Area 52 - Southland Tales Reviews: 52 of 52...The Finale That Not A Bang But With A Whimper...
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This is the way the review ends... This is the way the review ends… This is the way the review ends.
Last night I watched the movie Southland Tales for the 52nd time, concluding the viewing portion of my year-long Area 52 Southland Tales reviews. I made a resolution as part of my new 365 Days of Resolution experiment that I would watch Southland Tale with the internet because I am no good at acknowledging, let alone celebrating my accomplishment and thought this experiment should end on somewhat of a special occasion.
Even now I want to make a dumb self-deprecating joke about whether or not this is an accomplishment. I may not be curing cancer, but one year ago I set up this challenge as a way to venture into the world of blogging. I wanted to come up with a weekly feature that would get readers to have a reason to check in on a regular basis, and this is what I came up with.
I’m pretty proud of myself that I not only managed to make it through the entire experiment but I did it without missing a single deadline. Even though there were times where it seemed impossible I figured out a way to fit in a viewing and a review even if it meant missing out on having fun.
Believe it or not… I had a lot of fun doing this. Even though there were weeks where I was down, it was never due to this project. If anything this project kept me going at times. I need to have projects in my life or else I feel like I’m wasting away.
This project is to thank or blame for the new 365 Days of Resolution that I came up with as a replacement for the Area 52 experiment. It’s going to be hard, but whenever I’m in doubt I can look back to my year with Southland Tales as a reminder that I can accomplish anything, no matter how dumb it is :)
Alright, now let’s wrap this thing up.
I posted my resolution to make my final viewing of Southland Tale special by watching it with others via the internet. I was originally planning to watch movies by myself, just like every other week. I figured that one or two of my regular readers might join in and I’d consider it a success.
Moments after I made this post, a friend of mine offered up another friend’s house to host a final viewing party. Even though they didn’t offer these friends did agree to let me use their house host the event. So last night Sunday… February 9th at 5:30 in the pm, we fired up Southland Tales for my 52nd and final viewing.
To everyone else in the room… it was their first viewing. The only other time that I watched Southland Tales with anyone else was back when I had my mom and two sisters join in on the project as guest reviewers. When I watched it with them I think they felt pressure to watch with having to write a review on their minds, so it became more of an assignment than a pleasurable viewing experience. This viewing was purely for the purpose of having fun, and it was a success.
I wish that I had some kind of grand epiphany to end this on, something like this being the night that the movie finally made sense to me and I now have a deeper reason for why I did this experiment, to begin with, but I didn't happen.
I don’t even have much to say about this final viewing other than it was fun. I found myself listening for laughter at scenes I always thought were funny, excited to see everyone jump when Bing gets hit by the cop car, happy to get WTF tweets from my friend who was watching along at home. Then to end the night hearing everyone’s confused feedback as to what they just watched. It almost felt like I sharing my work with these friends, and to an extent I did because now when they go back to read my reviews they will understand what the hell I'm talking about.
It’s funny how time works, how it’s hard to believe that a year has blown by already, yet it also feels like I started this thing a lifetime ago.
It’s hard to believe that as soon as I hit the publish button this thing will be done. I’m having a hard time figuring out how to wrap this thing up so…
This is the way the review ends… not with a whimper but with a…
Few reviews from the three readers that I’m aware of that followed this experiment from start to finish. Thanks for your support. I always looked forward to seeing these three names pop up as they clicked like moments after I posted the link to my reviews on Facebook each week. The few times I questioned why the fuck am I doing this, I thought of my audience of three.
Thanks, guys!
Kyle:
Kyle is the one who recommended this movie for the experiment. I'd come up with the idea for reviewing the same movie once a week for a year but I wanted to take the decisions of what movie it was out of my hands. All I knew is that I wanted it to be a movie I knew nothing about. I don't think there is a movie that could have been a better fit.
Here's what Kyle has to say:
Southland Tales: The Complete Experience
It’s time for some meta-commentary, here at the end of the road. The Wicker Breaker blog has successfully completed a gruesome year of weekly “Southland Tales” viewings, and he’s somehow managed to inject each of these reviews with brilliance and heart. We learned the effects of foreign energy drinks on the brain during the movie; we learned about the art and burden of writing; we saw the film with the blogger’s family; we compared it to other zany films. Through the lens of this blog, we have been able to dissect every convoluted element of Richard Kelly’s bizarre, malformed, and possibly genius (future) cult-classic.
