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Tarantino's "Death Proof"

Posted by halfnote (A) on November 25, 2007 at 22:45:04

I wasn't expecting much from this film, especially after seeing its threater-relesed companion, "Planet Terror," a mish-mash of rehashed zombie movie cliches and campish humor that lurches aimlessly around like a zombie itself.

"Death Proof" was another affair altogether. This is quintessential Tarantino, with quirky and memorable scenes of exsquisite tension and forboding, trenchant social commentary masquerading as trailer-park lingo, and a host of misbegotten but unmistakably American characters on a pathetic quest for meaning amidst the barren landscape of the back country.

You will find Tarantino cinematically paraphrasing himself from "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" here and there. But if some scenes are not totally original, they seem to pass muster as new meditations on familiar themes, or fresh takes on earlier dramatic ideas, and are amplified comparison to their earlier iterations, rather than diminished by them.

This is a film that will reward the viewer on repeated screenings -- there are so many thoughful details and nuances, so many stunning shots and sequences, so many points of inflection.

And, just when you thought that everthing that could ever be said or shown about the great American chase scene had been said or shown, Tarantino finds unexplored territory in it and turns it into magic.

Now there are some garish moments as well, some almost riotously silly scenes, too. But this film will have you thinking more of Hitchcock and teh Coen brothers, and, dare I say, Kubrick, than the grindhouse flicks it purports to emulate.

Tarantino has his quirks and flaws. But you have to admire his audacity, his exuberance, and a clear cinematic vision that seems to be growing clearer and deeper with each new release.

His ability to recognize and highlight acting talent is uncanny. David Carradine, John Travolta, Michael Parks, and Michael Masden owe him a great debt of gratitude. In a few cases, he has personally resurrected entire careers. He has done the same here with Kurt Russell. And Rosario Dawson has never looked better or more alluring on film. (There is a very peculiar redunancy in this film which I believe is intentional: there is a female character in the earlier part of the film who looks like a kind of shabby, slightly overweight version of Dawson herself, and foreshadows and serves as a kind of commentary on the Dawson character which appears only in the second half of the film -- one of its many interesting contrasts and reference points).

One cue in Death Proof to pay particular attention to: the fascination with signage. It emerges in this film as a major expressive force. Another major idea to hone in on, the film's idea of feminism.

Edits: 11/25/07

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