Several of celebrated auteur Quentin Tarantino’s films were recently released on 4K and I had the opportunity to check them out.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Premise: When flight attendant Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is busted smuggling money for her arms dealer boss, Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) recruit her to take Ordell down. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Jackie hatches a plan with bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) to double cross both parties and get away with the bag.
The Film: Jackie Brown is a fantastic, if under appreciated, Tarantino film. The filmmaker is noted for giving noteworthy older actors a career revival and he does it here with both Grier and Forster. More significantly, however, this adaptation of Elmore Leonard‘s novel Rum Punch is more mature, more romantic, and less violent than Tarantino’s previous works. Critics took note of the change in tone, while applauding the cast and the unorthodox adaptation choices.
Sadly audiences were slightly less receptive (the Christmas release probably didn’t help) and the film remains one of Tarantino’s less celebrated films.
Extras: There are three notable special features on the Blu ray:
- Breaking Down Jackie Brown (40 mins, no subtitles): This new roundtable features critics
Elvis Mitchell, Scott Founlas, Stephanie Zacharek, Tim Lucas, and Andy Klein discussing the film. There’s plenty of fascinating observations, ranging from how the film visually presents (and celebrates) Grier, how Tarantino gives Jackie two separate entrance scenes, an unexpected comparison to Psycho (for introducing, then sidelining Jackie for nearly 30 minutes), and debate about the film’s protagonist. It’s solid, but occasionally the discussion is limited by the presence of a single woman and man of colour. - Jackie Brown: How it Went Down (39 mins, no subtitles): A carry-over from a previous physical release, this 10-part making of includes on-set interviews with Tarantino, his producing partner Lawrence Bender, author Elmore Leonard, key crafts people like editor Sally Menke, as well as most of the cast. There’s some intriguing details, including the genesis of the project (Bender and Tarantino were sent a galley of the novel, but optioned three Leonard titles before settling on Rum Punch); Tarantino’s fear of changing the title and Jackie’s race, and an amusing day on set when all of the men wore dresses to work (?)
- A Look Back at Jackie Brown (54 mins, no subtitles): A more contemporary interview with Tarantino on all aspects of the film. It’s informative and in-depth, but the interviewer is too quiet and the static camera set-up makes this feel very long. For Tarantino and/or Jackie Brown pursists only.
- Other: Chicks with Guns video, Siskel & Ebert‘s review, ~15 minutes of deleted scenes, a trivia track (not as exciting as one might hope) and the usual publicity stills, trailer, etc.
Overall: Film = A- / Extras: B
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and 2 (2004)
Premise: The Bride (Uma Thurman) wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Driven by revenge, she drafts a hit list of her former colleagues in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, including Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) in the first volume, then tackling Bill’s brother Budd (Michael Madsen), blonde nemesis Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) before finally tracking down Bill himself in the finale of Volume 2.
The Films: After the more serious/mature Jackie Brown, these blood-soaked revenge films were seen by many as a return to form for Tarantino. Volume 1 is more action heavy, obviously informed by kung fu and samurai films (‘the East’ entry of the pair) while Volume 2 is is more contemplative and talky; it’s indebted to (spaghetti) westerns (hence the reason why it is ‘the West’ entry). Both play like Tarantino’s love letter to action cinema, in the way that Jackie Brown was a gentle nod to his love of blaxploitation, though they’re occasionally critiqued for their simplistic narratives and somewhat shallow characterizations.
Extras: Compared to Jackie Brown, these special features are quite a bit more lackluster
- Making of Part 1 (22 mins, subtitled): A solid, albeit brief featurette with brief interviews from all of the main players (why is Lucy Liu caught in a wind machine?), as well as some behind-the-scenes shooting. Tarantino shares a funny anecdote about how The 5, 6, 7, 8s ended up performing in the film (their musical video is also included), but overall this feels…sparse.
- Making of Part 2 (26 mins, subtitled): Ditto this making of featurette, which is built on the same model. Again, some of the trivia is interesting (Tarantino incorporated Carradine’s real life flute playing into the film; Gordon Liu previously battled Pai Mei in another film, so it’s a full circle moment for him to play the legendary character).
Overall: Films = A- / Extras: C-
Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 are now available on 4K
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