Inglourious Basterds (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction)
	Actors: Brad Pitt (Tree of Life, Fight Club), Diane Kruger (National Treasure), Melanie Laurent (Enemy), Eli Roth (Piranha, Deathproof), Christoph Waltz (Horrible Bosses 2), Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Xmen: First Class & Days of Future Past)
	Country: USA
	Genre: War
	Conditions of visioning: 17.03.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) and a team of Basterds are sent to occupied Europe during WWII to kill Nazis. Meanwhile Colonel Landa (Waltz) terrorises the Jews, and a girl who escaped from him Shosanna (Laurent) now owns a movie theater in Paris.
Review: As this movie is not yet reviewed on JoRafCinema I realised I haven't watched it in at least two and a half years. I had to fix that. Noticing the length of 2h20 I couldn't remember what was filling this time, but I was quickly reminded of the relaxed Tarantino rhythm. As in probably all his movie, Quentin starts with a scene that puts you right in the mood: loud music, beautiful image, strong characters, tedious but exhilarating dialogs. And then he doesn't let go for the whole length of the movie. Every one of the chapters that compose the movie is an incredible display of offbeat humor and unlikely character interaction. Loosely inspired by the 1978 movie The Inglorious Bastards (with which it actually has little in common, I have seen it), this Inglourious Basterds definitely fits the style of its director. I am in fact having a hard time finding anything I don't like in it, so let me just list my favorite things like the meticulous dialogs in some scenes: the introductory one, the basement (in particular the deduction of the King Kong name on the card), and basically all the ones involving the revelation Christoph Waltz in the role of his life while he was until then only known in German movies and many TV-films. I also appreciate a lot the too short role of Michael Fassbender (discovered three years earlier in 300), expecially during the scene with Mike Myers. Visually I like the opening and closing scenes which are apparently almost the only ones that don't take place in a city or around a table (with the Basterds ones). And I like the violence that comes as a surprise every time (by the way check out this body count infographic). And of course I love the uchronic story. Tarantino is definitely a great story teller. When I think that we were almost deprived of one of his creations when someone put online the draft script of The Hateful Eight and he then announced, furious, that he would not shoot the movie. Fortunately for the History of Cinema, he changed his mind and the release is planned for the end of 2015. After the deeper and deeper exploitation references in Kill Bill and Grindhouse, the critics (and most of the public) who were increasingly unsatisfied since Jackie Brown were happy too see him tackle a more "classic" theme and torture it in his style: the War movie. But for me it is as much an homage to the 70's-80's exploitation movies as all the other in his filmography, including the following Django Unchained. The only Genre that Tarantino has not yet paid homage to may be Science Fiction. I would be very curious to see that. Meanwhile, I have realised that Tarantino's cinema is still refreshing in the current boring landscape dominated by pre-formatted Hollywood productions. So much that I give it the highest rating.
Rating: 10 /10