Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay, which would become the basis for Tarantino’s first film: MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY (1987). When he was twenty four, Tarantino met his future producing partner, Lawrence Bender, at a party. What he did have, however, was time, and he used it well by gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of the medium and making a few crucial connections. Tarantino is the first mainstream instance of a director who learned his craft by simply studying films themselves.īefore the dawn of the digital era, aspiring filmmakers had to have a lot of money to practice their trade-something Tarantino simply didn’t have as a menial retail employee.
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This is noteworthy, because most directors traditionally gain their education via film school or working on professional shoots. He found himself enraptured by the fresh, dynamic styles of directors like Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Brian DePalma, and Mario Bava, and he studied their films obsessively to see what made them tick. To support himself, he famously got a job as a clerk at the now-defunct Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, where he gained an extensive film education by watching as many movies as he could get his hands on, and cultivating an eclectic list of recommendations for his customers. He dropped out of high school before he was old enough to drive, choosing instead to pursue a career in acting. He was raised mostly by his mother, who moved him out near Long Beach, California when he was a toddler. Any producer’s son can nepotism his way into the director’s chair, but for the scrawny teenager in Wyoming with a video camera in her hand and stars in her eyes, Tarantino is proof-positive that she could do it too.īorn in 1963 to separated parents in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino grew up without privilege or the conventional nuclear sense of family. Tarantino represents filmmaking’s most fundamental ideal: the notion that anyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from, can make it in movies if they try hard enough. If you were to ask me, it’s none of those things that make him a role model. Fetishizations of violence, drug-use, and sex. His energy is infectious, as is his unadulterated enthusiasm for films both good and bad.ĭespite going on to international fame and fortune, Tarantino is a man who never forgot his influences, to the point where the cinematic technique of “homage” is his calling card.Why is this admittedly eccentric man so admired in prestigious film circles and high school film clubs alike? Objectively speaking, his pictures are pure pulp. Something about Tarantino– whether it’s his subject matter, style, or his own character– is luridly attractive.
I was even guilty of it myself, in some of my earlier college projects. 80% of student films I saw in school were shameless rip-offs of Tarantino’s style and work. Having broken out into the mainstream during the heady days of indie film in the 1990’s, Tarantino has influenced an obscene number of aspiring filmmakers my age. His impact on film has left a crater too big to ignore. However, one objective fact remains: he is syllabus-grade essential when it comes to the wider discussion of cinema during its centennial. Make no mistake, there is no middle ground here-you either love his work or are physically repulsed by it. The man is a lightning rod for criticism and praise.
Few directors are as high profile and equally controversial than Quentin Tarantino.
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