I proposed this film to The Wicker Breaker. There was a simple reason why: I knew, ahead of time, about the comics. I knew that at the very least there would be plenty of fodder for the project – the DVD’s making-of documentary, the insane cartoon about fish, a one-of-a-kind soundtrack, and the film’s “plague on both your houses”-take on politics. It was bad, awkward, funny, good, and brilliant – in that order. Personally, I’ve watched the film at least 20 times. I can only imagine what happens after 50. Do I regret recommending such a wacky and galvanizing film? Not really.
“Southland Tales” hooked me right away. I understood the hyper-comedic tone of 21st-century satire immediately. While the story wriggled its way in and out of my grasp, I could still identify the lampooning of U.S. military might, clean energy gurus, cults of personality, the nightmare of reality television, the hapless political right, the equally hapless political left, the brutish stupidity of gun violence, and more.
There’s also the important theme of ambition and conviction. Almost everyone in the film has a goal that they are committed to, no matter what, and all of those goals are pretentious: a porn star’s branding, an actor/writer/producer and his messiah-complex of a film, perpetual motion as a source of energy, blackmailing and sticking it to “the man,” faking deaths on camera to kick-off a revolution. They are caricatures of modern political and social impulses: evolved but stupid. Western society is composed of people with unmanaged expectations, unbridled desires, and an unrestrained disdain for others.
That is why, I believe, people do not by and large “like” this film. It was a film ahead of its time, but still about its time. And the reason people don’t want to see it now, even 8 years later, is because we – for all intents and purposes – have not moved on from that place: that post-9/11 paranoia and arrogance has not faded away, not even after the loss of a decade’s blood and riches in the Middle East. Two wars and near insolvency couldn’t shake America out of it’s greedy and unfeeling ways. And if it weren’t for “criminals” like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, we wouldn’t know for certain just how much things have stayed the same. Our government doesn’t trust us: they spy on us, lie to us, and offer empty apologies for behaviors unchanged.
On the other hand, the movie is also very silly. Flying ice cream trucks, twins who aren’t twins but still sort of are, roller skates, drug-induced musical numbers, and an accurate recreation of the severely damaged celebrity mind. These are also, frankly, reasons not to enjoy the film or to not want to give it a chance. This is unfamiliar humor; ferocious in its depictions of vacuous, well-to-do Californians and their trashy, inept proletariat counterparts. We’re laughing while gunshots ring out in public spaces (awkward) and genuinely terrified by Jon Lovitz’s evil street cop. All of that is, by anyone’s account, a strange viewing experience. So, you either love it or hate it.
Of course, I had not watched the Cannes “director cut” of the film until The Wicker Breaker mentioned it and broke it down for us. I had no idea the Clash’s music could function so perfectly in time with the film. And I learned about our blogger: his views on things like humor, writing, mental health, filmmaking, family, inspiration, doubt, and possibility. And to think that he’s been writing a novel at the same time! We’ve been following a writer for the last year, a dude who loves to put his words to paper – to inhabit his writer’s voice and let it all out. The result is now, in my opinion, the most comprehensive and literate (and interesting) analysis of Richard Kelly’s “Southland Tales” in the entire world.
If I’m right and “Southland Tales” eventually achieves a proper “cult-classic” status, I believe that the new waves of those people who discover this film will do so with the assistance of this blog: its insights, its humanity, and its author.
Jason:
I'm not sure how or when Jason started following my reviews but he's the first "stranger" to contact me and let me know that others were interested in this project. I was pretty sure that I became aware of him around the week of the Boston Marathon bombing when he commented on my Twitter something to the effect of the city being on lockdown reminded him of events from Southland Tales. It was then that I knew who that one person was from Boston that showed up in my Google Analytics report on a weekly basis.
Here's what Jason has to say:
I am excited to contribute my own review of SOUTHLAND TALES for The Wicker Breaker's AREA 52 project this week. It's no easy task to review the same movie every week for a year, and I can't believe he's managed to keep this up (and keep it so interesting) week after week. Very impressive.
A type of review Bunker does that I really like is the live-review . . . a stream of consciousness analysis of the movie in real-time where he'll just riff on whatever new observations occur to him as he watches the movie. I particularly like the way he qualifies these reviews by first describing for the reader his current surroundings and state of mind. I often wonder how often movies get good or bad reviews depending on what kind of a mood the reviewer was on that particular day. Bunker, thankfully, doesn't pretend objectivity . . . he tells you what kind of mood he's in, and you completely expect it to influence his analysis. It sounds like a liberating way of talking about a film, and I'm dying to try it out myself, especially since I know there's no way I'm going to put together a traditional analysis anywhere as good as the one Binary Bastard wrote for his blog, DIGITAL DIDASCALIA , nor am I going to be able to provide the kind of new insights into the movie like those that came out of Abraham Riesman's VICE interview with Richard Kelly. So I'm just going to have a little fun with this, and not take it too seriously. And down the rabbit hole, we go. Wheeeee!
