True Colors
Posted May 25th, 2007 by Tristan-Beedon
“If you have to be a diehard grindhouse fan to enjoy this movie, then the movie’s probably pretty limited. I’m not saying my movie is better than that genre, but I am trying to transcend it. I have my own agenda I’m trying to get across, and it’s not the agenda of most drive-in movies.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Quentin.
Yeah, I know, I’m late, and I’m not delivering the article I promised to my faithful readership (all 3 of you), but this has to be addressed, albeit briefly, and this seemed the perfect format for it.
At Cannes on Monday, Tarantino held a press conference and premiere not for Grindhouse, not for a tribute to forgotten drive-in sleaze cinema, not even for his collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, who sat quietly on the sidelines, but to promote his own ego tripping extended cut of his half of the proceedings, Death Proof.
Kurt Russell, to his credit, gave a few impassioned sentences in praise of the full Grindhouse feature, the attempt to revive the experience of a trash double billing, but to no avail. In the end, it’s Quentin’s show. The award winning filmmaker. The whiz kid. The Auteur.
Well here’s some news for you, Q. Those trashy movies you claim to revere – they weren’t made by filmmakers with a burning desire to tell their stories. With a few notable exceptions, they were made by a twisted consortium of producers who wanted to put blood and tits on the big screen for the biggest return on the smallest investment, desperate directors who needed a break, and actors who needed money for their ever growing drug habits.
Everyone got used. That’s why it was called exploitation.
And it’s gone. The genuinely independent world that existed beyond the studio system has been co-opted by moneymaking machines like the Weinsteins. There are rules to be followed, legal forms to be filled, catering trays to be devoured. No tribute will bring it back, and nothing will emerge to take its place.
With that depressing thought, I’ll leave you until next week, when I swear to you, I will be reviewing Bad Girls Go to Hell. Until then…