Thoughts on Tarantino

[missroserose]

So, at the behest of my husband, I've seen Pulp Fiction and both episodes of Kill Bill, and I feel I've finally tried enough Tarantino to decide I'm just not going to be a fan.

He's occupied an odd spot in my brain for a while, with a significant amount of cognitive dissonance. I admire his artistry quite a bit; I know there are people who call him a hack, but I have at least a little idea how difficult it is to mash up genres and styles like that and make it work. I also appreciate the pure glee with which he obviously makes his movies; I love to see anyone do something that they really love, especially when they also do it well. It's wonderful to see craftsmanship and enthusiasm in equal measures in any art form. So even though his movies aren't the sort of thing I'd normally enjoy, I really wanted to like them.

Thing is...well, obviously, I don't, or else there wouldn't be any cognitive dissonance. And I've spent quite some time dissecting what it is that so thoroughly turns me off about him. His reputation as a smarmy egotistical jerk (which, honestly, isn't helped by his default expression in every picture of him I've ever seen) doesn't help, but I've never been one to criticize art for the artist's faults. It's true that I generally prefer the understated-and-effective to the sort of ridiculous over-the-top-ness that he specializes in, but I've still enjoyed movies that are over-the-top when they go completely over-the-top (a la The Producers), and if there's one criticism you can't level at Tarantino, it's a tendency to hold back. The hyper-violence might be part of it too, but I've enjoyed many -- well, if not equally violent films, far more realistically violent ones (The Hunger Games comes to mind). I don't mind satire and pastiche as art forms. And I certainly have nothing against black comedies about crazy people - one of my all-time favorite films is In Bruges, ferchrissake.

Ultimately, what I think really turns me off about his movies is his fondness for exploitation. I know the word "gratuitous" is so overused as to be meaningless in movie criticism, but that's how a number of his scenes felt to me - the extended focus on The Bride's helplessness in the burying-alive sequence, the S&M rapists in Pulp Fiction, the coma sequence in the first volume of Kill Bill. Again, I realize that's part of the style that Tarantino's pastiche-ing, and it's obvious that he enjoys mondo-film-style titillation, and hey, if that's your thing, great. But to me, that sort of taboo-stomping for cheap thrills frankly just comes across as juvenile, especially with the gender-bullying mixed in. It's the same reason I don't much like Frank Miller, even though (again) I can admire the artistry of the two films based on his work that I've seen. The exploitative aspects just plain leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Comments

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

With the exception of Kill Bill, every Tarantino film I recall watching has left me feeling somewhat dirty, in a sleazy voyeuristic way.

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

I simply avoid his films. Too much gratuitous violence for my taste.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed his earlier work, but I find his more recent projects to be simply treading the same water.

However, I will love him forever for attempting to promote other people's films, like when he convinced the studio to release "Quentin Tarantino Presents Iron Monkey" so that people would see his name and buy the damn thing. Self-aggrandizement? Sure, maybe. But also, I think, a strong desire to get people to see something they might like and would otherwise not know about.

[joyfulleigh.livejournal.com]

I agree COMPLETELY. I can take satire, I admire my fair share of black comedies too, but something about Pulp Fiction really turns me off. At the time I summarized it as "I know he's making fun of violence in movies but in doing so he just made another violent movie." I see artistry there, but the artistry didn't trump the gratuitous, just-for-thrills evil in his films.

You, of course, put it more eloquently than I did. :)

L.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was your comment on Pulp Fiction that really set me to mulling over this whole thing. I knew that violence wasn't necessarily the deal-killer for me the way it can be for you, but my reaction was similar to yours (puzzlingly so, for the reasons I listed above). So thanks for prompting the thinking, and I'm glad you agree!

[tygenco-x.livejournal.com]

Pulp Fiction is one that I'll watch every few years.

Kill Bill (in full) had some excellent visuals and a more or less interesting story. I don't mind watching it a little more often than Pulp Fiction, but still not terribly often.

Inglorious Basterds, however, is one that I can watch a little more frequently--but I think it's because of the alt-history revenge thing, and because the costumes and sets are more or less spot on.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

My favorite movie involving Tarantino is Desperado, because he gets his head blown off.

That might tell you something.