A Woman Named Jackie Brown ...

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 2011)

Quentin Tarantino created such recognizable trademarks in his first two movies that the third one, "Jackie Brown" seems like borrowing the name, but not the essence. No over-the-top violence, no wisecracking dialogues, no non-linear editing except for a few parts: "Jackie Brown" is not the most defining film of Tarantino's style, but certainly of his incredibly versatile talent.
The film patiently lets the relationships grow and the decisions be made with a level of realism that respects the audience's intelligence. Interactions, deep moments of thinking, while a usual thriller would mostly rely on action, massive shootouts or bloody violence; in "Jackie Brown", the point is elsewhere, and the plot only works to assess the depth and three-dimensionality of the characters, stuck in a cat-and-mouse situation with the complexity of a chess game. And with so many lives at stake, the smartest will be the winner. There's such a harrowing feeling relying on Jackie Brown's desperate need to be THE smartest, it's only fitting that she is an attendant: her situation embodies the stressful nature of her job, when regularly, she expresses the need to light a cigarette so she can pull herself together, have a break. And think again.
What makes "Jackie Brown" so compelling is that the best scenes generally feature two characters trying to act clever, to make a decision, a move, to see through things. Nothing is taken for granted, not even one earlier scene when Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson) gets rid of Beaumont Livinston, a business partner who's got busted by the AFT agent Ray Nicolet (Michael Keaton) and might rat on him, Beaumont (Chris Tucker) is hard to convince, refusing to get in the trunk, he finally falls in the trap when Ordell tempts him by promising his favorite food after the job is done. This scene is well-written and it serves the plot on two crucial levels: first, it highlights Ordell's personality as an excellent manipulator, secondly, it illustrates in what kind of situation, Jackie Brown is put, when she's the next one arrested by Nicolet.
The film is long because it works on a repetitive process, vital to create a feeling of logical continuity when the whole plot is based on pure logic. The first repetition involves the third most important character of the film, the bail bondsman, Max Cherry, played by Robert Forster in a nuanced but powerful performance, rightfully Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Max paid the bond for Beaumont before he got killed, and of course, he's the one in charge of Jackie Brown's case. By using the same logic, Tarantino deliberately lures us into a feeling of predictability to better surprise us with the scenes' outcomes. Yes, we expect Max to fall in love with Jackie, but the way it's handled is original and satisfying: no sex scene, no stereotypical dialogues, there's a relation evolving smoothly, graciously, with lines that ring true.
And 'true' is the first feeling that inspires the growing tacit romance between Max and Jackie. Hard to believe that it's made by the same director who made "Pulp Fiction", with an emphasis on "Fiction", but it's the ultimate proof of Tarantino's originality and versatility as both a writer and a director. Look at just how the characterization works. In most movies, characters are defined by their actions, in "Jackie Brown", their thinking, their decisions, their collaboration, and their interactions define them through an extreme intricate puzzle with all the pieces reassembled together at the end. The movie can be frustrating at some parts where we don't follow Jackie Brown's reasoning but this is pivotal as she's trying to outsmart Ordell, Nicolet and Max a little bit, that we might feel outsmarted too.
The film works on that intellectual and subtly emotional level, that makes all the difference between "Jackie Brown" and the other 90's gangster films. And Tarantino didn't forget his particular touch, we get the iconic trunk shot, the beautiful sight of Bridget Fonda's lovely feet (sorry), an unrecognizable De Niro in a loser role, and a homage to the opening of one of my all-time favorite movies "The Graduate". Tarantino's touch is present but never without serving the story. Take Bridget Fonda as Melanie, she is an obnoxious and particularly annoying spoiled bitchy blonde and De Niro as Louis Gara isn't the brightest of the bunch, the combination of the two makes you expect the worst. They're criminals, they know how to shoot, but Jackie Brown is smart, and Max Cherry has a fondness on her, their 'partnership' as she likes to say, is more valuable than all the guns in the world, to outsmart a criminal mastermind like Ordell.
And Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, is the reason-to-be of the film, another demonstration of Tarantino's secret talent not to revive careers but to remind us how underused some actresses are... or some actors like Robert Forster. "Jackie Brown" wouldn't have worked the same with actors and actresses used to play lead romantic roles. Grier and Forster are so into their character of old, tired, hard-working people that they don't expect to fall in love, so the communication goes through objects, music and other intermediary elements. When Max listens to this beautiful 'Delfonics' song, we know it's his heart for Jackie that is pounding and we feel for them whenever the melody can be heard. Age is one of the recurring themes of the film, incarnating this passing of time as an invitation to act before it's too late, a tormenting feel of urgency. Because there's always more than money, more than freedom. Jackie Brown is not totally relieved at the end as she knows she's won more than a 'partner' in Max.
And we're satisfied that, at least, they could finally exchange a tender, intense and rewarding kiss before another song could get between them, leaving the ellipsis or the interrogation mark up to the viewer.