In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, writer-director Richard Kelly admits that he may have to make extensive cuts to SOUTHLAND TALES in order to secure an American release for the movie. "The only thing that’s disappointing or frustrating for me is just that I don’t know that the film will be seen in the United States. Maybe it will, but potentially it could be shown with almost an hour of it missing. I don’t quite know what that film is." I don't know if I like the sound of this. I mean, the general reaction at Cannes seems to be that the movie is a little too broad, sloppy, and scattershot for its own good but those criticisms do not necessarily have to be a bad thing. Personally, I think huge, passionate (if unrefined) movies have the right to exist for what they are, products that haven't been pushed to their end point, if only so that we can see the off-the-wall and possibly brilliant elements and ideas that deserve to be experienced unto themselves but otherwise don't work cohesively. In short, rambling can be good. To be concise or focused could be to lose dimensions of fervor. Moreover, Kelly says he's not sure of what the shortened cut would be. This could easily mean that the film would be pushed in the wrong direction. Then again, I haven't seen the movie so I suppose something better could ultimately be born from a recut. At any rate, I'll end my pathetic tangent now and direct you to the entire interview HERE, in which Kelly goes on to say he's not surprised by SOUTHLAND's lackluster and somewhat controversial reception at Cannes, comparing both the movie itself and its life so far to that of DONNIE DARKO's. Keep on eye out for JoBlo's thoughts on the movie when he posts his review later this week.
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12:51PM on 05/29/2006