My surroundings and state of mind: It's Tuesday night, February 3rd, and Matt has asked me to have this review to him by tomorrow. I intentionally put it off until the last minute so that I'd really have to play things fast and loose. I'm also feeling pretty exhausted at the moment because I just finished a big movie project this week that I've been working on for the past couple of years, but it's finally done!
The first time I saw SOUTHLAND TALES was two years ago, and I think it's fair to say that I've since become a little obsessed with the movie, especially over the course of the past year. What I initially liked about the movie was the fact that I didn't understand it at all, yet every detail seemed so laden with intent I knew that there was a puzzle here just begging to be solved. Even in my initial confusion, there was something I just liked about the movie. Somehow, I knew that successive viewings would help me put all the pieces into place. Now, as I'm about to sit down for what I believe is my sixth viewing of the movie, I know that I am still only at the beginning stages of really getting my head around the whole thing, but I sure am enjoying the ride.
Hey, I grew up in Texas! Not too far from Abilene (in terms of Texas distances anyway). So there's something familiar about the movie that draws me in right away. It's almost like I'm looking at my own home movies. I love that Bunker mentioned the woman with the water gun as part of his reviews. Every time I watch it, I think the same exact thing, "She can't be acting." In many ways, it's the most innocuous little moment, but at the same time, it creates this immediate blur between the boundaries of fact and fiction that kind of sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
Even after all these viewings, I still don't' understand why the bad politicians have to be named after poets that I love. It makes me so mad, but maybe that's the point of it. When Senator Bobby Frost quotes Robert Frost it just makes me feel icky. Maybe it's an expression of how people in power often employ contrary philosophies if they think it makes them sound profound, and not even realize how much they're contradicting themselves by doing so. This is basically what happens when he later tells Cyndi Pynziki in a self-satisfied tone that she has "miles to go before you sleep." It's supposed to be some kind of a threat but is actually quite the opposite.
Only recently did I actually watch THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS, the animated short that was made as a companion piece to SOUTHLAND TALES. Now that it's on my radar, I see it all throughout the movie. I think I counted five times that it's used, maybe six. Much like Richard Kelly films themselves, even the short is a bit eerily prophetic. Sure, it's not bombs that have irradiated our oceans, but I can't watch TITWTWE without thinking about Fukushima, and the tragedy that began there.
Narrated voiceover in movies: I know some people have a thing against it, but I think Justin Timberlake does a great job, and his voice nails just the right tone for the film (Is there anything he can't do?). When voiceover is done right, I think it's an incredibly effective device.
Every time I see that image of Baron Von Westphalen on the cover of WIRED magazine, I have to smile. What a great image.
There's the clip from KISS ME DEADLY. I realized recently that I haven't seen many of the movies that SOUTHLAND TALES draws upon, so I've been trying to fill in the gaps (MULHOLLAND DRIVE, SUNSET BOULEVARD, KISS ME DEADLY). This is my first time watching SOUTHLAND TALES since watching any of those movies, so a lot of those references are just beginning to make sense to me for the first time.
Here comes one of the most quotable lines of the movie. "Scientists are saying that the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." I literally LOL every time I hear that line.
As memorable Richard Kelly lines go, it's almost on par with "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion." Speaking of that movie . . .
There's Frank from DONNIE DARKO! At 38:00 Taverner falls into a dumpster from the roof, and you can see posters of Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko on the wall. I can't help but wonder what Frank has been up to between 1988 and 2008. It looks like he's been busy. Doing what . . . I can only imagine.
Yet another DONNIE DARKO parallel. Here's the SOUThLAND TALES version: “Do you ever feel like there’s a thousand people locked inside of you? But it’s your memory that keeps them glued together. Keeps all these people from fighting one another. Maybe, in the end, that’s all we have. The Memory Gospel.” Here's the DONNIE DARKO version: "If the sky were to suddenly open up there would be no law. There would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories… the choices you’ve made, and the people you’ve touched. If this world were to end there would only be you and him and no-one else."
