She wouldn't quit talking...

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2006)

Quentin is an infuriating filmmaker inasmuch as, try as I might, I have a hard time finding something wrong with his movies. He's an arrogant, flashy, pompous, occasionally idiotic, and pretentious person; his movies have been, since Pulp Fiction, genius. Granted, that body of work really only comprises three or four films depending on how you count, but it's an incredible, vibrant, and always fun body of work. Pulp Fiction is probably his best film, but Jackie Brown is a close second--a more mature and touching film than anything else in his oeuvre (aside from, of all things, Kill Bill Vol. 2).
Jackie Brown is about, well, Jackie Brown, a middle-aged flight attendant busted for helping out a gun-runner. She pals up with Max Cherry, bail-bondman, and double-crosses, nay triple crosses, Ordell, the gun-runner, and leaves Ray Nicolette, ATF agent, flummoxed. It's a convoluted crime film told with precision and an interest in the characters. There's action and incident, but, like the best crime novels, it cares about its people. It makes Jackie and Max and Ordell and Ray and Louis and Melanie real; it makes them fascinating. This is due in part to a wonderful group of actors but also to Quentin's incredible ability to draw pitch-perfect performances from anyone. He even gets De Niro to tone things down, which is something I wish more directors would do, as that's when the man is at his best (look at Goodfellas and tell me that's not his best performance).
The story, for those that like the serpentine twists of a crime novel, is delicious, mouthwatering. You sit and watch and find yourself continually amazed and pleased by the developments on screen. It's a great cinematic experience, feeling that inexorable pull as a great filmmaker pulls you around unexpected corners.
Jackie Brown lacks some of the "formal innovations" of Pulp Fiction (sorry, that out-of-step chronology was done before, like, in the 1950s), but it doesn't lack the energy and brilliance that made QT's masterpiece such breath of fresh air. It's simply great and it's simply great to see two fantastic actors (Pam Grier and Robert Forster) in roles they've deserved for years.
As I said, Quentin is, as a person, a bit of a, um, ninny (at least as far as his appearances on TV are concerned). He makes great movies. I'd love to rake him over the coals sometimes, but his films shut me up. Now if he could only start demonstrating better taste in the films he champions (Hostel? WTF?).