Nothing inglourious about these basterds: a non-review
And you thought Tarantino made ‘talky’ movies! You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Wait till you watch this one, you’ll redefine your definition of ‘talky’.
Tarantino’s talkiest movie by far, this is also his boldest. We all said we like this aspect of his films and he listened. And he took it to the extreme! While you can see the filmmaker’s indulgence in all the 8 scenes in the film, you can also see his supreme confidence that his viewers will be on the edge of their seats, waiting for that inevitable explosion, all the while with an anticipatory smile on their faces.
Yes, I did say 8 scenes. This 2 1/2 hour film has about 8 scenes! Go figure. Or maybe 10, or 12… I’m not trying to be technically correct here. But you get the drift…
Not to be confused with chapters – there are 5 chapters in the film. Each one clearly demarcated with a chapter number and heading, with its own beginning and end – sort of. A typical chapter is made up of 2 or 3 scenes. Except some chapters which only have one scene each.
And every chapter follows the same pattern. Starts off with some innocuous banter that lasts about 5 minutes. Then more banter that’s not so innocuous for the next 5 minutes. Then there’s finally some banter that seems to be going somewhere for about 5 minutes. Then the final bloodshed happens, which lasts about 30 seconds.
Yet what is it that makes the 15 minutes preceding the finale of each chapter so engrossing?!
And that’s what we love about Tarantino. He ain’t gonna make no movie that looks like any other movie. He gonna make his kinda movie.
On-screen indulgence at its best, is what this film is. Brad Pitt’s performance as Lt. Aldo Raine is excellent. But who really stands out is Col. Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz. He speaks, you laugh. He kills jews, you still can’t hate him. He’s one funny mofo.
I just can’t write a review of this film. It is unreviewable. Anyone reviewing this film is in fact reviewing the man who made it. Because no one else can make this film. Not because it is so hard to make, but because it just doesn’t make sense to make it. The film will be written off as indulgent, drawn-out, not violent enough, and yes, talky. And you’ll probably hear a lot of accusations of “Tarantino-wannabe.”
But when Tarantino makes it, we expect it to be like this. And we like it to be like this. And in the closing shot of the film when Lt. Aldo Raine ponders, “This might be my masterpiece,” we all subconsciously tend to nod in agreement.
Tarantino is not merely a filmmaker, he is a genre. And while he is alive, only one man can effectively make films in that genre.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I went for the 12.20 show with real bad allergy and asthma. I am not a fan of this guy, my favorite is only Reservoir Dogs. At about 12 I had enough and walked out. Third movie after Kuch Kuch HOta Hai and fire which made me walk out of the theatre.
Not trying to offend or anything… But I would never walk out of a movie halfway… it’s just not right…
I am a mango man. I pay money i want to be entertained. I dont give a rat’s ass about who the director is how many years of tears he’s cried over making the movie. Not my concern. I buy ticket, I go in, if I don’t like, I go out.
Mai public hai, jisko pasand nahin aya
uska dabba goal.
Well said Abhra!!
So u left during the 1st scene which undoubtedly is one of the best opening sequences on cinema history and you are bragging about it… Need I say more!
you know , opinions are bound to differ.
But if you take hans landa(again his character has nothing new to offer) out of this movie , can you give me one example where it looks like anything better than a ‘good’ summer flick?
Here is why I feel the movie lacks all the qualities to be called a good movie.
If Soshanna has the same revenge motivation like eons of h’wood femme fatale before, then what she was doing in managing that theatre? waiting when Bejaan Daruwalaa will tell her that her fate is going to bring her a ‘lover-boy’ nazi soon? Her coldness is very poorly acted with a face that looks mired between underacting and constipation.
Every white male in TN does talk in that accent—- that’s what we call a cliche(Like every black kid can not talk without dropping F-bomb: a favorite H’wood cliche)
If heroine shoots a nazi then that nazi is bound to pretend as dead so that at the very end he can shoot back——(John Woo anyone)
To kill Hitler the mata hari has to be a volptous movie star — why it can not be say, a gay nazi officer in love with Brad Pitt :-)
The one who controls intellectual propaganda of Reich has to be a moron ( why Goebles can not be a Nietzche( after all they are fellow countrymen :-) ) murmuring sensitive guy compelled to follow Hitler against his conscience)…it is just like that Tamil Movie-Director cliche of Hindi movies.
