Quintessential Quentin
Point One: Enigmatic promotional rollout whereby the consumer really had no idea of the plot of this film—this was encouraging.
Point Two: The chapter demarcations Quentin usually features in his work to guide the plot structure for the audience did not exist in this film—this was a bit of a shortcoming.
Point Three: Amazing casting. Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate was spot on. Mike Moh as Bruce Lee was aight…I wasn’t pleased with his script but he DID look almost exactly like him (with the sunglasses on). The actor who embodied Charlie Manson was fucking insane to see and his role was gravely underutilized, which I realize was part of the film’s appeal and mystery of the plot. I kept wondering when and if we’d see him again and it never happened. Costuming/hair/makeup may get some accolades during awards season.
Point Four: First two hours was jelly-filling in a donut. So much filler bro…no lie: after 45 minutes, I knew this was my least favorite Tarantino movie. And he’s in my top five directors.
Point Five: No “niggers” were used in the making of this film. Thank you, sir. Why does this need to be said or even matter? Because, as an avid fan of this director’s work, it became incredibly difficult at times to defend his consistent choice to cast himself in his film to utter the script’s first “nigger.” He refrained from casting himself in this project except for a voiceover at the conclusion, a tactic he also used at the climax of “The Hateful Eight.”
Point Six: And while we’re on that vein: it is incredibly poor storytelling for the director to narrate what’s happening in a film after a certain point, especially when voiceover narration was not used at all until the film’s conclusion. When he did it in “The Hateful Eight” I let it slide and chalked it up to “this-is-that-ironic-Quentin-shit-he-likes-to-pull-like-when-he-randomly-added-Rick Ross’-‘100 Black Coffins’-to-a-mirage-scene-in-‘Django: Unchained’…” but enough can be too much sometimes, my guy.
Point Seven: Crane shots were great. Lots of aerials throughout. I thoroughly enjoy many of his go-to camera angles and movements, particularly the ones when he shoots around a table during a conversation in a rolling shot — there was one in this film that was reminiscent of the language-switching conversation at the introduction of “Inglorious Basterds.”
Point Eight: Inventive screenplay… I’m relieved he chose not to dehumanize the brutal and tragic Manson killings. Since those murders took place, the world’s continued fascination with its specific, multi-faceted brutality made me more desensitized to gore, horror, thriller, and suspense in art, and especially on film, because those vicious acts of violence really happened and not that long ago. People really lost their lives and I was hoping Tarantino wouldn’t either romanticize or dehumanize the seriousness of those real crimes. He didn’t. The conclusion was satisfying, but not satisfying enough for me to give this work more than a B-.
Point Nine: This is QT’s ninth best film. And, just for awareness, “The Hateful Eight” was his eighth best. “RANKED: Quentin Tarantino Films” is coming soon to the Flair section.