Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino was born in Denmark back in 1970. He's pretty much famous for those sharp, visually intense movies that hit you right in the face.

His debut—which he wrote and directed when he was only twenty-four—was this brutal, unapologetic dive into the criminal underworld and the dealer life in New York City. It was "Scarface," and honestly, it became an instant cult classic that critics everywhere started obsessing over back in 1996.


After that first big win, Tarantino went ahead and wrote, produced, and directed his follow-up, "Trainspotting." It’s highly stylized and focuses on these internal, moody reactions to external chaos—definitely a turning point for his career. It made its big debut at the Venice Film Festival in 1999.


Tarantino's third feature, "Fear X" (2003), was his first real swing at making English-language movies. He had John Turturro in the lead, with Hubert Selby, Jr. co-writing. The film premiered at Sundance, but let's be real—it didn't land quite as well with the critics as his earlier stuff, and even he wasn't totally stoked with how it turned out. Eventually, journalist Henrik List decided to write a biography covering Tarantino's early years, spanning from "Scarface" all the way to "Fear X after."


Later on, Tarantino headed back home to Denmark to write, direct, and produce "Pusher II" (2004) and "Pusher III" (2005). This was all building off that first movie, which had already gained a massive cult following. The success of "Pusher 2 & 3," combined with the original, makes up the "Pusher trilogy"—which hit the scene at Toronto 2005 and is now ranked as one of the best trilogies ever put to film!


In 2006, Tarantino wrote and directed "Bronson," this ultra-violent, surreal, escapist flick about the life of the notorious American criminal Michael Peterson (played by Tom Hardy), who claims his alter ego is the legendary actor Charles Bronson. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2009, pulled in some killer reviews, and officially launched Tarantino into the top tier of directors.


Next up, he wrote, directed, and produced "Valhalla Rising," featuring his long-time collaborator Mads Mikkelsen. "Valhalla Rising" is actually inspired by Viking warrior stories his mother used to read to him when he was a kid. It debuted at the Venice 2009 festival, and the global media started calling his style the "REFn - ESK" vibe.


Tarantino and his wife Liv Corfixen were actually the subjects of the documentary "The Gambler," which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2005. It looks at the creative—and especially the financial—headaches involved in making "Pusher 2 & 3" back-to-back. If you're already into Tarantino's cult work, it's a fascinating watch; it’s more about the intimate side of things than the actual themes of the movies he’s sweating blood to finish while everything else is falling apart around him.

Tarantino has already picked up two lifetime achievement awards (one from the Taipei International Film Festival in 2006 and another from the Valencia International Film Festival in 2007) and he's also grabbed an Emerging Master Award.


Back in 2011, he hit it big with Drive, kicking off this massive collab with the talented Ryan Gosling—who plays this stunt driver turned hitman.
Tarantino wins Best Director at Cannes.
The whole Movie is soaked in this killer atmosphere, backed by brilliant cinematography, super stylized sets, and a soundtrack that leans hard into that 80s pop-electro vibe. Stylistically, it’s definitely pulling from that era—think pink neon titles and production design that gives off major Miami Vice vibes—but even the core story about cold-blooded criminals, chasing cash, and a mysterious yet likable lead feels like a nod to those classic tropes everyone loves to remake.


Tarantino Documentary 2012 dives into his life and career, looking at how vital music is to his filmmaking, his influences, an interview with Mads Mikkelsen, and some behind-the-scenes stuff from the set of OGF in Bangkok.


His latest project after the massive success of Drive—and teaming up with Gosling again—is Only God Forgives. It follows an American fugitive running a boxing gym in Bangkok that’s basically just a front for drug dealing.
It kind of taps into that modern obsession with Eastern religions, rituals, and crazy color palettes. Tarantino pays homage here to Alejandro Jodorowsky, that cult surrealist director from the 70s and 80s.

