Quentin Tarantino

The films of the American director Quentin Tarantino are crafted like meticulous novels, with every scene constructed with great care to create an impressive, complete whole. Mixing frenetic action scenes of chaotic violence in with carefully written scenes of snappy dialogue, Tarantino has become known as one of the finest filmmakers of all time, often keeping within the boundaries of genre, twisting and contorting the sheer ingredients that make up westerns, war movies and much more.

Working at a video rental store in his youth, Tarantino learned from the movies he surrounded himself with. Instead of spending the time and money at film school, building his knowledge of the craft by watching the films of Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa. This would lead the young director to create his very first feature film in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs, a violent expression of style that remains known as one of the most important independent movies of all time.

Seizing the attention of the wider industry, Tarantino was granted the budget to make his magnum-opus, Pulp Fiction, releasing the movie to critical and commercial acclaim in 1994. Starring Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi, the film contained all the hallmarks of Tarantino’s style that would later turn him into a household name.

After winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as a Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction, Tarantino returned with Jackie Brown, starring Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton and Pam Grier, and later produced a modern samurai pastiche in the form of Kill Bill volumes one and two. A lover of cinema, Tarantino was constantly eager to instil the styles of others into his movies, with Kill Bill radiating the personalities of Takashi Miike, Sergio Leone, Francois Truffaut, Seijun Suzuki, Toshiya Fujita and many more.

It was at this point in the mid-21st century that Tarantino began to be considered one of the greatest filmmakers of modern cinema, joining the likes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Ridley Scott, David Lynch and the Coen brothers. Further success followed, too, with Tarantino following Kill Bill up with Death Proof, WWII drama Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained starring Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, and The Hateful Eight scored by Ennio Morricone.

The most recent film from Quentin Tarantino is arguably his best since Pulp Fiction, with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood radiating the filmmaker’s love for the golden age of classic moviemaking. Telling the story of two rising actors who are seeking fame in the unknowing midst of the Manson family’s growing influence. Whilst most of the film follows the two actors, we also frequently cut to the separate lives of Charles Manson and Sharon Tate.

Thriving in modern cinema, Tarantino’s most recent flick stars Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margaret Qualley, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning and Sydney Sweeney. Whilst the auteur has repeatedly said that he will only make ten movies (with his next one being his last), the sheer energy that Tarantino brings to modern cinema makes him one of the most talked about filmmakers in contemporary Hollywood.