Tarantino: From Best to Very Good

TARANTINO: FROM BEST TO ‘WORST’

I just watched Tara Wood’s Tarantino documentary QT8: The First Eight, a look at Tarantino’s filmography up to the production of his 2019 Oscar-nominated ‘Once upon a time in Hollywood. The documentary included interviews with an array of actors who have worked with the esteemed director, all sharing anecdotes and opinions on Tarantino’s impressive career this far. If you have even the remotest of interest in Tarantino I highly recommend the documentary.

Once I finished the documentary I wanted to force myself to choose which Tarantino film was my personal favourite and where I would place the other eight, to see if my order was similar to other film fans (using the IMDB rating system) and critics (using Rotten Tomatoes). I will share my thoughts on my top 3 and order the other 6.

1. Pulp Fiction (8.9 IMDB, 92% Rotten Tomatoes)

I think everything about this film oozes ‘cool’. It’s the film that defines Tarantino. It’s the film where Tarantino starts to build his universe; creating Vic Vega’s brother Vincent, perhaps telling us where Mr Pink had gone, the introduction of Red Apple cigarettes. The nonlinear chapters, the collision of dry comedy and crime, strong characters and even stronger acting choices (Travolta in a comeback role, Jackson in a breakout role and Hollywood’s biggest star at the time Bruce Willis in an ‘art film’) are all things that has allowed Tarantino to make such a distinctive mark in filmmaking, and it all really began here. Yes, chronologically it isn’t the first but this is the one that built the legacy in my opinion and it has quite comfortably stood the test of time.

2. Inglourious Basterds (8.3 IMDB, 89% Rotten Tomatoes)

“I think this might be my masterpiece”. The last words uttered in Inglourious Basterds. Nobody, except Quentin, knows what he deems his best film (and we probably never will), but I think this film really is a masterpiece in storytelling and filmmaking. Eli Roth, who starred in the film and went on to become a successful director in his own right, talks on QT8 of how ambitious this film was for Tarantino in 2009 - and he’s right. He’s essentially making a non-war war movie, performed in three different languages with the added twist of altering history, and he’s attempting this after the biggest commercial and critical flop of his career. Now that takes some seriously Big Kahunas (and I’m not talking burgers).

3. Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (8.1 IMDB, 85% Rotten Tomatoes)

It’s hard to think about Tarantino without immediately thinking of a Crazy 88 member getting an arm sliced off and a fountain of blood spraying out. It’s perhaps this film that associated the director with the over the top violence he’s both revered and criticised for. There was an interesting BBC interview where Tarantino was asked about seeing his movies in pop culture and he playfully expressed how Kung Fu Panda was essentially a child-friendly parody of Kill Bill. He doesn’t say it with disdain or displeasure, quite the contrary he sounds elated. Tarantino would be the first person to tell you that some of his films are complete homages (or downright extremely similar) to other films: and in Kill Bill’s case Tarantino will point you in the way of Fujita’s 1973 Lady Snowblood. Some people will see both films and tell you that Tarantino is merely a ‘rip-off’, a plagiarist, a thief. Whilst understanding the argument for, I have to disagree. Firstly, Tarantino is a film fan and film buff. His encyclopedic film knowledge is both evident and impressive, and the fact that Tarantino has not only heard of a plethora of the tasty offerings of world cinema but seen them as well already puts him on an advantageous level when it comes to his ability as a writer and director. He knows what works, where it will work, why it will work. Secondly, Tarantino isn’t copy and pasting. He’s taking certain melodies, special motifs, and rearranging them into a new symphony with layers upon layers of what he knows will be the best of a ‘genre’, and I believe that is what he successfully achieved with Kill Bill.

4. Reservoir Dogs

5. Django Unchained

6. Hateful Eight

7. Jackie Brown

8. Once upon a Time in Hollywood

9. Death Proof

All of us Tarantino's eagerly anticipate what will be revealed as Tarantino's tenth and supposedly final film. Where will it rank among his other movies? Only time will tell.