
I said a while back on the Show that the contemporary director that reminds me most of Stanley Kubrick is Quentin Tarantino.
With his absurdly confident, clean and concise graphic sense, (look at the framegrab above from his new film Inglourious Basterds, what color, what composition!), that matches his pared down scriptwriting, (“We will be cruel to the German”, meaning the Germans plural – conjuring up middle 20th century race wars – the Japs, the Hun from the Great War etc. = brilliant), Tarantino comes across as a modern master – every bit as talented as Kubrick.
The difference?
Stanley Kubrick made movies about the human condition.

Quentin Tarantino makes movies about other movies.

Big difference.
Kubrick’s body of work seems inexhaustible. I still watch 2001 with wonder, and screen Eyes Wide Shut every six months, each time seeing new meaning – it unfolds, deeper and richer.
I doubt that will be the case with Inglourious Basterds.
Though Brad Pitt’s mustache rocks.
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(Photos at top and bottom, framegrabs from the first Inglourious Basterds trailer. Middle photo, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Paths of Glory’, as found on Ktismatics)






















