I think Tarantino is fantastic, he's extremely smart, 110% dedicated and unbelievably articulate. Next time someone asks on TEOTWQ who I'd like to spend a day with, it'll be him. I haven't seen his latest film, I'll probably go tomorrow, but I just saw a 1 hour interview with him by Charlie Rose on PBS, if you're at all interested in any aspect of film, production, writing, history aesthetics, genres, then watch this, whatever else you're doing will probably still be there when you're done. He's great!
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10567
15 comments:
Pulp Fiction was truly great, Jackie Brown was almost-great, Reservoir Dogs was shockingly new and original (but difficult to watch). However....
Kill Bill (the last I saw) was ridiculously long and ridiculous. And, from the reviews of his more recent films, he's long gone off the boil. I think he just overworked the small seam of references and techniques that turns him on. I doubt he has another great film in him. But Pulp Fiction is one of my favourite films.
Chris: Having said all that now you need to sit down for an hour and listen to what he has to say about all of those films.
Agreed re. Pulp Fiction, disagree re, Both Bills and
'recent films.' I think he made a mistake colluding with his close friend Robert Rodriguez with his Terror Planet, which was literally unwatchable in the Grindhouse double release. The films were released seperately outside the US so you were spared that, it was one of the very rare instances of my walking out on a film.
I hated Kill Bill, after adoring Reservoir Dogs, enjoying Pulp Fiction and loving Jackie Brown, so I didn't bother with Deathproof. However, we saw Inglourious Basterds (and how much do I hate mistyping that as an Eng teacher!) last week. I was blown away and thought it a beautiful and mature work, though not without the trademark Tarantino flourishes. I loved the room to breathe he allowed the characters (apart from the Basterds themselves, who are barely sketched) and the camerawork is glorious. Jon hated it, saying he'd been unable to focus because of the constant referencing of other war and spagetti western films, but as I don't really watch much of either of those genres, it was all new to me.
If you like Tarantino's older work, I'd say you'd enjoy it. I've been wondering what everyone on the Spill would make of it: FP?!
Hey, we're all so different! I love all the QT films I've seen (except the new one, haven't seen that yet) including the Grindhouse double bill...we much enjoyed watching people walk out after the first one cos they thought that was it...tee heee...(but we're horrible like that.
I hadn't seen a Tarentino film before but went with my son to see Inglourious Basterds. It was brilliant. A great story, great action, great humour. The ending is great.
My son actually has several of his foilms on DVD and I had started to watch Kill Bill once but got bored after ten minutes so did not finish it. May take a gander at Reservoir Dogs.
Looking very much forward to 'Basterds'. Particularly as TracyK is enthusing! I promise I'll see it but frankly I'm won over already. I'm a total fan anyway. He's an utter cinema geekboy - leaves, breathes the medium and takes it to bed with him. That's endearing. And I've seen him present his films at Cannes. He's not blasé at all and is always deeply awed to be there and whips up the audience into a frenzy - his excitement is so infectious. Quentin rocks...
Look forward to Inglouriuss Bassterds, (tracyK just get over it. I bet my English teachers had the same problem with Slade!) not least because of an article I read in The Jewish Chronicle. They'll take anything vaguely Jewish seriously. Even Mark Ronson. I like his references to rubbish B-movies. He only takes the best bits. I remember an interview where he praises 'Sky Riders' (1976 James Coburn). Now I'm sure I wouldn't really relish watching the whole thing again but I get his drift. He wants to make films that are as good as you remember the original being when you were about 12.
A lot is always made of Tarantino's influences, but why does the fact that he ripped off Repo Man wholesale for all that he was lauded for with Pulp Fiction?
Hmmmmm?
Why does the fact what?
I've never compared the two films before. There's quite a lot in common between say Sy Richardson's 'Lite' character and dialogue and Samuel L's 'Jules' for example.
Hmmm. If I had to choose one to watch again now it'd be Repo.
Good point Blimpy.
Never could get into Talkies or colour fillums. Give me Metropilis by Fritz Lang anyday.
I'm so glad of these responses, I thought I was the only fan of Dbl Bill etc. Just this minute come in from seeing Basterds and agree with everything here particularly Tracy. One thing I love about him is his passion and it shows in every film, in this one for example there's a short course in the pre-war German classic directors plus an accurate in-depth look at what goes on [or used to] in a projection booth, he's studied every aspect of film. I had mixed indifferent feelings about it, I'm sure based on a lot of pre-release negative internet gossip, if you've had similar feelings, ignore them, see it now before it gets pulled. Some great acting by relative unknowns plus wonderful dialogue and creative ideas. The nazi colonel is brilliant.
Brad Pitt with his southern accent also was a negative for me, but he's OK and not in every scene.
If you're still in doubt be sure to check the interview.
A ps; Some might recall my posting about my Mitchell camera, I told the tale of loaning it to my friend John Dykstra for the special FX in Star Wars, I noticed that John got the 4-5th major credit for special FX in this one also!
BTW some of the "unknowns" are actually massive stars in their home countries especially Daniel Bruehl and Til Schweiger. Their fillum-crdits are as long as your arms...("Goodbye Lenin" / "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei"(THE EDukators)/ "Der Bewegte Mann" / "Barfuss" and most recently "Keinohrhasen"...
OK, it looks like I should give the Basterds a go.
Marconius7: I wouldn't recommend Reservoir Dogs as your next step, unless you're OK with torture and a lot of blood (mixed with humour and style, of course...)
There's lots of blood in Dogs, but the actual torture is not shown. I remember arguing with a friend to the point of screaming because she insisted the infamous ear scene showed everything, when actually Mr Blonde gets in the way and then the camera pans away, only to return once the deed is done. The relationship built between Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel's characters is the centre of the film. I had a lovely dream about Tim Roth as Freddy once *looks wistfully out of the window...*
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