One woman (the one from POLTERGEIST) is holding a copy of the script for THE POWER. One is holding a book that I think says TAROT VISION. Does that book on top say NEUROKINETICS? If not, it's something like that. I can't entirely make out the DNA book's subtitle, but the book is all around them, so it must be important. "Links to Life." I think that's what it might be.
Umbrellas? Is that's what see in the photograph on the table in the bookstore? Could that picture be the "sea of black umbrellas" photo? It would make sense.
Here's someplace I need to go consult a copy of the script. What is that address of the "domestic dispute"? For some reason, it jumps out at me whenever I hear it, so I want to find out what it is. 1400 No Ida Place. Noita Place? Noeida? No Idea Place?
Asynchronicity of the real bullets versus the fakes. What an incredible touch, and such a deft reinforcement of the theme of asynchronous doubles that permeates the movie.
Viewing this scene always hits me with a small pang of nostalgia. I used to have that same green bong. It was the first smoking device I ever owned, and it was my only smoking device for years. Me and my friends used to call it "Baby Bong." Is that some kind of an impressionistic Donnie Darko mask behind them while they're smoking? And while we're on the topic, is that red-haired kid on the rollerblades the same super-fan from the Donnie Darko pseudo-documentary? I always have that thought when I watch this scene. It probably isn't him, but I've never bothered to check them out side by side.
Every time I hear the line where The Rock says, "She's developing her own reality show," I think I hear an ever so slight pause between "reality" and "show." The way he delivers the line is just perfect. It's one of those moments when I first saw the movie that I thought, "Wow, There's much more to The Rock than I would have ever realized. His acting is really impressive."
Behind the Fire Arcade sign is another black and white picture, similar to the one in the bookstore. What's the picture? Is it soldiers being subjected to a nuclear bomb test? That's what it looks like.
Each shoulder of Justin Timberlake has a happy face sticker above it. On one side, it's a black happy face. On the other side, it's a yellow happy face. A very rave-y version of the good and bad angels on each shoulder. At first, I thought it was the happy face with an eye shot out, but no, it's even better. All the happy faces have the same scar as Abilene.
Every film class should assign the dance number as required viewing. What can I possibly say about "All The Things That I Have Done"? It's one of my favorite things I've ever seen. This was actually the first clip I ever saw of the movie, after seeing somebody post it on Nova Bennett's blog, FUCK YEAH, SOUTHLAND TALES. I don't know what I'd previously imagined the movie was going to be like, but after seeing this clip I thought, "OK, this is a movie I really have to see."
Not too long ago, Bunker wondered out loud (well, on Twitter), "What level of drug dealer do you need to get DMT? Friendly pot dealer that also knows how to get acid, or hard drug guy with a scary dog?" I then had to wonder aloud (well, on Twitter) what it would be like to watch SOUTHLAND TALES on DMT. I guessed it would probably involve the appearance of an angel resembling Joey Ramone. I added that DMT was the one drug I've never done that I would love to try, but no, that's not entirely true. I want to try Fluid Karma (I bleed, dog!). While I'm at it, I'll also add the Red Pill from the Matrix. Those sound like a few highs I think I might like!
Love the shots of Nana Mae Frost in front of the double strip of video monitors. I count 18 of them. Maybe some sort of a nod to Moby for providing the film with such an incredible score?
On Cheri Oteri's shirt, there are some letters I can't quite make out. On the bottom, it says "Silver." I think it might say something above that, but if so, I can't make it out. There's an entire wall of Frank the Bunny posters in the background of that scene. Combine this with the "Pandoras Box" comment and you have here the nexus of three Richard Kelly movies. I like the playfulness of having the word "box" on "Pandora's box." Pandora's BOXer. Funny. But I'm easy to amuse.
On the rear window of the truck, the barrel of the gun becomes aligned with Taverner's reflection as he walks up to the vehicle. Nice touch. A great premonition of what's to come.
Karl Rove Credit Union. Pretty funny. I love the reversal of the Americans trying to escape to find freedom in Mexico. He calls Taverner "Dog" a lot in this scene. Was Abilene the only other person he called "Dog?" I'm guessing there must be something to that, but what that is, I'm not totally sure.
I have been wondering about this a lot lately . . . What happened to Jenny Von Westphalen? Do we know? I like that it supports the idea that most people in this movie are motivated by their feelings/obligations for other people . . . Taverner is motivated by his feelings of guilt over what he did to Abilene, so I can only guess the Baron is motivated by something that happened to Jenny. It's the right amount of backstory and mystery for the Baron. In my imagination, he must have been a different person before whatever happened to Jenny happened. I'm guessing that losing her must have been the trigger that put the Baron on a different path. Wait, I just Googled "Jenny Von Westphalen." She's a real person, Marx's wife. I didn't know that. Or knew and forgot it. So, the ship is named after Marx's wife? Is Baron Von Westphalen supposed to be a relative, or is there more to the story like that? I kind of liked my version of who "Jenny" was better. Maybe I can pretend they're both somehow true?
