Quentin Tarantino

Here in his own colorful slangy words is the true American Dream saga of a self-proclaimed film geek with five intense years working in a video store who became one of the most popular recognizable and imitated of all filmmakers. His dazzling movie-informed work makes Quentin Tarantino's reputation from his breakout film <i>Reservoir Dogs</i> (1992) through <i>Kill Bill: Vol. 1</i> (2003) and <i>Kill Bill: Vol. 2</i> (2004) his enchanted homages to Asian action cinema to his rousing tribute to guys-on-a-mission World War II movie <i>Inglourious Basterds</i> (2009). For those who prefer a more mature contemplative cinema Tarantino provided the tender very touching <i>Jackie Brown</i> (1997). A masterpiece--<i>Pulp Fiction</i> (1994). A delightful mash of unabashed exploitation and felt social consciousness--his latest opus <i>Django Unchained</i> (2012). <p/>From the beginning Tarantino (b. 1963)--affable open and enthusiastic about sharing his adoration of movies--has been a journalist's dream. <i>Quentin Tarantino: Interviews</i> revised and updated with twelve new interviews is a joy to read cover to cover because its subject has so much interesting and provocative to say about his own movies and about cinema in general and also about his unusual life. He is frank and revealing about growing up in Los Angeles with a single half-Cherokee mother and dropping out of ninth grade to take acting classes. Lost and confused he still managed a gutsy ambition: young Quentin decided he would be a filmmaker. <p/>Tarantino has conceded that Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson) the homicidal African American con man in <i>Jackie Brown</i> is an autobiographical portrait. If I hadn't wanted to make movies I would have ended up as Ordell Tarantino has explained. I wouldn't have been a postman or worked at the phone company. . . . I would have gone to jail.