SOUTH OF HEAVEN Review
JL Vara's South of Heaven is a film that defies expectations and easy categorization. It was created by a man who references Dick Tracy and classic giallo gore in the same breath. It employs both slapstick comedy and hard edged violence. It is noir while also eye poppingly colorful. It places Kafka-esque angst next to vaudeville performance. There really isn't a name for what Vara has created with South of Heaven but what is clear is that this is a man who knows film, loves film, and has set out to make a film for other people like him.
Roy Coop is in a heap of trouble. Freshly discharged from the US Navy he is freshly arrived in town, looking to bunk down with his brother Dale and write the great American novel. He's all bright eyes, apple pie and middle America goodness. He is also, unfortunately, short one brother. Dale has skipped town, riding shotgun on a kidnapping masterminded by the aptly named Mad Dog, a psychopathic lunatic with an exceptionally short temper and tendency to wax philosophic. Making things worse for Roy, the girl his brother kidnapped is the daughter of a local crime boss. Making things still worse, aforementioned crime boss knows full well Dale took his daughter, is not particularly pleased about that fact but is completely unaware that Dale has a brother. Roy? Dale? Why get caught up on petty details like names when you're a petty thug sent to collect a finger from a Coop and you've got a Coop in the correct address. Several fingers and one very bad burn later Roy is on the road looking for an explanation and / or vengeance from his brother.
South of Heaven is a visual marvel, loaded with incredibly stylized designs and broad swaths of primary colors. Like Dick Tracy the visual world of South of Heaven is a 1950s comic book brought to life on the big screen, right down to the aw-shucks demeanor of Roy. That 50s influence continues with the noir overtones laced throughout the film but Vara's not at all content to simply mimic that particular era. As the film develops we also get a healthy dose of spaghetti western, some giallo nods and an ultra-dark sense of absurdist humor that is entirely current.
Populating this very odd world of Vara's are a cast of very odd characters, all of whom are hugely memorable in their own way. Roy begins as a character caught out of time, a happily naive man-child who could have been lifted from an episode of Leave It To Beaver before the gangsters start removing his appendages. The pain, humiliation and intense burns eventually transform Roy into a bandaged anti-hero - a bizarre creation that embodies both classic comic elements a la The Phantom and the likes of 80s antiheroes such as The Punisher. Also sharing Roy's world are a pair of former vaudeville performers - complete down to their straw hats - turned philosophical, ultra violent gang enforcers and a beautiful femme fatale. As for the other Coop, Dale is a failed boxer - he's got a glass chin - forced to a life of crime by the enormously unpredictable Mad Dog after the unhinged maniac lost a bundle betting on Dale's inaugural pro fight. Mad Dog is little less than a violent force of nature, nothing but id fighting and fucking his way through anything that crosses his path while spouting his own unique 'philosophy'. Or, at least, what might have eventually developed into philosophy if he wasn't so incredibly dim.
South of Heaven is one of those films whose greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The film boasts such an incredibly unique spin on such a broad range of influences that film fans will have a blast diving in and unpacking it all. The flip side, however, is that it has such a unique spin on such a broad range of influences, which makes it a nightmare to package and market to an audience that is increasingly unwilling to take risks of any sort. South of Heaven had its world premiere at Cinevegas just a day ago and here's hoping it has a lengthy and successful run on the festival circuit before finding a caring home.