Now, there's a word I've never heard before. Onanist? The levels Boxer sees on the display inside the elevator are: Atrium, Club Jenny, Karma Cafe, and Onanist Lounge. I just looked up Onanist. Onanism can either refer to masturbation or Coitus Interruptus. It's based on the character Onan from the Bible. Genesis 38:9 says: "But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with his brother's wife, he spilled the semen on the ground. This prevented her from having a child who would belong to his brother." Perhaps a clue to The Rock being the False prophet rather than the true prophet? Maybe not. Maybe it's just a lounge where people can get together and masturbate (Wilhelm Reich would have approved). I'm not totally sure.
Great scene. Kevin Smith is so awesome as Simon Theory. But, for some reason, I always think it's Philip Seymour Hoffman when I first see Kevin Smith in this scene. There's something similar in his voice and demeanor in that scene that makes me confuse the two for a second. After this past week, what a sad association to make.
Fuck, I keep getting caught up in watching the movie and forgetting to write things down here.
On the TV screen in the Mega Zeppelin, they're showing KISS ME DEADLY. I never realized that before. It's the scene at the end where they open the box, right before they run into the ocean. What a great touch, and it makes sense that they're playing it on the Zeppelin because the movie is Boxer's favorite.
Really love this image . . . the outline of Jesus in blood coming through Jericho's shirt. I know that it's the Christian image that begins to bleed because this is America, and Christianity is the dominant religion. I imagine SOUTHLAND TALES conforms to that particular mythology for the same reason. The fact that Jericho's tattoos represent multiple religions also seems to say that what we're witnessing is an apocalypse story that exists in various forms across many religions. Maybe that also means that the apocalypse gets to choose for itself what trimmings it comes wrapped in. It could come according to the prophecies of any one religion, or maybe even some form of a mash-up or intentional corruption of all of them together, with a dose of the religion of Hollywood thrown in for good measure. Why not? At the same time, SOUTHLAND TALES models its second-coming story on The Book of Revelation, it also suggests the universal fascination with the apocalypse. Even if SOUTHLAND TALES plays out according to a Christian prophecy, it's also a story that, in one form or another, is hardwired in the DNA of all people everywhere.
6 viewings under my belt and I'm already looking forward to number 7! Not exactly 52, but it's a start. Thanks to Bunker for the chance to join in on such a great project.
Maxime:
Maxime is one of my favorite readers, not only is he from France, turning The Wicker Breaker into an internationally read blog, but he's also the one that kept me following the strict deadline that I set up for myself. The one time that I had to implement my Tuesday before I go to bed and not Tuesday by midnight, Maxime was right there to call me out on it. It was about a half-hour until midnight when I got this message on The Wicker Breaker's Facebook page, "Only a few minutes left to be on time... " I guess he didn't know about the clause, but from that day on I made sure to get my reviews in before midnight because now I knew at least one person was waiting for it.
Maxime was a little nervous about sharing his review because English is not his first language, but I talked him into it and here it is:
SOUTHLAND TALES.
As a sort of movie nerd, Buffy fan, and a huge sucker for Donnie Darko, Southland Tales was obviously what I had been waiting for.
I remember watching it on the day it came out on DVD in France, I was just 18 I guess, and not totally aware of what that movie was about. The only thing I knew was that Sarah Michelle Gellar would play a porn actress in a post-apocalyptic government organization movie. Well look at this, a dream come true.
I remember that while I was watching the movie, I just kept thinking « Look, me, it’s this dude from American Pie and he doesn‘t wank, look it’s that Britney Spears kinda looking singer chick or WTF is Amy Poehler doing here? » and I have to admit the story just remained a mystery by the end of the credits. Also because I had slept for 35 minutes in the middle.
I went to work planning to watch the movie later. So when I was done with Big Macs and Chicken Nuggets, I drove home, took a shower, rolled a fatty and started the movie. With sight glasses on. That was serious.
And that was pretty serious.
