An ugly amalgam of Jewish revenge movie, revisionist WWII fantasy and cinephilia self-indulgence, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds strikes me as a folly on a grand scale. The enthusiasm that I’d managed to work up for the movie sustained itself through the bravura opening sequence but the success of that set-piece only served to make the film's progressive slide into puerility all the more dispiriting. Sure, there’s stuff to appreciate – in particular, some good work from a Euro cast including Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent – but what I liked about the movie didn’t compensate for what I hated: Brad Pitt’s awful performance, the cavalier attitude to violence (the scalping scenes seem designed to thrill viewers who drooled over Reservoir Dogs’s ear-slicing), the show-offy cinema refs, the bizarre cameos (Mike Myers as a British General, Rod Taylor as Churchill), and the sheer stupidity of the whole clunking contraption. And since the movie expresses barely a shred of feeling for any of its characters, the actors' efforts finally go to waste. A horrible piece of work.
What are your thoughts on it having 8 Oscar nominations?
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree. Quentin had given interviews about how the characters are of the utmost importance to him, but this film was more about the shock factor than actual character development.
Shock and horror! (Apart from Waltz, maybe.) Here's an article by Toby Young that kind of sums up my feelings on the issue:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100024801/inglourious-basterds-doesnt-deserve-its-oscar-nominations/
Thanks for the comment!
Alex, you have read my review and although I gave the film a high mark, on reflection I only enjoyed ( really enjoyed) the set pieces ie( the beginning with the French farmer (yum) and the scene in the pub basement.....
ReplyDeleteI hated the violence and absolutely loathed brad Pitt......
good review alex
John: you were clearly swayed by Menochet!
ReplyDeleteI was really looking forward to seeing it, in the end, but found it a big fat disappointment.
Hey A,
ReplyDeletespot on! I found it an empty stylistic exercise (but then I was never fond of QT in the first place). As you said, the drama of the opening only highlights the meagreness of the rest. The intensity of the violence is - as usual with Q? - rather pointless. "Sheer stupidity" - yep. Thanks for this review, I thought everyone had gone mad.
Alex........too right!!! I am too old for him though
ReplyDeleteI think he's always been overrated. There are a few individual sequences that I love in his movies, but the whole seldom seems to add up to the sum of the parts.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd be interested to see what you make of The Limits of Control. Just finished watching it, and while I wasn't exactly thrilled, I didn't flinch, either. Some editing would probably be in order, but what precisely should be edited it's hard to say because the material is rather homogeneous. Well, I'll save my comments for when (if) you choose to review it.
ReplyDeleteReview it? I haven’t been able to see it yet! It only screened in about one London cinema, and only for a week or so. (You’ve heard my complaints about British film distribution policies before!) I’m not a big Jarmusch fan, but looking forward to seeing this one: great cast and a great title which is a good start ...
ReplyDeleteYes, well, it's... a little unorthodox in how it deploys this stellar cast. Hope you can see it somewhere. Failing that, I can always send you a copy when it's on sale here, as I believe it will be.
ReplyDelete