Another long, strange trip
Now that Richard Kelly's first feature film, "Donnie Darko," is being mounted in a stage version at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, it's probably time for the public to get a look at his next movie, "Southland Tales." Scheduled for release Nov. 9, it's a description-defying apocalyptic sci-fi action farce set in Los Angeles in 2008 (during World War III).
Also, Kelly is in Boston shooting his third movie, a thriller with Cameron Diaz, called "The Box," which, fittingly, is based on an old "Twilight Zone" episode.
"Southland Tales" had a violently mixed reception when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. Immediately rumors began to circulate that Kelly was going to have to pare down his 2 1/2-hour juggernaut to win or keep a US distributor.
A year and a half later, the movie is still that long, suggesting the rumors were wrong or that Kelly has prevailed. In any case, the film's complicated plot is set in an election year and features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as an amnesiac action star, Sarah Michelle Gellar as an eco-minded porn princess, and a lot of "Saturday Night Live" veterans (Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, Cheri Oteri). Oh, there are Karl Marx descendants, an actual perpetual motion invention, and a vast right-wing conspiracy, too. In conjunction with the ART, the Harvard Film Archive will preview the film on Nov. 3 at 9:15 p.m. The archive is at 24 Quincy St., Cambridge. For information, visit hcl.harvard.edu/hfa.
WESLEY MORRIS 