Oscar duel: Is Quentin Tarantino a great director?

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:30:00 +0000

During a public appearance in London last month, Quentin Tarantino told the audience that with "Inglourious Basterds," he is now an auteur; he has established a body of work that can be analyzed as a whole and as a product of his unique vision. Recalling his experiences watching the films of Howard Hawks, he said: "My aim is that some kid in 50 years time has the same experience with me and my films." In this dueling blog, Moviefone's Jack Mathews and I debate whether Q.T.'s films actually form a body of work or remain a work in progress.   

Jack Mathews: In an essay I wrote for the L.A. Times shortly after the opening of Q.T.'s "Pulp Fiction" in 1994 -- a movie I loved, by the way -- I cautioned critics and others to lower the volume on their hallelujahs. I wrote: "Whether the 31-year-old high-school dropout and video-store guru has the native intellect and social vision to go the distance as an auteur -- whether he has anything, after all, to say -- remains to be seen." Well, Q.T.'s now 45 with five full features behind him (I count the two "Kill Bill" volumes as one movie, as was originally intended, and "Death Proof" as a featurette, as it was intended) and while his films are definitely his, I'm still not sure he has anything important to say. 

Salon.com > Anne Thompson

Oscar duel: Is Quentin Tarantino a great director?