order to research his role for the film, Santaros schedules a ride along with police officer Ronald Taverner (Sean William Scott), but in fact gets his twin brother (also Scott), who has been manipulated by an extremist group vaguely affiliated with the teachings of Karl Marx.
Throw in a government with complete oversight over all communication due to an expanded Patriot Act, a German corporation that has created a form of free universally available energy and a musical number featuring Justin Timberlake lip-syncing to a Killers song and you’ve got all the background to “Southland Tales” that makes even a little bit of sense.
The real key to “Southland Tales” for me is not its satirical qualities (it has a few admirably humorous moments, but not enough to make it truly successful) or even its place as a puzzling failure of intelligent sci-fi.
I mark this movie out as one worth watching and exploring because of the fact that Richard Kelly was able to attract money and stars to a project that never even tried to have a cohesive plot.
His movies are not pretty or arty enough to appeal to the David Lynch set, and yet he has made a movie that can only reach anything approaching a storyline with an audience that has read his graphic novels and listend to commentary tracks on his director’s cut of “Donnie Darko.”
For those who have seen “Southland Tales” or choose to do so after reading this article, the FAQ page on IMDb.com is a great resource for those who choose not to read the fake script for a movie that Buffy playing a porn star pretended to write. Or something like that. Either way, I suggest going into “Southland Tales” completely oblivious to the world it attempts to inhabit. It is fascinating in its ineptness and yet held my attention like a good pair of pliers.
After having your mind blown, then read all about how it was booed at Cannes and how the distributor felt cutting 20 minutes out of an already stupefyingly confusing movie would help it sell better. It’s really a fascinating story.
‘The Mist’
Emotional horror movies can often be a tough sell. “The Shining” worked due to Jack Nicholson’s star power and credibility, not to mention Kubrick’s dually fascinating and disturbing imagry. “The Mist” doesn’t have that. “The Mist” has Tom Jane and a director who makes the movie in an old-fashioned style unpalatable to modern audiences.
But if you can get past the mediocre acting (it’s arguably meant to be so) and cartoonish computer effects (another possibly purposeful move) “The Mist” is a terrifying film about the monsters lurking in our own psyches and societies.
Without giving too much away, “The Mist” tells the story of a small New England town weathering a crisis brought on by a mysterious and dangerous mist. Many of the townspeople barricade themselves inside the local grocery store, shutting out what may or may not lurk outside. And yet it is what is already inside that is truly frightening.
“The Mist” is a film about despair and the dangers that accompany it. As the people in the store become more aware of what the mist is and what it carries, they turn to those who shout the loudest as their leaders. The bickering and infighting over the best course of action are made all the more frightening by the fact that we, as an audience, do not know the right answer but we watch this group go down a path we can be certain is the wrong one.
While there are some elements of this movie that may turn off a lot of viewers, it is truly a treasure for those who appreciate a classic horror film in the vein of “The Thing” or Romero’s zombie movies. It understands that, while the supernatural serves well as an initial threat, true terror stems from distrust and despair amongst people who need to cling to hope most of all.
(Side note: A feature on the disc DVD shows the film in black and white, which was writer/director Frank Darabont’s original intention.)
‘Wristcutters: A Love Story’
With a bleak subject matter and strange sensibility, it’s easy to see why “Wristcutters: A Love Story” sat on the shelf for so long before being lightly released last fall. The story follows a young man, Zia (Patrick Fugit of “Almost Famous”) who is so depressed about breaking up with his longtime girlfriend that he kills himself. Upon doing so he discovers that there is life after death, and it sucks.
He, along with everyone else who ever has committed suicide, lives in a barren world approximating resembling the Mojave Desert mating with New Jersey. Nobody ever smiles and there’s never anything fun to do. Whether this is a form of punishment or just a product of a landscape populated entirely by the depressed is never explained, as are very few of the particulars about the workings of this world. Can these people die? They can have sex, but can they reproduce? These questions are unimportant to the filmmakers, because they are out to tell a love story.
Zia gets a job at Kamikaze Pizzeria and actually makes a friend in despondent Russian musician Eugene, whose entire family has joined him in suicide. After hearing a rumor that Desiree, the girl who drove him to death, has also killed herself, Zia recruits Eugene to embark on a road trip to the other side of their world in hopes of finding her.
“Wristcutters” deals in very dark territory, but it never wallows in sadness. Eugene and Zia have very funny conversations, eventually enlivened by a pretty hitchhiker, Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon), who feels she doesn’t belong there. The entire movie has a very strange sense of humor, but it never laughs at the seriousness of depression or suicide. In fact, it shows that even in a barren wasteland where people seem incapable of happiness, life still can be worth living.
Writer/director Goran Dukic employs a very quirky style of filmmaking with strange colors and oddly brilliant casting choices (Tom Waits is perfect as a mysterious leader of a small commune). Not everyone will be able to get past the film’s lighthearted attitude or its bizarre fantasy, but it bears many of the best elements of Michel Gondry movies without the preciousness.