Tarantino Continues To Disappoint

Rating: 4/10 (10 March 2012)

It is high time to evaluate Tarantino's progress as a filmmaker. RESERVOIR DOGS had a Hawksian vagary among violent showmanship. PULP FICTION had panache, form, and wit. JACKIE BROWN took fans by surprise, but stands as conversational gold. KILL BILL was an embarrassing collection of references, far worse than their originators.
And now, BASTERDS. If film schools had a worst nightmare, it should be Quentin Tarantino. This picture represents the hallmark of a filmmaker incapable of understanding the world around him unless it is a movie. How do I make a World War II film? he said. How do I rewrite history? he said? A movie.
BASTERDS shows no comprehension of evil. Even Tarantino's usual comic inversion has become stale. Waltz does not fail to deliver yet another enchanting performance, but amongst what? Does the audience walk away with anything here? By hammering Tarantino's personal belief in the strength of movies, powerful enough to alter history, he insults the intelligence of the audience - preaching a theme that has been handled with grace and subtlety by is own heroes, Godard - Lang - Hitchcock - Hawks - etc.
Tarantino might have seen every B-film ever made. He has probably seen more movies than I have. But at what cost? Is there any real danger in his scenarios? I challenge you to think of a scene where a character seemed to be threatened by any palpable source. Even the torture sequence of RESERVOIR DOGS carries such distance from feeling. It does nothing but inspire cringing.
The only reality we see in BASTERDS is one that we have already seen on the screen. Noting his rich knowledge of film history, I am ashamed of Tarantino for placing the members of the Third Reich in a theater, themselves watching a war film. He should have known that Hitler would have never seen a film of that quality, nor would any German. They would be watching something like DER BLAUE ENGEL. If Tarantino is going to lean his work against the history of film with such gravity, it requires a reverence that was only present in JACKIE and perhaps PULP.
I do not mean to dismiss the film entirely. There is the usual degree of comedic panache and photographic shimmer. But it is discouraging to see legions of viewers responding so mindlessly to the work of a director who still has much to prove.
We need to encourage Tarantino to go out -- get hooked on opium, get shot, feel hate. Until he sees emotion through something other than a screen or a viewfinder, he will always be jogging around the edges of any Pantheon.
44.7