So, once you take that veil of ‘wow-so-great’ fetish off, you might find that all that good Ol’ Quentin did was to fool people in believeing that they are watching work of a maestro. But in reality it is as trash as pure trash can be. There is so dearth of originality, so much of moronic ideas going kaput that I often wondered while this is made by the same man who made Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction. Now it is upto us whether or not to swallow this shit as ‘masterpiece’.
Amen! Guess I’m not alone
I know opinions are bound to differ, but this was quite ridiculous.
Ok what is a good summer flick in your opinion: Transformers? Harry Potter? you think IB was no better than those?
6 million Jews carried hatred and revenge, not all of them went out to kill Nazis. Soshanna had no means to inflict revenge. Her theatre managing was under the guise of a frenchwoman was just a guise to survive from the Nazis. However when fate got her an opportunity, she decided to make use of it. Her performance in the scene when Landa interviews her in the restaurant was brilliant ..imo
So if one character talks in an accent that becomes an cliche, when nearly 30% percent of US speaks in a southern accent.
About the projector scene, here’s what my friend pointed out, “the scene in the projector room was mindblowing .. it covered all emotions ‘love’,'hatred’,'revenge’,passion’, ’sympathy’ in a minute”. I’ve nothing to add to it.
“Gay nazi office in love with Brad Pitt” – so that you could have come out and term it as another ‘cliche’. your overusage of the word ‘cliche’ itself is a cliche.
Goebles was shown as arrogant and haughty, since when did that become a sign of moronic behavior? In fact one of the other characters acknowledges him to be a good filmmaker.
And finally do you think, people who liked the movie are incapable of seeing the movie separate from the persona of the director and only your super intelligent brain could do so?
DK – I am not sure if you agree (especially since you are a filmmaker) but no filmmaker ought to be bigger than the medium itself. In this case, as you so aptly put it, Tarantino has become a genre itself and a Tarantino film is viewed with that constant over-bearing of being a Tarantino film. That’s 3 Tarantino’s in a sentence, see what he does to you!!!
I loved IB as a Tarantino film, he did everythnig for me in IB that I would expect him to. But would I have liked it if it were someone else’s film? I may have thought what audacity the filmmaker had to show such long drawn sequences! Who does he think he is?! Its forgivable when its Tarantino since we come to expect that of him. That’s so bloody unfair!
Sorry I am just ranting but after loving the movie so much last weekend, I don’t feel as good any more… Same goes for Cameron (whose “Avatar” trailer I happened to see before IB). This man is becoming an institution, and rightfully so with all the new technology he develops for the films and documentaries he makes, but the hype for his next film is so insane that its almost funny!
Sar Jhunkayon ge to Patthar Devtaa ban Jayegaa
Yuhun na Chahon use wo ‘Tarantino’ ban Jayegaa :-)
Savio – On-screen indulgence is the luxury of the few who have earned it. (Note to all filmmakers – do not try it at home.) Only some filmmakers have – in the broader public opinion – earned this right. Tarantino is one such.
Like, for instance, only Kubrick could have gotten away with total silence in the first 20 minutes of his film (2001 A Space Odyssey). Or only Rajnikant can twirl a cigarette!
Yes, it is unfair. But on the flip side, this right is also a burden. For instance, QT couldn’t just make a regular romantic comedy now, could he? Would you be able to watch it with a straight face?
Good point, Tarantino making a romatic comedy would require the lovers to blow each others heads off at some point!
