Saved!

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Rating 3½


Directed by Brian Dannelly

Written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban

Starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Macaulay Culkin, Eva Amurri, Patrick Fugit and Martin Donovan


“Prayer works, it’s been medically proven.”

This film was recommended to me and I am glad I listened. I enjoyed it very much. It’s a comedy satire, not unlike ‘Mean Girls’, but this one is set in a Fundamentalist Christian High School.

Mary (the excellent Jena Malone) is one of the “Christian Jewels”, an in-crowd of senior girls led by Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore). When Mary discovers that her boyfriend Dean is gay she has sex with him, believing that it is the will of Jesus that she should do so to “cure” him, and that afterwards her “spiritual and emotional virginity” will be restored. Instead, she becomes pregnant.

Although she is initially able to hide her pregnancy, Mary begins to question her faith and starts to see the hypocrisy present in the holier than thou attitude of Hilary Faye. She increasingly becomes an outsider and is befriended by Cassandra (Eva Amurri), the school rebel who constantly pushes the boundaries of behaviour acceptable within the system. Roland (Macaulay Culkin), the wheelchair-bound brother of Hilary Faye, also begins to hang with Cassandra, as he breaks free of the smothering and self-serving attentions of his sister.

The film is very funny, with some wonderful one-liners. In one scene, Mary picks up a bible that has been thrown at her by Hilary Faye, telling her, “This is not a weapon!” It also successfully treads a fine line in its message. Rather like ‘Galaxy Quest’, it displays a genuine affection for the thing it satires and lampoons. Although it makes some very pertinent comments about the nature of religious belief and the dangers inherent in the interpretation of its teachings, it never takes an aggressively anti-Christian stance, quite the opposite, in fact. The ending could be dismissed as a rather trite cop-out, but I thought it worked rather nicely.

Deliberate or otherwise, it was a nice touch to have the band at the prom perform ‘We’ll Inherit The Earth’, a song by The Replacements, who were surely as debauched as it is possible to get!

Jena Malone has been excellent in everything I have seen her in and is no different here. Mandy Moore is terrific. She apparently took over the role from Anne Hathaway and I am glad she did so. She really is very good. I was never impressed by Macaulay Culkin in his “child star” days, especially in the horrendous ‘Home Alone’ films, but I was pleasantly surprised by his performance here. I like Mary-Louise Parker and she works well with Malone as mother and daughter.

I am not sure what audience the film hoped to attract. I cannot imagine it would have been well received by Christian groups in America, while others would probably argue that it didn’t go far enough in its deconstruction of fundamentalist beliefs.

In the end, all I can say is that I liked it and I would pass on the recommendation originally made to me to watch it.


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Southland Tales

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Rating 3½


Written and directed by Richard Kelly

Starring a cast of thousands, including Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, Kevin Smith, Bai Ling, Holmes Osborne, Nora Dunn and Cheri Otari


Had Francis Ford Coppola been a cyber-geek and made ‘Apocalypse Now’ in 2005, rather than in the late 1970s, it would have been called ‘Southland Tales’.

That is my first impression of this strange film, Richard Kelly’s belated follow-up to his 2001 cult classic ‘Donnie Darko’.

I have also identified a touch of the Coen Brothers about it, particularly during the musical sequence featuring Justin Timberlake’s character, which put me in mind of the surreal musical-dream sequence in ‘The Big Lebowski’. There are many other films that could be referenced – I’ve heard mention of ‘Dr Strangelove’ and ‘Strange Days’. I can understand this.

I suspect the main thing that will come to mind for anyone who knows anything about ‘Southland Tales’ is the savage reaction it received when a work-in-progress copy was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2006. Most critics dismissed it as an abominable disaster. Kelly re-edited the film and secured funding to complete the special effects and other post-production work. It was finally released into American cinemas in November 2007 and in Britain a little under a month later.

The reviews this time were still negative, although not as hostile. They all referred to the screening at Cannes and it does seem as if it will never now be viewed without pre-existing bias, apparently negative in most cases.

I haven’t read ‘Two Roads Diverge’, ‘Fingerprints’ and ‘The Mechanicals’, the three comic books that form the backstory to the film, except for the extracts that have turned up on-line. Having seen the film, I don’t think is necessary to do so – and having no interest in comic books, it is not something I am planning on doing. I didn’t find the film difficult to follow or think the message was particularly complicated.

Either this means I am a genius, which I most certainly am not, I am a simpleton who managed to arrive at a meaning by the very virtue of not understanding the complexity of it all, or the film is nowhere near as convoluted and difficult to follow as the critics have led us to believe. I think the last suggestion is the most likely.

It is unfocused - and I will want to watch it a few more times - but it wasn’t any more “out there” than ‘Donnie Darko’. It shares with that film references to theoretical physics, time travel and religion. What it perhaps lacks is the same emotional resonance that Kelly achieved in his first film. There was a real substance and heart to characters like Donnie and Gretchen, but that is harder to find in this new film.

It is too long. There is nothing wrong with a film lasting over two hours. Many films last over two hours. The Paul Thomas Anderson film ‘Magnolia’ is over three hours long and worth every minute. However, in the case of ‘Southland Tales’, I think twenty minutes could easily have been shaved off the running time without compromising the story. It does flirt with tedium in places and it did start to drag a little bit towards the end.

I went in biased in favour of the film, and not just because I like Sarah Michelle Gellar. I am always suspicious of very hostile reviews, which I tend to think often harbour an underlying agenda. Having said that, I was a little bit worried that the film would prove to be as bad as some of the reviewers have suggested.

At first, I wasn’t sure about all the cyber stuff. I found it distracting and visually chaotic to the eye, but I soon got used to it. The film dragged a little bit at times – and my viewing pleasure wasn’t helped by the uncomfortable cinema seat and lack of decent leg room (I am very tall). Also, someone in the audience nearby constantly crinkled sweet papers, which I found diverted my attention away from the screen. Usually, these things don’t bother me, but this is a film that does require concentration. Roll on the DVD release!


The acting is fine. I don’t have a problem with anyone, although I do find Bai Ling rather odd – and not especially likeable, to be honest. Justin Timberlake impressed me. Equally, I thought Mandy Moore did a good job. Dwayne Johnson did what was needed of him in the lead role. I thought he was very good. I also thought Seann William Scott was excellent.

I knew this wasn’t a vehicle for Sarah Michelle Gellar, but I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t see more of her. Krysta Now is a fabulous character and when I came out of the cinema I couldn’t help but think it would have been interesting to have the whole film devoted to her. As it exists, it is not a meaty role, but once again Gellar proves that she is a decent and underrated actress.

‘Southland Tales’ is not, I suspect, a classic film. It is not a great film. At least, based on one viewing that is my initial impression. However, it is an interesting and unusual film and it is a lot better than the critics would like us to believe. Contrary to some opinion, it doesn’t prove that ‘Donnie Darko’ was a fluke.

It might be a film of limited appeal, but it cannot be faulted for its endeavour to do something unusual and thought provoking. Richard Kelly probably has stretched himself too thin here and tried to create something too ambitious, but if it is a failure, it’s a fascinating one.



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