When I was a wee freshie in college, trying to make friends and be cool and not look like a lonely fucker, I met a student who introduced me to this filmmaker named Quentin Tarantino via a little flim called Reservoir Dogs. At first I didn't like it. It was violent, gory, full of swear words and just kinda freaky.
Flash forward to the fall of 1994 -- Pulp Fiction came out and before coming home for Thanksgiving, I headed down to the Orpheum on State Street to watch the movie. My world outlook on movies changed forever thanks to Tarantino.
The dialog was the first thing that grabbed me. Weird discussions about what a Quarter Pounder is called in France and the sexual politics of a foot massage grabbed me by the lapels and shook me like an angry daycare provider shakes a colicky baby. The rhythm and pattern of the speech was like nothing I had ever heard of before. The disjointedness of the timeline made each story more intense and real -- I really don't think the movie would have had the same impact unless he broke up the timeline -- and it was like nothing I had seen before. It was amazing. The characters were wonderful -- Jules, Vincent, Mia, The Wolf (who I *heart*), Butch, Marsellus Wallace were sympathetic in their own weird way. I saw that movie nine times in the theater. I couldn't help it. It was like a drug. Each time I saw it, I saw something new and wonderful.
After that, I got Reservoir Dogs and the decisions made in that movie. It's a cool-ass flick in my opinion. Yeah, Tarantino may have ripped off other filmmakers, but frankly, the guy's a film geek -- you almost have to expect layers upon layers of pop culture, film, television and music trivia in his films. Without them, it's not a Tarantino flick.
That was the time that the man could do no wrong. Hell, he starred in movies such as Destiny Turns on the Radio and guest-starred on Margaret Cho's All American Girl sitcom. And the man can't act to save a busload of nuns from going off a cliff. He's a wooden, stilted actor that chews the scenery like there's no tommrow. It's cringe-worthy at times. He's made scenes come to a standstill in From Dusk Til Dawn -- a movie, that in my opinion, would've been better if Bruce Campbell played Seth Gecko instead of George Clooney.
With every annointing of a golden child, we've got to begin taking the shine off of them. Such was the same with Tarantino.
It was a simple case of overexposure -- All American Girl, From Dusk Til Dawn and Four Rooms all came out, highlighting weaknesses. And then every studio was churning out weird storylines about crime and sex and death that all sounded like Tarantino, but were pale imitations. You learned quickly at that time that when something is described as "Tarantinoesque" it was going to be a bunch of frat boys wanking all over a film in an attempt to make an orgy of violence, sex and pop culture interesting -- and failing miserably at it.
His personality can be grating too at times (I can't deny that). The guy does act like a hypercaffinated geeky monkey on speed. He rants for hours about movies, music and other aspects of pop culture. He's arrogant at times -- I mean, saying that Uma should've won an Oscar for Kill Bill Vol. 1 is a bit much don't you think?
Then he faded out of the picture for a bit and returned with Jackie Brown. Even though it had the typical Tarantino stylings as well as the advantages of Pam Grier rocking the house and Chris Tucker getting shot in the face, it lacked the same Tarantino punch for me.
So why am I still his bitch? He makes damn fine movies in my opinion. Smart and funny writing, odd story structures, geekiness overflowing his movies were some of the most inventive and real stuff that can come out of a Hollywood machine in the mid 90's. In 1994, the top grossing movies were: Forrest Gump (which made me want to strangle hippies), True Lies and The Santa Clause -- to name three movies that weren't new or exciting. Pulp Fiction blew those movies away writing and style-wise.
Hell, even his worst efforts (I'm looking at you From Dusk Til Dawn) is more entertaining than a good Michael Bay flick.
It's funny though, some of my friends who are about four years younger than me don't really get Tarantino. They called his stuff "overrated." I can't defend someone from that -- either you groove them or you don't. Maybe it was just timing -- it just seems like folks in their mid- to late-20s like me appreciate the little film monkey a bit more than others.
But for me, his films will always have an impact. I'll never forget watching the credits of Pulp Fiction and realizing that I just saw something amazing and important. Don't accept imitators -- always go with the original. It's why four of his flicks are on IMDB's top 250 films. Go with the film geek who offers so many layers to his movies, yet is so gleefully trashy about it that it doesn't feel like a art house student jacking off on the film. No matter what, I'll always be willing to play Honey Bunny to his Pumpkin.
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