tarantino

A couple nights ago, I sat down with some friends to watch the movie Death Proof, and I came to a realization: I have liked every Tarantino movie I've ever seen, in spite of several factors that would logically demand that I despise them. First, I really don't like Quentin Tarantino very much. He annoys me. Secondly, his films are perversely, reprehensibly violent and gory at times. I usually hate that sort of thing--there are many movies that I avoid precisely for that reason (Saw, anyone?). Thirdly, it can't be just me who detects a serious element of misogyny in his films (look here--told you I'm not the only one), in spite of the tough, violent (surprise surprise) female characters he creates. I'm a girl, ergo, I obviously dislike misogyny.

And yet...

Pulp Fiction is still incredibly compelling, even after I've seen it several times. Death Proof doesn't even have much of a plot (summed up: creepy guy kills a bunch of women, gets comeuppance as a bunch of women kill him in a similar fashion), and it's still really good. Kill Bill 1 and 2 were gory, violent, hard to take, and managed to play on a couple of my deep fears (the part where she's buried alive made me horribly claustrophobic, even sitting in a big, open room), and I would watch them again in a second. The big famous one that I haven't seen is Reservoir Dogs, because I always thought that it would be too much violence for me to deal with... but now I really want to see it, if only to prove that I'll probably like it.

As a side note: one of the reasons I like these movies probably has to do with the soundtracks. The music in Death Proof kind of makes the movie, I think. There's a song called "Down in Mexico" by The Coasters that played during the lap dance scene, and even while I was fully engrossed in the movie, I wanted to hear it over and over again.