Friday, August 21, 2009

Quentin Tarantino at the Midnight Screening of "Inglourious Basterds"


I found it off of twitter. @carolineoncrack RT'd @arclightcinemas's tweet about there still being remaining seats at the midnight screening of "Inglourious Basterds" where Quentin Tarantino himself would be opening!

Cut-to frantic emailing and facebooking to friends and then buying four tickets figuring some friends would reply. Two seconds (practically!) after I purchased my reserved seating at the Cinerama Dome I had a group - Julius, Melissa, and Ian - in place ready to go.


Tarantino opened the evening like a burst of energy and most of the crowd stood up to welcome him.

Tarantino's brief speech was almost a self-esteem boosting session:
1) We were cheered on as the real crowd seeing it at 12:01 am!
2) We were cheered on as the crowd who was seeing it on the historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

There was standing ovations and applause.

And then like a flash - he was gone with a wave to everyone.

But honestly, for that brief glimmering few seconds, it was really cool. I mean - Quentin Tarantino!! - and then to be one of the first people to see his film? It was such a classic "Los Angeles is home to Hollywood magic" moments.

As for the film, I greatly enjoyed it (closing my eyes at times when it got a little gory or I knew something bad was going to happen...it is a Tarantino film after all). The deeper levels of characterization were done well with the intensity of the dialogue exchanges between the characters - Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) in particular is showcased in this way. At times, with Waltz's character you weren't quite sure why things were happening until a singular, crystalized moment where it all tied together. In that respect, the audience gets to almost feel uncomfortably close to the nervousness and fear of the characters that Waltz's character confronts. The film's obligatory violent subject manner was handled in the way of Tarantino's standard humor and is enjoyable in its own right. Humor is where Brad Pitt shines the best.

Forewarning (and a scolding to the man who decided to switch to the open, reserved seat in front of me half way through the movie), there are subtitles in this film and you will need to adequately seat yourself for that.

While you might not get to see Tarantino open the show for you, I do hope you guys have a great time seeing Tarantino's new film "Inglourious Basterds" opening this weekend!

-Charity Tran

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