A ballsy biography of Quentin Tarantino that presumes to have the filmmaker narrate the book in the first person. So we have Tarantino walking us through his life and filmography, praising his own genius and casually dismissing any criticism of his techniques or attitude. And just as Tarantino likes to play around with film structure and tropes, the Amazing Ameziane plays around with his page layouts mixing up original sequential panels and photo-referenced portraits, word balloons and captions, character studies and behind-the-scenes antics.

It's crammed with insights, trivia, and cameos sure to please long-time fans like me.

It's a pretty long and dense graphic novel, but I was always eager to pick it up every chance I had. ( )

Quentin by Tarantino (2024) by Quentin Tarantino. This graphic, I suppose “autobiography” is the word to use, is QT talking about the genius of QT. QT is a divider although he wouldn’t want to be thought that way if it were possible. You either hate or love, or at least like, his work. The movies have become so much a part of main stream cinema that you don’t even have to watch them anymore, They are that well known.
This book takes us through the thought, virtues and vices of the man’s view into his writing and directing, and acting world. I would say he brags here, a lot, but I would be wrong. It isn’t bragging if it is true. He did seemingly come of nowhere and took the movie world in an easy romp. His films have a distinct style about them that is an amalgam of many styles. He doesn’t necessarily take this from that genre, he aims at a certain type of movie and melts elements of many disparate films into something that seems brand new yet strangely familiar.
His films are a fever dream of American history, morality, avarice and violence. Lots of violence. You might say it is too much, but watch the news feed from any platform and you will see much worse EVERY day. It is just that he builds characters you can get involved with, know and even like, rather than the anonymous shooters and victims who populate our schools, supermarkets, shopping centers and public rallies. So when the figures on the screen in his film act in a discordant fashion, you can get outraged. In the news feeds there are only impersonal blobs imitating humans doing immoral things.
It is always harder to take when someone you think you know dies than when a hundred people far away die. You care, but ultimately it doesn’t affect you personally.
But back to the book. It is mostly in a straight line format, youth to latest movie, but some times it deviates. Personal things are kept that way throughout. QT’s thoughts and opinions flourish from front to back herein. He isn’t afraid to boast about his ability to bring stars that other directors ignore back into the spotlight. In short, I liked so much about this book. It makes me want to see the several films I haven’t seen and revisit the rest.
By the way, I like True Romance in the manner it was released. But as QT keeps telling us, his version would have been superior. Perhaps QT, you can put your money, and editing skills, where your mouth is and give us a truer True Romance, one for the ages.
The art work and colors were great acting as a dark mirror for the expression of the “quirky” expressions and visions of the director. They helped bring substance to the realm QT lives in and thrives in and, lets just say, riles.
I liked the director’s wide open yet limited look into his world. Now I have to get some discs lined up and pop me some corn. It’s going to be a long rough ride. ( )