5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
tarantino's masterful alternate universe of unusual crime, November 14, 2006
This review is from: The Quentin Tarantino Collection (DVD)
This is a very nice set of films, in which one can witness the development of a modern master of the cinema, whose unique style and vision have had tremendous influence on a medium that was becoming overly formulaic. Every so often, you need an individual to shake things up and inject a new way of doing things, and that is Tarantino.
Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino's first major effort. While I do not think that that film is entirely successful, it does have two points of his signature style: very strong and quirky characters embedded in an ambitiously intricate plot. It is built around a robbery and is extremely cruel and violent, more or less along the lines of a classic film noir. The film shows potential and the acting is truly excellent, but there is not much humor in it and the atmosphere felt static to me.
In my view, Dogs does not quite succeed in creating a world all of its own, which is more of a mood that allows the viewer to suspend his/her disbelief and forget the world outside for a time. That is what one finds in the two later works, one a massive success that rightrully earned Tarantino a place in film history - Pulp Fiction - and other much less so, though in my view still a first-rate film. In these films, Tarantino uses music to envelope the viewer in a time and place, and the acting is so good that no matter what happens, one can forget everything and simply believe it. That is what the best cinema should do.
In Pulp, the goal is not realism, but a wonderfully comic view of the criminal mind. While utterly nihilistic, it is simply hilarious and rivetting. The time line makes little sense and the plot is often unclear, which add to the fun. Then there are the actors, who are magnificent in the way that they create the strangest characters. This is one of the best films I have ever seen. Even the lack of realism is no problem, such as the absence of cops during gunfights in broad daylight. It is indescribable and you have to see it to believe it. The images are unforgettable and linger in the mind long after viewing it, and similar to Altman's skiparound style, the viewer can see it over and over and put it together in innumerable interpretations.
On the other hand, in Jackie Brown, Taratino creates a much more traditional film, but again it is the mood as much as the plot. In fact, I think that this film is Tarantino's best: the viewer gets deeply into the characters, from the sad Jackie Brown and her bondsman ally to the aging beach bunny and her brutal keeper, Sam Jackson. The mood is pitch perfect, with a balance of characters who are funny, sad, and frightening all at once, while there is a clear plot with minimal time-play. I have watched this film at least 15 times, and each time I see more detail that delight.
Warmly recommended. Taratino is a true great, the best to emerge from Hollywood in a decade.
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