Films like Southland Tales.

Southland Tales (2007) reads as Sombre, steady, measured sci-fi / thriller, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, epic, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Fateful Findings (2012) poster
1. Fateful Findings2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Double Down (2005) poster
2. Double Down2005

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a pitch-dark outlook.

Southland Tales (2006) poster
3. Southland Tales2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the dense, packed storytelling; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2005) poster
4. C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America2005

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the dense, packed storytelling; trades toward a strange, dreamlike logic.

Doomsday Book (2012) poster
5. Doomsday Book2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a dense, packed storytelling.

Donnie Darko (2001) poster
6. Donnie Darko2001

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a world-sized stakes.

Happy End (2009) poster
7. Happy End2009

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the world-sized stakes; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Meaning of Life (2005) poster
8. The Meaning of Life2005

Keeps the dense, packed storytelling and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Resurrection of the Little Match Girl (2002) poster
9. Resurrection of the Little Match Girl2002

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the dense, packed storytelling; trades toward a relentless forward drive.

K-PAX (2001) poster
10. K-PAX2001

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace; trades toward a bone-dry seriousness.

Symbol (2009) poster
11. Symbol2009

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the strange, dreamlike logic; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

The Zero Theorem (2013) poster
12. The Zero Theorem2013

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a world-sized stakes.

These are Southland Tales’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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