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Profile - Quentin Tarantino

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Every so often a filmmaker comes along that changes the rules for everyone. Sergio Leone did it in the sixties with the western; after The Good The Bad & The Ugly it was impossible to make a standard western movie, because that film changed the rules. Quentin Tarantino changed the rules of the gangster movie with Reservoir Dogs, and especially Pulp Fiction. Gangsters were no longer stereotypes, but real people who could be articulate and funny and still kill people. He made people in Hollywood sit up and take notice of good writing aswell. So welcome to my tribute to one of the most exciting screenwriter/directors working in Hollywood today. Quentin has written and directed about six films so far, and has written a few more. He also acts, though not very well I would say. But hey, you can't be good at everything can you? Not the busiest director around though - come on Quentin, pick up the pace a little!
   
Reservoir Dogs
What an opener! This is one of the most impressive directing debuts since Sidney Lumet's Twelve Angry Men. The story concerns a bank-heist gone wrong: The robbers are convinced that they have a rat among them who tipped the cops off, and they set about trying to find out who it is at the rendezvous. The film is told in (more or less) real time and the structure is more akin to a novel than a conventional movie: We start out with Mr. Orange bleeding in the back seat of the getaway car, having been shot in the gut, then we fade into the gang having breakfast in a diner before the robbery, where they examine such pop culture topics as the etiquette of tipping waitresses. Stand-out performances by Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink, Harvey Keitel as Mr. White, and Tim Roth as Mr. Orange. And you never see the heist, only the aftermath.
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs wasn't just a flash in the pan. This is a Corker of a film and it's great fun too. There are four separate stories which intertwine, and the characters from the four stories intermingle. Again the events do-not occur in chronological order. Rather the viewer is shunted back and forth in time, and the end result is like a complicated mosaic. It's an ensemble piece with almost every part played superbly. Bruce Willis is better than he's ever been, and John Travolta is a revelation. (Not so much of a revelation to those of us who admired Brian DePalma's 1981 film Blow Out though). Samuel L. Jackson puts in a great performance as the born again Jules Winfield, and Uma Thurman's performance as Mia Wallace can only be described as foxy. The script, once again, is first class.
Jackie Brown
Another step forward for Quentin Tarantino. This is a much more leisurely paced film than both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. But the viewer's patience is well rewarded with more cracking performances and another polished script (adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch). More linear than the previous two films, this one is considered to be a bit more of a mature effort. Quentin's obsession with pop culture is still evident but very much toned down this time. Pam Grier is very good as Jackie Brown, an air-stewardess caught between a ruthless gun-runner and the FBI, while Robert Forster is outstanding as her bail bondsman Max Cherry. Robert DeNiro, in a small part, is a treat to watch. Many people regard this film as a bit boring, but I found it almost as enjoyable as Pulp Fiction.
Kill Bill Part 1
And about time too! Possibly not the film people were expecting after such a long hiaitus. It doesn't look to me like another step towards maturity, but a stab at something Quentin loves and was itching to do. It's a (very bloody) tale of revenge, with Uma Thurman having been shot in the head and left for dead at her wedding. We catch up with her after she's awoken from her coma. The rest of the film is her determinedly tracking each of her attackers and exacting revenge - samurai style. It's typical Tarantino time, with non-chronological storytelling, nodding homages to some of his favourite films, a bit of black and white, and a bit of Manga thrown in for good measure. This film is a lot of fun for those who were brought up on Shaw Brothers Kung-Fu flicks and Bruce Lee films. Great stuff.
Kill Bill Part 2
Should Kill Bill have been two seperate movies? I don't know - something tells me there's a wonderful three hour version of Kill Bill out there - amalgamating the two films into one and cutting about an hour of fat out of them. However, two films is what we have, and although I don't think this second part is as strong as the first it's still good. Basically this is a continuation of the revenge tale started in the first part. Uma picks off her tormentors one by one until the inevitable showdown with Bill. Interspersed with this there's more of her backstory - showing her training with the shoalin master and such. Fun for anyone who's watched their fair share of Chop Sockey.
Deathproof
I was a bit disappointed with this film on first viewing. Tarantino seems so obviously talented that it's frustrating to me that he doesn't make a 'proper' film. Something with a lot more substance than the stuff he's concentrating on. This is definitely the weakest of the films he's done so far, but taken as the movie it's intended to be it's really rather good. Kurt Russell plays a homicidal stunt driver who picks up chicks in his semi-indestructable car and crashes it at full speed, killing the passenger. This film features a great car chase, and that's the whole point of it. Well, I've always been a sucker for a good car chase, and while this isn't even in the same league as Bullitt, it's nevertheless pretty good.

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