» Review: Inglorious Basterds (Spoiler-free)
See Inglorious Basterds in a theatre, at night, with a weekend crowd.
I’ll wait. I’m going to write and think and write. Please see it, I beg you. After the first reel I was thinking of recommending you save your cash and just pirate it, but then I got the point — and it’s a basterd of a good point.
Don’t just see it — watch it. Pay close attention. Close. Think! Think! Think! You will be well-rewarded.
I will say this: Inglorious Basterds is a relief. This is what the theatre-going experience should be: I’m exhausted, I’m disgusted, I’m elated, and I’m on the verge of tears. I’m angry and awed and ashamed.
I’ve just seen one of the best films of our generation. Tarantino is a genius and the film a performance piece.
See it in-theatre, at night, with a rowdy weekend crowd. Think!
I didn’t get it.
Jared
23 Aug 09 at 9:57 pm
Did anyone laugh inappropriately during your showing?
I’m re-reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide at the moment. At one point Dent and Ford say re Vogon poetry: “The rhythmic devices counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor.”
That’s what Tarantino’s doing with his weird 5-act structure — counterpointing the surrealism of the underlying theme. And it was a kind of humorous torture.
But anyway, I’m not into spoilers.
Jack
23 Aug 09 at 11:59 pm
Smallish, not-too-specific spoiler follows:
I also didn’t get it as a performance piece. I liked the movie, quite a bit.
I saw it in a large, crowded theatre on a Sunday afternoon. There was very little inappropriate laughter – at least, less inappropriate laughter than during most movies that I’ve seen. Far, far, far less inappropriate laughter than during Punch-Drunk Love.
There were excited anticipatory sounds from the audience in the early baseball bat scene, but as soon as the ball was struck, the audience mostly shut up because, I hope, of the quickness, brutality, and realism of it.
One funny incident, that I think ties into your question about inappropriate laughter, happened with the two younger guys sitting behind me. During the scene where the woman’s foot is rested upon the man’s lap, one of the guys said to the other, with some glee in his voice, “Do you think this is going to hurt?”
“Yes!”
Then when the man tells the woman to reach into the coat pocket and retrieve what she finds there, one of the guys said, excitedly and very confidently, “It’s pliers!”
Of course, anyone who had seen the scene five minutes beforehand in the basement and who had ever heard the story of Cinderella, knew exactly what was in the pocket.
When the non-pliers item was pulled out, the guys made a surprised sound – not the “ohhhh” of realization, but something more like the “huh” of someone surprised that Tarantino passed up the opportunity to pull out some pliers.
Don
24 Aug 09 at 8:10 am
@Don: That’s the kind of experience I’m talking about — excellent.
Jack
24 Aug 09 at 12:53 pm
I laughed inappropriately at least 3 times. I tend to do that at tarentino movies. I need comic relief and he provides it with unexpected over the top violence. I also laughed at the soundtrack a few times. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as you did though. I also remember the first scene where I laughed inappropriately. And the first time was my realization that tarentino wasn’t going to do tarentino. Running girl doesn’t get shot. During the first story. And then the second inappropriate laugh came at the last story during the shoe scene described above. After he put the shoe on and then jumped on her. I laughed very loud at this point. And had to stop myself from giggling.
Karen
24 Aug 09 at 9:25 pm
@Karen: Perfect! The more common these reactions are the better my theory of the film gets. I was worried particularly that it was a “guy thing” so, again: perfect!
Jack
24 Aug 09 at 9:28 pm
Jim Emerson says:
Don
26 Aug 09 at 12:15 pm
Wow, Don, that’s an amazing review!
Jared
26 Aug 09 at 1:37 pm
Re: The linked review.
Again people make with the “over-written dialog” complaint wrt QT. Doubly disappointing because the author was so close to understanding — QT writes opera, proverbially, not speech. How is a repeated image or leitmotif stylistic but not the repeated cliché?
Yes though, great review. Misses entirely my point about the film though — whew.
Jack
26 Aug 09 at 3:40 pm
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