I guess my point was who earns the right to indulge on screen. Kubrick and Tarantino may have and that’s why we tolerate it… Shyamalan seems to think he has… At the end, its a commercial medium and the bottom line is what matters… a good run at the box-office ensures more indulgence in future endeavors
Just my POV of course
i casually bumped ino your movie on a kingfisher flight and while zapping heard a dialogue and was completely hooked. The movie smart, funny and dialogues are awesome. Great stuff
do write to me once you receive this mail..we actually organize retreat with artistes etc. infact we did one with Shyam benegal who is very close to us
love
ram
Very well written
I never thought anyone could perceive movies in such a wrong way till I read labor-day-sales opinions.
Not intended to offend, but seriously, this movie is not for such guys.Just watch ‘another good summer movie’ with ‘constipated acting’.
I dont have problems with people not loving this film, but giving such silly reasons, please…..
Pseudo-intellectuality is oozing out of each and every word in that so called opinion.(We know that you know about Nietzche, and that he hails from Germany )
One must learn to differentiate quirks from cliches dude!!!!
“Tamil Movie-Director cliche of Hindi movies.”….As a hard-core movie lover I really hope that the ‘public’ becomes smarter and less pseudo!!!
“Ol’ Quentin did was to fool people in believeing that they are watching work of a maestro” “Now it is upto us whether or not to swallow this shit as ‘masterpiece’. ” “But in reality it is as trash as pure trash can be.”
Bravo!!! Though Quentin could fool the Cannes Jury and all the reviewers ( who gave the movie 85% fresh rating on Rotten tomatoes) our labor day something is so intelligent that he could see through Mr.Tarantinos intentions.
Please…..when you hate a movie and the majority likes it, dont call it “shit” or something. That only shows your……
Healthy criticism is good but if people think that giving very “strong ” opinions makes them look intelligent, I am sorry. It just reveals ignorance.
Varun
You r gettin labor-days opinion in a wrong way. I understand what he tried to say. We love some directors coz they can break formulas. Take for instances visaal bharadwaz how wonderfully he turned familiar Hindi film story to a new direction in Kaminey. Tarantino was loved for the same in the past. But in this movie characters are one dimensional and plot is very much formula driven. Labor-day seems to be talking as a frustrated fanboy
But his comments are not ignorant rather I think they are very witty though a gay Nazi loving brad pitt is really sick :p
I love it when people use the phrases like ‘formula driven’ without thinking what it means. A world war 2 conspiracy movie which ends with the death of Hitler is no formula plot, most world war conspiracy movies end with the failure of the plan.
Each scene being having 3 acts in itself: is that part of the formula? Labour day seems to be suffering from neo-intelligentsia disorder, which is criticize stuff which many like
I love it when people use phrases like ‘formula driven’ without thinking what it means. A world war 2 conspiracy movie which ends with the death of Hitler is no formula plot, most world war conspiracy movies end with the failure of the plan.
Each scene being having 3 acts in itself: is that part of the formula? Labour day seems to be suffering from neo-intelligentsia disorder, which is criticize stuff which many like
Well what exactly do you want to convey! I think IB right right up there with Pulp Fiction & Reservoir Dogs.
Absolutely..QT is back for real
The Inglourious Basterds script was lying in my hard drive for almost a year now. And as soon as I read the opening Hans Landa interrogation sequence, I knew Quentin had a real gem in his hands. Having watched the film, I believe it should easily rank as one of his best works, in fact I’d rate it alongside Pulp Fiction in my list. I am sure a lot of people will agree with me. Without giving the spoilers away, all I would like to say is, with this film Quentin has come of age as a writer and a director. There is almost a Hitchcockian brilliance in a couple of 20 minute scenes in this film, where the rubber band stretches and stretches… and then it breaks. No, sorry… explodes. This war film is a much needed fresh breath of air to all those boring war films we have been subjected to, over the years.
Merci, Monsieur Quentin!
Tarantino’s latest masterpiece, no doubts! The crazy climax is one of the best I’ve seen in ages. Here are my views on the movie:
http://www.bhargavsaikia.com/2009/08/quentin-tarantinos-inglourious-basterds.html
Tarantino is not merely a filmmaker, he is a genre -
Tarantino is not merely a filmmaker, he is a genre – So true. Best way to put across the genius.