Justin Timberlake is ugly on purpose, guys, and tells us the story of how the World fell under nuclear attack in 2005. Which was last year at the time, which was a fail to me, as too close anticipation often leads to nothing interesting. But the movie kept its creepy yet completely polarizing tone. The porn star is smarter than first presented and there are two twins, but there are no twins, they are the same guy at two different times and the only thing I can think about is how is there only one The Rock? I see midgets and the old scary lady from Poltergeist that I love, and I start to lose it but patriotism has saved me. Christophe Lambert plays this guy who sells weapons out of an ice cream truck. Is it just a cameo? So I forced myself not to sleep on the joint and finish the movie to see if he was coming back. Yes, there are two The Rocks and I’m relieved. The more the story goes on, the more it gets twisted and we realize nobody is completely innocent and it’s not a three-way dance that will save you.
The ending monologue is supposed to help you, it doesn’t at first. It just makes you wanna watch it again.
And on a blessed day, I heard about another cut. A longer cut.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to find it easily, but I got it anyway.
The movie starts with more talk and less confusion about how bad the situation really is. But the film is better. I know it was criticized when it was projected at the Cannes Film Festival, but those precious specialists wanted way too much coming from Richard Kelly. Or maybe they expected less. It’s everything a movie-goer can wish for. A good and thick plot, great directing choices, and pretty great actors and cameos. I mean, The Rock was sculpted to be Jericho Cane someday. And how to refuse a movie where an actual porn star licks and cut fingers wearing an ugly orange wig but and won‘t have to test for STDs by the end of the shooting?
I have to say if you wanna watch Southland Tales, it would be good for you to watch this version. Yes, it’s 16 minutes longer and it means 16 more minutes or maybe not so clear information, but it will help you to put it together. Sort of.
As of today, I’m not sure if I know everything Richard Kelly wanted us to know. And I’ll admit that even though I’ve watched it a certain amount of times, Donnie Darko still isn’t totally clear to me. And I guess that’s what makes a good movie.
Don’t read the reviews easily available ( even though I guess this is a review ). Watch and make your own opinion.
AREA 52
Area 51. I think I was in fact looking for some information on Area 51, Nevada. I had just watched the movie The Fourth Kind with Milla Jovovich, so I was in an alien mood. But the beauty of the Internet led me to Area 52, a project that had started a few weeks earlier ( I would have liked to know when exactly but the link is now broken and now I regret not to have printed the whole thang ) about a movie that I actually paid and legally own. And love. So I read, and as I kept reading, I realized the guy writing this had had the craziest idea to watch the same movie again and again for an entire year. What a fool. And he chose Southland Tales? Arrogant. But it turned out that The Wicker Breaker was neither foolish nor arrogant, and that I could actually help him. I had watched the Cannes Cut version and it seemed to me that he had not yet. So I decided he wasn’t too busy to answer me and sent him a message via Facebook telling him about it. What was my surprise when he answered ten minutes later? He seemed interested, so I got interested as well. The week after that, he mentioned in his review that a contributor told him about the said version of the movie and that he would use it. I was now a little part of the weird journey of a 6.4 feet California native guy that has actual credits on IMDB including Safety Not Guaranteed. This man is directly linked to Aubrey Plaza, who is herself linked to Amy Poehler and she is the absolute perfection. How indie of me. Especially now with the Golden Globe.
Winter ended and the Hotel I work at in Saint Tropez opened for the high season, but I was waiting each week for the review. I even dared to rush the brave guy who managed to remain loyal to the project even though he had kind of a busy life buying cough syrup and bacon flavour chips. But he never missed a week. Not when he was in the middle of nowhere and cold, not when he visited family ( he even brought the project inside the family ), not even when he was on a plane. That specific week we even got phone reviews.
And that’s what was cool. Matthew Aaron Bunker was nice enough to not only dig deep for Area 52, but also to make an interesting journal about a thirty-something anonymous freelance man who’s a producer/ camera crew operator/assistant, but really is a writer. Let’s make a movie about him and call it Meta.
Comic books, Youtube videos, parallels with other movies…he took everything he could find to get an explanation off of each detail that bugged him. And it kinda worked. The movie became clearer over the course of the past year since I’ve watched it once a month between April and September to be able to enjoy everything Bunker mentioned and reacted to.
This whole project was an organized mess, and how could it have been different with a movie like this? And if you’re lost throughout the process, just bare with it, it will get better.
I don't have a link to anything that Maxime is working on but a message is out to him and I will add one if he does in fact have anything that he would like to share.
Conclusion:
Well… that's it. Thanks to everyone who played along and thank you Richard Kelly for creating the perfect movie for this experiment.
And now... for real this time... this is the way the review ends...
