Using satirical stories in nonlinear style and adding loads of blood and gore, Quentin Tarantino is one of the most influential filmmaker of his generation. He has won many awards and his films have been critically acclaimed and well received by audiences.
He is multi-talented – he writes, produces, directs and acts in his films. Though the violence, blood and gore can be a bit too much, it often has comic undertones. He protagonists are often weird characters while his antagonists showy and exaggerated. He resorts to disjointed narratives in some of his films for effect.
Here are five of Tarantino’s contributions to cinema:
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Michael Marsden, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Eight men plan a diamond heist and find themselves caught in a sticky situation. Some of them are known only as Mr White, Mr Orange, Mr Blonde etc. They are working for a mob boss.
After the heist, they meet at a warehouse belonging to the mob. Mr Blonde is a ruthless killer. He slices off the ear of a captured policeman while listening to jazz.
There are allegations and counter allegations and lies and more lies. Ultimately one of them confesses that he is a policeman in disguise and a final gunfight ensues. This is Tarantino’s first effort as director and it elevated him to cult status.
Death Proof (2007)
Cast: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan
Director: Quentin Tarantino
A stuntman uses his souped up car to murder young women and make it look like road accidents. He stalks bars and seeks out drunk or unhappy women to play tricks on them.
He picks on a group of friends first who are celebrating a friend’s birthday in a bar. He offers a ride to one of them, telling her the car is death proof. She later realises that it only death proof for the driver not the passenger.
He later spots three women at a convenience store and follows their car. After cranking up the speed, he starts smashing their car. However, the women escape. Then they decide to give the stuntman a dose of his own medicine. The film is part of a two-story feature called Grindhouse.
Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003)
Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A Fox
Director: Quentin Tarantino
The Bride (Uma Thurman) is left for dead after the whole wedding party is wiped out by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. However, the Bride is pregnant with the child of the Squad’s leader.
She is shot in the head and lies comatose in a hospital. She somehow escapes from there after coming out of coma and swears revenge. First she kills one of the Squad members in the US. Later, she heads to Japan with a sword given by a samurai master to complete her mission
The whole saga continues in Vol 2. Tarantino wanted to finish it as a single film but it got too long. The second part is as good as the first and must be seen too.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Cast: John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames
Director: Quentin Tarantino
This masterpiece from Tarantino is a stylish presentation told out of chronological order and looks into the life of a gangster, a boxer, the gangster’s partner and a briefcase which plays a vital part in the tale.
The disjointed storytelling combined with small conversation and interspersed with monologues by the characters works effectively. The story begins with a holdup in a cafe and climaxes there.
The acting from Travolta, Jackson and Thurman is simply brilliant and they were nominated for Oscars. The film also re-established them in cinema again.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Two plots to kill the Nazi leadership are the focus of this Second World War film – one by a theatre owner and the other by an army of Jewish American men.
Trailing them is an SS colonel who hides his hard interior under a suave garb. A premiere for a propaganda film is planned at the theatre and the owner plots with her lover to set it ablaze during the show after learning that Hitler would attend.
The Jewish army also plans to attack at the same venue. A battle ensues. The film was very popular and it won a Best Supporting Academy Award for Waltz.
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