I’ve had a few days off over the last week and as any film enthusiast or writer with a block would do I’ve watched loads of films. Unusually I’ve managed to watch loads of films that I previously haven’t seen, such as the confused Franklyn, the harrowing Blindness and the disappointing Dead Snow to mention a few. Thanks to Sinister Mr. 6 for helping me out with these, naughty.
Anyway my point(s) is/are – whatever. These are all films of a certain caliber, they all got produced and have all had some kind of cinema/DVD release. Some are from first time directors/writers, (The Breed) some are low/no budget (Dead Snow) and some are fully fledged studio productions with a good cast (The Reaping, Quarantine, Blindness) I am aware that a cinema run doesn’t mean a film will be any good, in the same way a good actor or director doesn’t guarantee a great movie, but then what does? Bottom line is usually script script script, this is what is hammered home time and time again for wanna-be film makers, and sure, no script no film. But script is not the be all and end all of a great cinema experience.
Film is inherently a visual medium; often many elements come together to make that visual experience happen, thus making film making a difficult and complicated posses. I mostly enjoyed all of the films watched in my catch up marathon, all had good and bad elements, but none of them left me reeling, and none of them have warranted a second viewing.
After watching Inglourious Basterds I wanted to go straight into the next screening. This isn’t a bias I have for Tarantino, I didn’t feel this way after Kill Bill Vol. 1 or 2. In fact aside from some impressive set pieces I didn’t care much for either of his kung-fu revenge assassin movies. Similarly with the ill fated Grindhouse project, as much as I loved Death Proof and the whole double bill concept, I don’t remember being as excited or wanting to go from one auditorium straight into the next to see it again. Why is this one any different?
Inglourious Basterds had an unrealistic pre production, shooting and postproduction schedule. For a film Tarantino claims he has been toying with for over a decade, they certainly turned it around fast. For example 6 weeks to edit instead of the usual 6 months, just so they could get it into Cannes. I like this self-inflicted pressure, and I think it is one of the reasons Basterds is so good, no flab, no inflated budgets, no re shoots.
Everything in Bastereds is right, it didn’t feel too long, no piece of expositional dialogue felt out of place, the cinematography was subtle and considered, the violence although brutal was necessary and the comedy was brilliantly timed. Juxtapositions of music genres and blaxploitation cinema styles seemed to work too, although I’m not sure how. The story is twisted enough to engage without getting lost and the cinematic language Taranteno uses to get us through this bastardising of history is second to none.
However the jewel in the Basterds crown has to be Christoph Waltz the fantastic bilingual Austrian who plays the Jew Hunter Col. Hans Landa. Nasty, scheming and merciless, I can’t think of a character in a film I’ve loved to hate as much as Landa. His penchant for detail and protocol make him a foreboding and terrifying character. Waltz excels at Taranteno’s complex and lengthy dialogue in no less than 4 languages with a brilliant and evil sense of knowing. As for Landa’s love of milk and strudel, I never realised pudding could be so scary.
All the Bastereds are great and no Allies or Axis nations concerned were devoid of a ribbing, from the typical British stuff and nonsense to the brashness of the Southern States and of course the Nazis are already the badies. Perhaps the only ethno religious group to come out of this on top were the Jews, but they were bound to win this one.
Forget historical accuracy, forget realism, forget Saving Private Ryan, forget the reviews. As the multi facetted 'Bear Jew' Eli Roth put it: “Inglourious Basterds is like kosher porn”
Go and see it, it’s brilliant.
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