surprising

Rating: Null/10 (27 October 2004)

I saw Jackie Brown last nite for the first time and was quite surprised. It was unlike any other QT film and very good. Unfortunately, for me, the first QT film I saw was Pulp Fiction which I admired, but never really liked. I thought it was a bit overblown and wanted to shoot some of the characters to shut them up! And I found it gratuitously violent and gross.
That being said, I've since seen Reservoir Dogs, KB I & 2, and this and my opinion of QT has greatly risen. In fact, I even like Pulp Fiction more! I found Reservoir Dogs to be the early masterpiece...the leaner, cleaner Pulp Fiction without all the bloat.
So I was quite surprised at how sweet and empathetic Jackie Brown was. As in all his movies, all the actors are superb. The movie is a bit long, but it is also very generous with its story and with the actors. I think actors must love working for him. The script is smart, clever, insightful, and talky in an entertaining and not annoying way.
I found Pam Grier to be wonderful and Robert Forster to be a revelation. If your heart isn't broken for him at the end of the movie, then you aren't human. He is so decent and yes, lovable, in a tough-ass film-noir dick way. Samuel Jackson is great (where'd he get that hair! and goatee...according to IMDb, he thought up his look). Bridget Fonda and Robert DiNiro were funny. Michael Keaton was great though his role was small.
The denouement was masterfully paced and plotted, with typical QT time-lapses and jumping back and forward again in the action.
And the final scene between Pam Grier and Robert Forster, was as I said heartbreaking, as well as real. It is unusual that QT should have such compassion for such middle-aged washed-up losers looking for another stab at meaning and doing it right in their fucked up lives.
Also loved the scene between DiNiro and Jackson, when DiNiro in his incoherent stoned way is trying to tell Jackson that he did indeed shoot Bridget Fonda! Classic QT.
I give this film a 8.5 out of 10 (a few points off for because it could have been edited).
Oh, yeah, and if I forgot to mention, the music is da bomb! I had the soundtrack for years before I saw the movie, and I just loved it. It was great to see it now and see where the songs fit in and the dialogue. Loved the scene when they're all going to the mall at the end, and DiNiro's car is playing Midnight Confession, and Forster's car is playing the Delfonics, Didn't I Blow Your Mind (a song that desperately needed re-discovery, thank you Quentin), and Jackie's car is playing Streetlife! QT is BRILLIANT when it comes to use of music in his films and soundtracks. And of course, the scene when Robert Forster first meets Jackie as he's bailing her out, and QT plays Natural High.
Great, great film!