One of the strangest cases of American cinema, o Quentin Tarantinoin the three decades he has been in the limelight and his only nine films, he has managed to make his own chapter in the cinema, since it is now considered acceptable to call a film by another director “Tarantini” if it has crude stylized violence, sardonic humor , the “dirty” dialogues, the slanted look at the script.

Characteristics that made him famous, with fanatical fans around the world, and even one of the most important directors, critics and audiences overestimating the characteristics that made him an icon of American pop culture.

Tarantino, who has stated that he will give up directing once he has made ten films, a commitment that is not written “in stone”, but will probably stick to his commitment, not just as a whim or to avoid getting into a ” senile” artistic phase, but mainly because he can no longer recognize the cinema of the last decades.

The almost complete transition to digital technology saddens him, while he probably does not consider the films shown by the platforms to be cinema, like other important colleagues.

Turning 60, Tarantino says he’s in no rush for his final tenth film. But it’s an opportunity to see how this “bullet” of cinema, launched as the No. 1 filmmaker in the previous decades, how he entered Hollywood, without any training or experience and filled us with his clones and also gave us some of the best soundtracks .

Cherokee

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the only child of Connie and aspiring actor Tony Tarantino, who left the family before his son was born. He is of Irish descent through his mother, although he claims – perhaps wanted to – to be half Cherokee, while the “disappeared” father had Italian roots. In 1966, he will settle permanently in Los Angeles, together with his mother, who will marry the musician Curtis Zastoupil. His mother’s marriage may have been short-lived, but his stepfather will give him the impetus to become an avid cinephile.

Videotapes

As he came of age, Tarantino would go through several jobs, until he landed a job at a video club in the early 80s, where he would sit for five years. What else did he want? He watched dozens of movies a week. This made him known in the region, for his knowledge of cinema. He remembers that when asked if he went to film school, he would reply “no, I went to the cinema”.

So, without any training, but a lot of knowledge and love for cinema, he will get his first job in Hollywood, as a production assistant on Dolph Lundgren’s exercise video.

Elvis in “The Golden Girls”

In 1987, he will direct his first amateur film, which remained unfinished, while the following year he will play Elvis in the television series “The Golden Girls”, with the fee of which he will finance his first film, the now famous “Reservoir Dogs» of 1992.

That’s it. Tarantino in a few hours became one of the most promising directors in America. One of his best films, which immediately became a cult, for its original narrative, the unforgettable soundtrack, the blood that flowed and of course for the performances of Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi.

Travolta

The sequel will be even better, as it follows two years later, the iconic “Pulp Fiction”, a violent adventure, full of paradoxes and even stranger characters. One of them will be of John Travolta (Tarantino loved him in De Palma’s excellent “Blowout”), whom he reborn after his career went downhill. He is joined by his beloved Uma Thurman, Samuel Jackson, Tim Roth, Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken. Once again, great songs flood the blood-soaked screen, while there’s also one of the most impressive choreographies of the era, with Travolta doing his thing.

In 1997, he will present us with one of his most serious and complex films, “Jackie Brown“, where for the first time it will have a black actress, the wonderful Pam Greer, as the protagonist. Next to her, Robert De Niro, Samuel Jackson, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda make a wonderful gallery of characters, faithfully following the strong script and imaginative dialogues.

Revenge

It will be followed by another iconic film, the “Kill Bill: Volume“, which will be split into two films that will be released the first in 2003 and the second the following year. The ultimate revenge story, with oriental battle scenes, rivers of blood and perversion, with Uma Thurman becoming a symbol. A peculiar neo-western that gives the impression that the ghosts of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone (favorite directors of Tarantino) have come out of paganism.

Sadism

In 2007 will come the relatively uneven, but always entertaining, “Death Proof” which may have tension and suspense, but seems “small” at that point in its course. Two years later he will make his first film about World War II, focusing on the Nazis, Hitler and his remnants. With “Insolent Bastards” he will turn the knife on the Nazi body and respond to the horror with a sadistic spirit. Christoph Waltz is excellent and Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent are satisfactory, Brad Pitt is colorless.

Django

After a five-year absence, the epic will return “Django, The Punisher”, returning to his great love, the spaghetti western. Certainly, his most complete and well-made film, about the story of a slave who is freed and takes revenge for what blacks had suffered at the hands of white Americans. It is no coincidence that the script wants a German bounty hunter to be the most “civilized” of its characters and the most charming, after Django. Unforgettable soundtrack and wonderful performances by Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, while the original Django, the unsurpassed Franco Nero, also has a small role.

Hollywood

Sticky, as they say, there will be another western, another tribute to the spaghetti western, the interesting one but locked in a tedious theatrics, “The Hateful Eight“, with Samuel Jackson and Kurt Russell, while in 2019 he will deliver his cinephile “Once upon a time in…Hollywood”, demonstrating his boundless love for old Hollywood and his distaste for the new mores that have taken hold in the film mecca. Heads Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio make an adorable lead duo.

Eccentric

Although Tarantino was embroiled in the Harvey Weinstein affair, accused of many, many times wrongly, defended Roman Polanski, and clashed with many in his circle, he had a relatively quiet personal life. It is unknown what he will do in the future and whether he will keep his promise to retire with his tenth film, but it is also unknown whether his films, none of which can be described as masterpieces, will have the same acceptance even after thirty years. If the chapter of Tarantino’s cinema is limited to two or three paragraphs, of an eccentric cult director.