Well, it’s finally here. For those of us who were sucked into the mystery of Donnie Darko, and have been wondering what happened to director Richard Kelly’s follow-up, since it’s disasterous opening in Cannes 2006, Southland Tales has been given an official release date. November 9 is for those in North America (albiet in limited release), and us in the UK can see it in December (maybe, depending on its reception, I suspect). And, as you can see, the official trailer is out.

And I have to confess, the trailer has raised my hopes. Sure, it may be a director biting off way more than he can chew, by filming a multi-genre piece with multiple characters and strands (the main problem for those in Cannes last year). But the trailer shows a well crafted film, displaying the kind of grandeur (delusional or not) that may suggest something quite important. The light approach taken to this apocalyptic scenario suggests the kind of wit Kurt Vonnegut excelled at (Kelly wrote an unproduced adaptation of Cat’s Cradle a while back). The casting is interesting enough in itself. The Rock… oh, sorry, Dwayne Johnson, is an actor and spy, Sean William Scott, the dunce of Hollywood, is a responsible cop, Sarah Michelle “Buffy” is an entreprenurial porn star, with Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, Jon Lovitz, and Kevin Smith all providing support to this bizarre ensemble, which makes the film worth checking out already.

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