QT8: The First Eight

I didn't know I was a Tarantino fan until I watched this documentary with some friends. 21 seconds in and I was hooked. The pace and visual impact of the graphics hit you as fast and hard as the unapologetic assault of the taboo set against a backdrop of a kick ass sound track that leaves you at a strange, gripped pause when the music stops and Christoph Watlz opens with "and then there are the movies...". The clips took me through time as they visited movies that left lasting impressions on me; having never known who the director or writer was. This documentary taught me it doesn't matter that our VHS tape of Reservoir Dogs has been played more times than I can count and still sits on the shelf in the family vacation home for reunion visits; I still never saw the connection of the of the Vega brothers. My absolute love for the gratification of an alternate ending in Inglorious Bastards did nothing to show me the Red Apple pack of smokes in the soldier's pocket. I knew while watching Wood Entertainment's QT8 that I wanted to re-watch all of the previous films to catch the threads that I had been missing. I actually watched a Tarantino film in the middle of watching 21 Years Quentin Tarantino after Robert Forster describes the scene in Jackie Brown of the long walk where you're watching a man fall in love with a woman. The way director, Tara Wood, moved between Robert Forester and the Jackie Brown scene when Pam Greer is walking out of jail made me want more. I paused the documentary and watched Jackie Brown for the first time, and I know I saw it in a different way than I would have had QT8 not introduced me to these actors, their characters and their appreciation for Tarantino.

For a purported documentary about QT, the film is very short of material of the man himself. Instead, we get lots of talking heads from many of his collaborators, but hear precious little from Tarantino. A lower rating for not having access to the auteur himself. The thematic groupings of the films was a new way of looking at the work and made it an interesting take. The Weinstein stuff felt like an easy target and wasn't particularly insightful.

It was kinda enjoyable. I loved the nostalgia and some of the cast interviews. I didn't really learn that much but it was still interesting.

The Weinstein topic felt tacked on. I get it; he's a creep. However it just felt like a VH1 special that had to have a "Drama" moment.

The closure of the doc was derailed by injecting the director into the subject matter. This part was more suited for a blue ray extra and not an actual part of QT's legacy.

I really enjoyed this documentary as it showed Quentin's passion for movies. It showed how the actors that have worked for him love doing so. His movies all are very well written and very well casted. I love the way his characters chat about nothing and he really does a good job in getting you to like his characters. This documentary left me puzzled as it seemed like a tribute to a deceased person. I would have liked Quentin to actually interview. It also seemed like a PR to divorce him from Weinstein. I did really enjoy this mostly because I Love every movie he has made. Big fan in Ohio.

Good doc about the career and first eight movies of Quentin Tarantino. I have some issues about making it now, when it will clearly be incomplete in a couple of years (actually it already is incomplete with the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), but other than that is a good compilation of anecdotes from the making of those movies with some very good interviews with the people involved. It does have some glaring omissions, with the likes of Harvey Keitel, Uma Thurman or Harvey Weinstein (understandibly) being m.i.a. But for the fans this is obviously a treat.