Inglourious Basterds

Knowing the kinds of films Quentin Tarantino makes, it still shocks and stuns me on a few levels that the masses adore Inglourious Basterds. Watching it again, I have to say that this is the WWII fantasy film that every Jew in Hollywood has wanted to make since the war ended. Because while we may have defeated Hitler in the actual war, but there is nothing as cathartic as eviscerating him and the entire Nazi regime in fiction.

What I really love about the directing of Inglourious Basterds is that there are no lost performances. When I watch the film, every character that makes it on screen is memorable, rounded and worth paying attention to – with an ensemble cast as big as this, and numerous notable cameos that’s quite a feat for Tarantino to pull off. However, right down to Samuel L. Jackson’s voice over, there is nothing throwaway in this film.

I wish I could rave, rant and write about my favorite things in this film, but as I love this film enough that I want to keep the readers that haven’t seen it in the dark I won’t. Instead I will keep this short and say one thing: Inglourious Basterds is a film that you need to experience for yourself, so please, go experience it.

Lt. Aldo Raine: You didn't say the goddamn rendezvous was in a fuckin' basement.
Lt. Archie Hicox: I didn't know.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You said it was in a tavern.
Lt. Archie Hicox: It is a tavern.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, in a basement. You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!

Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

I don’t recall ever having as fun a time at a war movie as I just had at Inglourious Basterds. Inglourious Basterds is a wonderful contradiction as a film. It is set in a historical event, but does not follow history. It is an action film, but it delivers consistent laughs. It has great characters, but they are far too exaggerated to be real. It is fully restrained, but fully Tarantino.

As I’ve waited and prepared to watch Tarantino’s latest work I began to hope that Tarantino would have fun with World War II – not that I don’t respect the people that fought for our freedom, but Tarantino is not the director that would make Flags of Our Fathers. The tagline of this film was “once upon a time in Nazi occupied France” and I hoped it would be just what that promised – a WWII fairy tale. It was.

Tarantino makes no pretensions about being historically accurate. He made the kind of movie about Nazi’s and the allies he wanted to see – Tarantino made a spaghetti western about the Nazi occupation of France. He even had music by Ennio Morricone. Tarantino managed to still capture beautiful performances, strong characters, moving moments and wonderfully exaggerated action. All of these things are Tarantino, and yet this film was somehow more polished and cultivated than anything he’s done before.

Now that Tarantino has landed on the linear story line I hope he stays there. I appreciate all of the ways Tarantino tells his stories, but I have to admit that I used to think Tarantino couldn’t tell a cohesive story and that was why he felt the need to disjoint them. I am so glad to say that now that I have seen two linear films by Tarantino I was wrong. No matter how Tarantino tells his stories he tells them brilliantly and makes them incredibly entertaining.

Inglourious Basterds is wonderful, but part of that wonderful aura is Brad Pitt as The Apache. Oh dear goodness I wanted more of the Tennessee Nazi scalper. From the moment he appears on screen he steals the show and is just the best character you could imagine. He is tough, hard, whimsical and a fantastic Nazi killer. He deserves his scalps.

I am going to see Inglourious Basterds again. I know I am. If nothing else because I am fascinated that finally, finally Tarantino made a film so reflexive that the third act actually takes place in a cinema…

DirectoR & Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Lt. Aldo Raine: Brad Pitt
Shosanna: Melanie Laurent
Col. Landa: Christoph Waltz
Sgt. Donowitz: Eli Roth
Lt. Hicox: Michael Fassbender
Bridget von Hammersmark: Diane Kruger
Frederick Zoller: Daniel Bruhl
Hugo Stiglitz: Til Schweiger

Lt. Aldo Raine: You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin'.

Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs
Originally uploaded by complejidadciclomatica

I heard Quentin Tarantino say once that he made a film before Reservoir Dogs that wasn’t worthy to be melted into guitar picks. Luckily Reservoir Dogs is good for a lot more than guitar picks.

The story of Reservoir Dogs is simple; a crime boss has a fence for some uncut diamonds that he wants to steal from a local diamond wholesaler so he hires 6 goons to pull the job, it should be simple – in and out. However, the actual heist goes sour fast and the goons that do manage to escape begin to think that there is a rat in their midst and they begin to tear each other apart.

