Quentin Tarantino
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker and actor. His films are characterized by non-linear storylines, satirical subject matter, an aestheticization of violence, utilization of ensemble casts, references to pop culture, their soundtracks, and features of neo-noir film.
Tarantino grew up as a devoted film fan and worked at Video Archives, a video rental store, while training to act. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday, the screenplay of which formed the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992; regarded as a classic and cult hit, it was called the "Greatest Independent Film of All Time" by Empire. Its popularity was boosted by his second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), a black-comedy crime film that was a major success both among critics and audiences. Judged the greatest film from 1983–2008 by Entertainment Weekly, many critics and scholars have named it one of the most significant works of modern cinema. For his next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch.
Kill Bill, a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Japanese martial arts, spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror, followed six years later, and was released as two films: Volume 1 in 2003 and Volume 2 in 2004. Tarantino directed Death Proof (2007) as part of a double feature with friend Robert Rodriguez, under the collective title Grindhouse. His long-postponed Inglourious Basterds, which tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership, was released in 2009 to positive reviews. After that came 2012's critically acclaimed Django Unchained, a Western film set in the antebellum era of the Deep South. It became the highest-grossing film of his career so far, making over $425 million at the box office. His eighth film, the mystery Western The Hateful Eight, was released in its roadshow version December 25, 2015, in 70 mm film format, complete with opening "overture" and halfway-point intermission, after the fashion of big-budget films of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Tarantino's films have garnered both critical and commercial success. He has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and the Palme d'Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time in 2005.
Influences and style of filmmaking
In the 2002 Sight & Sound Directors' poll, Tarantino revealed his top-twelve films: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Rio Bravo; Taxi Driver; His Girl Friday; Rolling Thunder; They All Laughed; The Great Escape; Carrie; Coffy; Dazed and Confused; Five Fingers of Death; and Hi Diddle Diddle. In 2009, he named Kinji Fukasaku's violent action film Battle Royale as his favorite film released since he became a director in 1992.
In August 2007, while teaching a four-hour film course during the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Tarantino cited Filipino directors Cirio Santiago, Eddie Romero, and Gerardo de León as personal icons from the 1970s, citing De Leon's "soul-shattering, life-extinguishing" movies on vampires and female bondage, particularly Women in Cages. "It is just harsh, harsh, harsh," he said, and described the final shot as one of "devastating despair".
Tarantino's different style of film making earned him many accolades worldwide. According to Tarantino, a recurring hallmark in all his movies is that there is a different sense of humour in all his movies, which gets the audience to laugh at things that aren't funny. Michael Winner, whilst appearing on an episode of Piers Morgan's life stories (an ITV production), stated that Quentin Tarantino was a "big fan" Of Death Wish.
African American perspective
Tarantino has been criticized for a too familial attitude towards other cultures. Spike Lee questions the use of racial epithets in his films, particularly the racially offensive word nigger. In an interview for Variety discussing Jackie Brown, Lee said: "I'm not against the word... and I use it, but Quentin is infatuated with the word. What does he want? To be made an honorary black man?" Tarantino retaliated on The Howard Stern Show by stating Lee would have to "stand on a chair to kiss my ass" Samuel L. Jackson, who has appeared in films directed by both directors, defended Tarantino's use of the word. At the Berlin Film Festival, where Jackie Brown was being screened, Jackson responded to Lee's criticism by saying:
- "I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film. ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years."
Tarantino has defended his use of the word, arguing that black audiences have an appreciation of his blaxploitation-influenced films that eludes some of his critics, and, indeed, that Jackie Brown, another oft-cited example, was primarily made for "black audiences".
According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, actor Denzel Washington would also confront Tarantino on his usage of racial slurs in his pictures, but mentioned that Tarantino was a 'fine artist.'
Filmography
Film actor | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Role | Notes | |
1987 | My Best Friend's Birthday | Clarence Pool | ||
1992 | Reservoir Dogs | Mr. Brown | ||
1994 | Pulp Fiction | Jimmie Dimmick | ||
Sleep With Me | Sid | |||
1995 | Destiny Turns on the Radio | Johnny Destiny | ||
Four Rooms | Chester Rush | segment "The Man from Hollywood" | ||
Desperado | Pick-up Guy | |||
1996 | From Dusk Till Dawn | Richie Gecko | ||
Girl 6 | Q.T. | |||
1997 | Jackie Brown | Default Answering Machine voice | ||
2000 | Little Nicky | Crazy Priest | ||
2002 | BaadAsssss Cinema | Himself | documentary | |
2004 | Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession | Himself | documentary | |
2005 | The Muppets' Wizard of Oz | Himself | as Kermit's director | |
2007 | Grindhouse: Planet Terror | Rapist #1 | ||
Grindhouse: Death Proof | Warren the Bartender | |||
Sukiyaki Western Django | Mystery Man Ringo | |||
2008 | Not Quite Hollywood | Himself | documentary | |
2009 | Inglourious Basterds | Soldier within a film "Nation's Pride", first scalped victim shown | cameo | |
Television actor | ||||
Year | Series | Role | Notes | |
2002 | Alias | McKenas Cole | ||
2004 | Alias | McKenas Cole |
Film producer/presenter | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Notes | |
1987 | My Best Friend's Birthday | ||
1992 | Past Midnight | ||
1993 | Iron Monkey | 2001 U.S. release | |
1994 | Killing Zoe | ||
1995 | Four Rooms | ||
1996 | From Dusk Till Dawn | ||
Curdled | |||
1998 | God Said, 'Ha!' | ||
1999 | From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money | ||
2002 | From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter | ||
2002 | Hero | 2004 U.S. release | |
2005 | Daltry Calhoun | ||
Freedom's Fury | |||
Hostel | |||
The Protector | 2006 U.S. release | ||
2007 | Grindhouse | ||
Hostel: Part II | |||
2008 | Hell Ride | ||
2010 | Machete |