The Week India – August 04, 2019

66 THE WEEK • AUGUST 4, 2019

@LEISURE

CINEMA

Ahead of the release of what

may be his penultimate

movie, here is a look at the

genius of Quentin Tarantino

and the alternate universe

he created through his films

Master

crafter

penultimate movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He

had announced that he may retire after his 10th movie.

He may not be considered one among the cinematic

pantheon, but Tarantino is certainly one of the most in-

fluential filmmakers of today. His name is evoked every

time a movie luxuriates in gratuitous bloodshed, foot

fetishism or profanity. Or when a director experiments

with the three-act structure. Things that have become

signature Tarantino tropes.

Unlike the methodical Kubrick, the character-driven

Scorsese, or the masterful Godard, Tarantino did not

reach the top of the cinematic summit with films that had

great stories or layered characterisation. He achieved

stardom by making films inspired by movies of every

shade, paying homage even to odd genres (grind house,

blackploitation), and consequently fashioned his own

cinematic universe.

The universe that he designed is rarely inhabited by

real people or incidents, but one that offers him plenty

of creative liberties. Red Apple cigarettes and Big Kahu-

na Burger, fictional brands mentioned in Pulp Fiction,

are seen in his later movies. Mia of Pulp Fiction played

a deadly assassin in a pilot show and Beatrix of Kill Bill

is the deadliest assassin at Bill’s disposal. Vincent Vega

(Pulp Fiction) and Vic Vega (Reservoir Dogs) are siblings.

It is indeed an alternate universe.

Tarantino broke rules and played around with the

three-act structure—the setup may be established only

in the second half and confrontation might come when

you least expect it. Anime characters are used for sto-

rytelling, and dialogues would often veer into absolute

banality. Filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar, a self-professed

Tarantino fan, says, “Tarantino has a very unique voice.

It was like a breath of fresh air when he started putting

out his works.... Hollywood was resorting to certain kinds

of stereotypes. He brought about a certain change, a very

radical one. He has inspired many filmmakers.”

He made tribute and intertextuality an art from. A self-

taught filmmaker, Tarantino makes movies not merely

wenty-seven years ago, a caper film

by a debut director was screened

at the Sundance Film Festival. Res-

ervoir Dogs, the story of a failed

heist by curiously named charac-

ters who mouth dialogues full of profanity and

pop culture references, announced the arrival

of a quirky filmmaker. Eight films and an array

of awards later, Quentin Tarantino received an

extraordinary, seven-minute standing ovation

at the Cannes Film Festival for what may be his

Kill Bill 1

2003

ANDREA RAFFIN

T

BY JOSE K. GEORGE