QUENTIN JEROME TARANTINO, NONLINEAR STORY LINES

Today, The Grandma has been watching some films. She has chosen some directed by Quentin Tarantino, the American filmmaker who was born on a day like today in 1963.

Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, film critic and author.

His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, dark humor, stylized violence, extended dialogue, pervasive use of profanity, ensemble casts, references to popular culture, alternate history, and neo-noir.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino grew up in Los Angeles. He began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, a crime thriller in part funded by the sale of his screenplay True Romance (1993); Empire hailed Reservoir Dogs as the Greatest Independent Film of All Time.

His second film, Pulp Fiction (1994), a crime comedy, was a major success among critics and audiences and won numerous awards, including the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He wrote the screenplay for From Dusk till Dawn (1996), in which he also starred, while Tarantino's third film, Jackie Brown (1997), paid homage to blaxploitation films.

In 2003, Tarantino delivered Kill Bill: Volume 1, stylized in cinematic traditions of kung fu films and Japanese martial arts, the animation sequences in the film were inspired from Aalavandhan; Volume 2 followed in 2004.

Tarantino then directed the exploitation slasher Death Proof (2007), part of a double feature with Robert Rodriguez released in the custom of 1970s grindhouse, under the collective title Grindhouse.

His long-postponed Inglourious Basterds (2009) told an alternate history and explored subgenres of war films; it was followed by Django Unchained (2012), a Spaghetti Western, which won him his second Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Tarantino's eighth film, The Hateful Eight (2015), was a long-form revisionist Western thriller with a roadshow release, while his most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), was a comedy drama which explored the transition of Old Hollywood to New Hollywood. He published his debut novel, a novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in 2021.

Tarantino's films have garnered critical and commercial success, as well as a cult following. He has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and the Palme d'Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and five Grammys.

In 2005, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him the single most influential director of his generation; Tarantino has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry.

Tarantino's works have been subject to controversy, including his depictions of violence and frequent inclusion of racial slurs, and alleged negligence in his handling of stunt scenes in Kill Bill: Volume 2.

More information: Film Comment

Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the only child of Connie McHugh and aspiring actor Tony Tarantino, who left the family before his son's birth. His father is of Italian descent, and his mother is of English, Irish, Cherokee, and some German ancestry. He was named in part for Quint Asper, Burt Reynolds' character in the CBS series Gunsmoke.

Tarantino's mother met his father during a trip to Los Angeles, where Tony was a law student and would-be entertainer. After a brief marriage and divorce, Connie Tarantino left Los Angeles and moved to Knoxville, where her parents lived. In 1966, Tarantino and his mother returned to Los Angeles.

Tarantino's films often feature graphic violence, a tendency which has sometimes been criticized.

Reservoir Dogs was initially denied United Kingdom certification because of his use of torture as entertainment.

Tarantino has frequently defended his use of violence, saying that violence is so good. It affects audiences in a big way.

Tarantino has stated that the celebrated animation-action sequence in Kill Bill: Volume 1 was inspired by the use of 2D animated sequences in actor Kamal Haasan's Tamil film Aalavandhan. He often blends esthetics elements, in tribute to his favorite films and filmmakers. In Kill Bill, he melds comic strip formulas and esthetics within a live action film sequence, in some cases by the literal use of cartoon or anime images.

As a child, Tarantino was a fan of the early eras of Marvel Comics, particularly those that were plotted and drawn by Jack Kirby with dialogue by Stan Lee, and is a confessed fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Tarantino has stated that he plans to make a total of just ten films before retiring as a director, as a means of ensuring an overall high quality within his filmography. He believes most directors have horrible last movies, that ending on a decent movie is rare, and that ending on a good movie is kind of phenomenal.

More information: GQ

When I make a film,
I am hoping to reinvent the genre a little bit.
I just do it my way.
I make my own little Quentin versions of them...
I consider myself a student of cinema.
It's almost like I am going for my professorship in cinema,
and the day I die is the day I graduate.
It is a lifelong study.

Quentin Tarantino