I have a theory.

If you give a child a blank piece of construction paper, a box of 32 Crayola crayons, maybe some juice and cookies and leave said-child alone for 20 minutes, what you will get is the equivalent of an art masterpiece. It could be abstract, it could be folk art. But what it most definitely will be is great.

Now, let’s expand on this theory, shall we?

Say, you followed the same criteria with the same child. You know, give them a blank piece of paper, crayons, yadda, yadda, yadda. And you walk away for 40 minutes. When you return, most likely you will find the child off in another room, perhaps playing with a new Nintendo Wii game, and the picture abandoned. Now, what the child created is still art, no lie. But close inspection will find the picture forced, expanded on so much that it feels uninspired. You have nothing left to do but curse yourself for letting it go on as long as it did.

I throw this theory out at you, oh Indie reader, to help you better understand the two camps that will emerge following the release of Southland Tales, writer/director Richard Kelly’s uber-ambitious epic, and follow up to the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko. Inevitably, there will be people who believe that this film is nothing short of genius. They will dissect it on blogs, discuss it over coffee, rush to buy the prequel comics (we’ll get to that in a second), and attend fan conventions, all in the name of absorbing everything Southland.

And in the other corner, there are the people who will believe that this film is completely confusing, too ambitious for its own good, and ultimately unwatchable. Why, it did receive the lowest score at Cannes. And I think it was even booed. In fact, knowing Cannes, I’m pretty sure it was booed. I predict that this group will make up about 90% of the people who go to see the film.

But for the record, I am not one of them.

You see, there is something incredibly admirable, and independent in spirit for a director to not just write a movie, but to aspire to create a world. And that is just what Richard Kelly did. His plans for Southland Tales showed that he wanted to merge media together. A quick search on imdb shows that ST was to be expanded as a six part interactive experience, with the first three parts, the film’s prequel, to be released as graphic novels. The film itself would make up the final three chapters of the story. In addition, the website was reported to be designed as one of the largest ever planned.

Ambitious.

Southland Tales is set in the future (or one could even say ‘Alternative Present-Day’) Los Angeles on July 4, 2008. Three years following nuclear attacks in Texas, the country stands on the edge of disaster, a disaster which unfurls throughout this film. See, we are witnessing the apocalypse, all set against the Los Angeles skyline.

Boxer Santaros (The Rock) is a film star who is suffering from amnesia. His efforts to rediscover himself, puts him in contact with Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a bleached blond porn star who is desperate to reinvent herself as a Reality TV host. However, there is a vast conspiracy afoot. It is a conspiracy that could destroy the world and collapse the fourth-dimension on top of itself. The key to this mystery is a Hermosa police officer by the name of Ronald Taverner (Seann William Scott). Will any of these three reach their goals and save the world?

AFI Fest’s screening of Tales was a star-studded event. The director and many of the actors, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, were there. Unfortunately, there was no Q&A following. However, the air of excitement from the Arclight last night was enough to remind me just how invigorating film festivals can be. And even though, I watched a movie that starts of by stating “This is how the world ends”, I am happy to report to you that ‘This is how AFI fest begins…’

This is how AFI Fest begins.