This story is simple, but the way it is told is not. Tarantino blazed on the scene by making a film that was beautifully complex and layered and just off-beat enough to really sink in. It’s told through two time lines: the present and flashbacks for each important character so you can see how they got there. We are lulled into complacency with a witty speech about Madonna’s Like A Virgin and why tipping waitresses should not be a societal norm, then we are plunged directly into the after effects of the heist without ever seeing the actual heist.

This film would not be as entertaining as it is without a cast of phenomenal actors to fully realize the quirky characters within. Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) is the hardened con who has done time for his boss and lost a bit of his sanctity for human life along the way. Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) os the old and wisened criminal who wants out of the heist clean but feels ultimately responsible for the bullet Mr. Orange took to the gut. Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) is the nervous, by the book con who wants to split. Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) is the undercover cop, shot in the gut. Mr. Brown (Tarantino) is the cheeky criminal who doesn’t make it out of the heist. All the performances are great, and the flashbacks are phenomenal. With each one we learn something else about the character and how they have gotten into this situation.

Tarantino is known for making super-violent films. However, while violence does occasionally bother me, I am the first to say that of all the films I’ve seen Tarantino does violence and gore in some of the most artistic ways I’ve ever seen. Reservoir Dogs is no exception. The Tarantino scene that shocked the world is in this film – and it is surprisingly less gory than you’ve been led to believe. Mr. Blonde chops off a bound and gagged police officer’s ear…and it is nail biting and stomach turning, but you actually don’t see a dang thing.

With this film Tarantino took the film world by storm, and I hope to emulate that someday as well.

Writer & Director: Quentin Tarantino
Mr. White: Harvey Keitel
Mr. Orange: Tim Roth
MR. Blonde: Michael Madsen
Mr. Pink: Steve Buscemi
Mr. Blue: Eddie Bunker
Mr. Brown: Quentin Tarantino
Eddie: Chris Penn
Joe: Lawrence Tierney
Officer Nash: Kirk Baltz

Joe: With the exception of Eddie and myself, whom you already know, we're going to be using aliases on this job. Under no circumstances do I want any one of you to relate to each other by your Christian names, and I don't want any talk about yourself personally. That includes where you been, your wife's name, where you might've done time, or maybe a bank you robbed in St. Petersburg. All I want you guys to talk about, if you have to, is what you're going to do. That should do it. Here are your names...Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, and Mr. Pink.
Mr. Pink: Why am I Mr. Pink?
Joe: Because you're a faggot, alright?

Desperado

Desperado
Originally uploaded by rooomy

I’m pretty darn sure that the first Robert Rodriguez film I ever saw was Desperado - and I watched it on VHS in full frame. But it didn’t matter. I was hooked. There is something about Rodriguez to this day that remains fresh, original and unlike anything you see coming out of Hollywood. His films are invigorating. Once I got older and stopped pretending film wasn’t my life I realized how truly remarkable Desperado was.

Desperado is Rodriguez’s second feature film, but his first made in Hollywood with a budget. In one rapid move Rodriguez went from El Mariachi where he used friends and favors to make the film, to having Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek as his stars in the sequel. The film, and the back story of how it was made, are simply amazing.

Desperado picks up a few years after El Mariachi and is the second part of Rodriguez’s Mexico trilogy – which Quentin Tarantino has called Rodriguez’s Man With No Name trilogy.

The film itself picks up an undisclosed amount of years after the events in El Mariachi, but just enough time to allow the legend of the Mariachi’s vendetta against the crime lords in Mexico to spread and ruminate, creating a sense of terror when his name is mentioned. Everyone is on the lookout for a mariachi dressed in all black carrying a guitar case, terrified that they’ll be his next target.

Our mariachi has gained several teammates or allies so to speak in the second installment including a sidekick played by Steve Buscemi who has my favorite scene in the film; his job is to lay down the mariachi lore in each town Mariachi goes to and he enjoys his embellishment. This is how the film is opened to audiences as so many people did not have the opportunity to view El Mariachi before the release of Desperado; Buscemi enters a scummy bar operated by Cheech Marin and Buscemi delivers an over-exaggerated firsthand account of having to survive the Mariachi’s attack at his last bar. A tremendous scene.

