From one basterd to another....

I'm cheap. Maybe it's come with age, but I who once was a matinee regular have waned against going out to the movies since the price of a ticket on the island of Manhattan has escalated to $12.50.

However there are always exceptions.

My first exposure to Quentin Tarantino came late. Reservoir Dogs premiered in 1992 and I didn't see it till the summer of 1994. In a communal hall of a dormitory on the campus of Vassar College I received an education of where American film was going and at the wheel was its newest revolutionary Quentin Tarantino. Like a babe in the woods my doors got blown off as I watched his freshman debut which was dubbed, "The Greatest Independent Film of all Time" by Empire Magazine. He broke all the rules and yet everything about it seemed familiar. Albeit covered in blood, it was like seeing all the best of the “heist” genre melted together into a perfect opus of “if there is honor among thieves then what went wrong?” with “I smell a rat?”

Over the years I have become a true fan of his films. There’s something special about a director who is in love with movies and tips his hat whenever he can to pay homage to those who inspired him to pursue his current folly. The writer/director sits before a clean white page and creates it all from nothing, instead of shopping around for whatever might be lying around Hollywood, only to churn out another ho-hum I’m going tell you the whole story in the trailer piece of drivel. Only QT doesn’t role like that….hell no.

People say Pulp Fiction is his masterpiece but I say nay. Maybe it’s because I haven’t visited that motley crew in awhile, but I believe Quentin’s Inglorious Basterds is clearly an elevation up from his current canon. He has created another unexplored genre by scooping out part war mission film, with a side of western tendencies, topping it all off with a revenge cherry. He has created the ultimate decadent eye candy, the Jewish Fantasy Revenge Porn. Something that I don’t think we have ever seen the likes of before now.

Porn might be a throw away just to keep your attention on my blog. Because really there isn’t much gratuitous sex in the movie itself aside from Joseph Goebbels getting his rocks off with his French translator in a brief cut away and Brad Pitt sticking his finger into a bloody bullet hole that’s pierced the leg of the beautiful & talented actress Diane Kruger (aka Bridget von Hammersmark). I give Tarantino huge props for not even considering a dalliance between Pitt and Krugar which could have happened but didn’t because Jane Champion didn’t direct this movie Quentin Tarantino did so ladies scurry off to Bright Stars if you favor swooning over scalping Apache style.

As I think about continuing this blog I am overwhelmed by everything spinning in my mind. There are so many tiny nuances that just made me so happy and moments that made me shout out Scheiße!!! The performances by Christoph Waltz (aka Col. Hans Landa-“The Jew Hunter”-SS) which won him the best actor award at this year's Cannes Film Festival will surely receive an Oscar nod as well. His career as a regular German TV star is now over and he must look forward to his bright future as a contending film star - his next project The Green Hornet. An amazing performance that on so many levels makes you think about how sinister and complicated one person can be. He kept me guessing at very turn with random bits & outbursts uncommon to our usual Nazi fare, ultimately getting the best satisfactory “end” befitting someone of his stature in the SS.

Brad Pitt (aka Lt/ Aldo Raine) a former moon shiner from the hills of Tennessee with a rope burn around his neck that never gets explained away. Tarantino said he does those kinds of things on purpose. Details that he lets the movie goer fill in with their back story. Another example is the brief case in Pulp Fiction you don't know what's in there but you know it must be good! That way he says the audience member makes it their movie. They actively participate by writing their version of whatever detail he has shown us. I LOVE THAT!!!

As you previously read I appall being told everything little thing about the plot, the characters, I'm not stupid, I know what something means, and can use my imagination to fill in the rest. Mr. Pitt makes his lines that if flung off any other persons tongue would seem corny or unbelievable I bought every twang and colloquialism, Audie Murphy would be proud.

All of the Basterds had many excellent character moments too many to review, I’ll only say “Italian Hands” & “The Jewish Bear” along with “The Little Man” were my favorites.

Let's not forget the lovely ladies of the film, Mélanie Laurent (aka Shosanna Dreyfus) she IS the face of Jewish vengeance! Her performance is practically all in the silences, heart wrenching, powerful non-speaking moments that take your breath away.

Then her exact opposite is Diane Kruger (aka Bridget von Hammersmark) the double talking, double agent that you wish hadn’t pulled a Cinderella. See the movie you’ll know what I mean.

Underlying the entire film is a thin well place layer of comedy. Especially noted in the darker moments of the film. A scalping here, and head bashing there….I’m sorry it is human nature to follow such horrific scenes with a beat of humor. It does not make fun of the situation in the least, but lets the mind process the atrocity and move forward. It’s simply a coping mechanism. Quentin gets some heat for his humor, but I stand by every dark, black line he has written here.

I could go on and on the brilliant Mike Meyers as the foppish English Col. The voice overs (unaccredited by the way) of Samuel Jackson & Harvey Keitel, the music, the set design and the cinematography all working together to bring this world to life. The moment the movie ended I wanted to yell up to Marcel (aka -Shosanna’s gorgeous black projectionist) to run it again!! I can’t wait to take a second; a third and perhaps a fourth look into a fantasy that I wish could have been reality!!

Viva la Tarantino!! Long live the Basterds!!!