Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino

Since 1993 America has been blessed with the films of acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino. Not only is Tarantino a director he is also a screen writer and an actor. He has become a cult classic director directing films such as Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. He is known for his graphic use of violence as well as sharp dialogue. He has a great way of keeping an audience entertained from the beginning of his movies until the end (Tarantino).

Tarantino’s originally plan was to become an actor but realized his true calling was to become a director. His big break came in 1993 when he sold the rights to his script True Romance to Roger Avery who turned it into a motion picture starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. Quentin then started to gain notoriety within the Hollywood community (Tarantino).

His next script was for the film Reservoir Dogs which also introduced him as a director. Reservoir Dogs is what Tarantino calls it a “heist film” and states “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Reservoir Dogs has extreme violence and profanity which sets the tone for all Tarantino’s other films (Tarantino). Critics loved Tarantino’s first release. They praised his camera work as well as his casting. Roger Ebert was the one critic who seemed to not enjoy Tarantino’s debut saying the “script doesn’t have much curiosity about these guys (Ebert).”

To follow up Reservoir Dogs Tarantino wrote and directed Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction was released in 1994 at the Cannes Film Festival. There it won the Palm d’Ore, known as the Golden Palm. Tarantino also won an Academy Award that year for best screenplay. Pulp Fiction is a film with a chopped up story line that is shown out of sequence. It is rather controversial because it is extremely violent (which is Tarantino’s style) and has some racist remarks. The film also credited Tarantino with the comeback of John Travolta who was one of the stars of the movie (Tarantino). Even with all the controversy critics loved it even more so then Reservoir Dogs. Roger Ebert who didn’t give a good review of Reservoir Dogs had this to say about Pulp Fiction “the movie resurrects not only an aging genre but also a few careers.” He then went on to give the film 4 out of 4 stars (Ebert).

After the success of Pulp Fiction Tarantino’s next project Jackie Brown was an adaptation of a novel by Elmore Leonard called Rum Punch. Jackie Brown was released in 1997. As in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino was criticized for his graphic violence as well as his use of the word “nigger” throughout the film (Tarantino). As for critics many were disappointed with Jackie Brown and said it was good but the worst of all the films he has directed. Roger Ebert though gave it 4 out of 4 stars saying “This is the movie that proves Tarantino is the real thing, and not just a two film wonder boy (Ebert).” Other critics were not as kind. The Los Angeles Times said the film was "A leisurely and easygoing diversion that goes down easy enough but is far from compelling." They also gave the film only 2.5 out of 5 stars (Rotten).

Tarantino took what some may say a short break after Jackie Brown to write what some call Tarantino’s masterpiece, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2. Kill Bill is a twisted revenge film that highlights Japanese filmmaking with a western twist. Like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, these films were shot out of order. Tarantino also used color in this movie to highlight certain shots in the film. In a fighting scene he switches from color to black and white to give the scene a more dramatic effect. Kill Bill was first shown to an audience in 2004 at the Cannes Film Festival. It was not in the running for competition because Tarantino served as the President of the Jury. At that showing he let both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 show simultaneously. He later decided to release it to the public in two parts since together it is over 3 hours in its entirety (Tarantino).

Critics had mixed feelings about Kill Bill Vol. 1. Roger Ebert gave it rave reviews saying “"Kill Bill, Volume 1" shows Quentin Tarantino so effortlessly and brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso violinist racing through "Flight of the Bumble Bee" -- or maybe an accordion prodigy setting a speed record for "Lady of Spain." I mean that as a sincere compliment. The movie is not about anything at all except the skill and humor of its making. It's kind of brilliant (Ebert).” Other critics like Jami Bernard of the New York Daily Times and Manhola Dargis of the Los Angeles Times felt that the movie contained too much violence and was not that entertaining and only gave the film 2 out of 4 stars (Rotten).

For Kill Bill Vol. 2 got more positive feedback from critics.