Mariachi’s other allies are Campa & Quino: two other trouble makers with guitar cases as well. Campa is played by Carlos Gallardo who was the actory that portrayed Mariachi in El Mariachi. These two show up just in time to help Mariachi destroy the town and the criminals in it.

The final sidekick that Mariachi is given in Desperado is Carolina played by Salma Hayek. At the beginning of the film she is a bystander while Mariachi is being attacked and he saves her life; Carolina reciprocates the favor as Mariachi is wounded in the exchange and she doctors him up. Banderas and Hayek are delightful to watch in the film; their chemistry is palpable and they bring almost an aura of Grant & Hepburn from The Philadelphia Story to the film.

For those of you that have never heard him sing, there is a musical number in the film and yes Antonio Banderas can sing.

Like him or not there is one thing that you have to admit about Robert Rodriguez: the man is the stuff of Hollywood legend. He will be remembered for decades after he stops making films because of how he got his career and went about making his films. He is a revolutionary individual.

Director & Writer: Robert Rodriguez
El Mariachi: Antonio Banderas
Carolina: Salma Hayek
Bucho: Joaquim de Almeida
Short Bartender: Cheech Marin
Buscemi: Steve Buscemi
Pick-Up Guy: Quentin Tarantino
Navajas: Danny Trejo
Campa: Carols Gallardo
Quino: Albert Michael Jr.

Buscemi: So, I'm sitting there. And in walks the biggest Mexican I have ever seen. Big as shit. Just walks right in like he owns the place. And nobody knew quite what to make of him... or quite what to think. There he was and in he walked. He was dark too. I don't mean dark-skinned. No, this was different. It was if he was always walking in a shadow. I mean every step he took toward the light, just when you thought his face was about to be revealed... it wasn't. It was as if the lights dimmed, just for him.

El Mariachi

This weekend I watched a pivotal independent film for the first time - El Mariachi. This is the film that put Robert Rodriguez on the map, that she shot across the border on money he raised from being the test subject in medical experiments, and shot with luck, friends, and no crew.

Knowing just the pieces, and the basic back story (Rodriguez was a 23 year old film student when he made this film) any sane human being would have believed that what Rodriguez was going was a giant waste of time and money instead of the industry revolution that it was. Rodriguez used real people, not actors. He wasn’t able to record synchronous sound, but recorded most of it later. He didn’t have the time, money or resources to pad his squibs so when his actors were “shot” the pain on their faces was real. Anyone would have told Rodriguez (and did tell him) that this project was doomed to failure, but Rodriguez managed to prove everyone wrong.

For those of you that haven’t seen the film here’s the concept.

A young Mariachi comes to a small Mexican town looking to find work as a Mariachi and follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he goes door to door from café to restaurant looking for work with his guitar case in hand. The problem is that this small town is home to Moco, a drug dealer & criminal who is being hunted down by Azul, his former partner who he ratted on and got sent to prison – and tried to kill. Azul is out for revenge on Moco and has just landed in this small town; he too goes place to place exterminating Moco’s men.

The only one that has ever seen Azul is Moco and he describes him as wearing all black, and carrying a guitar case loaded with weapons. Unfortunately, this is the same description for our Mariachi only his guitar case carries a guitar. A case of mistake identity ensues that leads our mild mannered Mariachi into a world of criminals and corruption and takes his guitar playing dreams from him.

The concept his pretty far out, but just grounded enough by performance, location and action that it works. This movie is very real, which is probably attributed to the fact that most of the scenes were shot in one, maybe two takes, giving the actors little chance to over analyze and rethink they’re reactions. And it’s original enough to attract attention. Everything that is Robert Rodriguez is present in El Mariachi.

I had the privilege of hearing Tarantino and Rodriguez speak prior to the release of Grindhouse. One of the things Tarantino said is that Rodriguez has succeeded at creating what was Francis Ford Coppola’s original vision for his company American Zoetrope; Rodriguez has managed to form a filmmaking system separate from Hollywood where the artist reigns supreme and creativity is not diminished. This all started with a little ambition, $7,000 and El Mariachi.

Director, Writer, DP, Editor & Producer: Robert Rodriguez
Mariachi: Carlos Gallardo
Domino: Consuelo Gomez
Moco: Peter Marquardt
Azul: Reinol Martinez