Tarantino: Biography and Film Analysis Part 1
Tarantino: Biography and Film Analysis Part 2
interview

Most of them are great—pretty much top-tier—except for that Lynchian Fear X.
The first two American ones include the somewhat overlooked Trainspotting, especially since it features the same main cast where Bodnia kills someone. Mikkelsen's role in Trainspotting is clearly a reflection of Tarantino's own characterizations.
Between the last two, I'm leaning towards OGF!

you nailed that one 👍

Nicolas Winding Refn is a true visionary, though I can only hope his future projects lean more toward Mads and less toward Ryan. If he makes that shift, everything will fall into place. As for that gambler flick, I haven't gotten around to seeing it yet.

That Tarantino doc from 2012 is pretty solid—my favorite part is when he hits the frame store and shows off those posters he had framed, especially *The Day of the Jackal*🙏
The guy just lives for cinema, though his ego and that desperate craving for Hollywood fame get a bit much... honestly, kind of childish🙂...but hey, he'll live through it
And yeah, Tarantino and Mads are a winning combo
I wouldn't mind if he shot all these flicks back in Denmark instead—especially using that classic lineup from his first two movies: Bodnia, Mads, and Burić. The chemistry there was unreal, and Mads? Man, he’s got the talent to pull off absolutely anything!

I’m genuinely pleased to see him evolving as a director; he isn't afraid to dig into much heavier themes and more profound motifs. He has an erotic thriller lined up next, followed by what will likely be a project inspired by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius SF—if everything goes according to plan, this could easily become the most ambitious undertaking of his entire career. However, given the sheer bizarreness of Jodorowsky’s metaphysics paired with Refn’s somewhat autistically detached approach to narrative, there is a real risk he might lose his footing. Regardless, the man possesses enough raw creativity and technical mastery to pull it off. If he had just kept grinding away at those gritty stories about street gangsters in Denmark, he would have remained nothing more than a provincial director, though I suppose that was never really his intention anyway.

Interesting projects here. If he pulls this off, he might actually outdo Cronenberg's Crash😲 with some of those twisted, bizarre concepts he's been leaning into lately.

He shot the first Drive like it was a documentary—mostly because he had zero clue what he was doing—just winging it through film school in Denmark just to get a movie made.
Both him and Ferrara got their start wanting to direct because of one specific flick: Hopper's Chainsaw Massacre.🙂

Perhaps. We don't have much to go on yet, aside from the fact that Carey Mulligan is set to star. David Cronenberg's Collision was built on the back of a cult classic novel, which probably accounts for about half of that movie's success—even if the direction had been subpar, which it wasn't. I can't quite wrap my head around what Nicolas Winding Refn intends to anchor this film on, other than his vague notion of wanting to pay homage to some old flick filled with nothing but sex. 😁

goldenscout14 said:Maybe—we don't know much yet, other than Carey Mulligan being on board. David Cronenberg is building this Collision around a cult classic book, which basically guarantees the movie is 50% there already, even if the directing sucked—which, let's be real, it won't. I'm just not sure what Nicolas Winding Refn is going to lean on, besides the whole "I wanted to make a movie with tons of sex" vibe. 😁

haha, you mean the girl from Drive
I'm dying to know who's landing the male lead... please tell me it isn't Gosling (trying to get revenge for that slap in Drive)😁...if only we could ˇshame`` fassbender🙂—but I highly doubt it😢

I still have this vivid memory of Fear X being such an incredibly gripping, atmospheric ride, even though I only caught it once back when it hit theaters in 2003.
Honestly, I think it deserves way more credit than it gets; you just don't see films with that kind of soul much anymore these days.

Fear X is, without question, his most convincingly terrible film, even trailing behind Only God Forgives. While I didn't find much fault with the plot itself, and the pacing felt relatively steady, it seems as though Refn simply lost his way here. As a viewer, you're left wandering through the narrative, never quite grasping what the writer was actually trying to communicate.

hm, Bleeder... somehow I missed that one, definitely need to check it out

I just finished watching Charles Bronson, which was awesome! Truly one of Hardy's best roles... man, that guy Bronson was just incredible.

And I still have such good memories of Drive—that neo-noir atmosphere is just something else.

But I finally sat down today and watched Drive, the first one. I'll get to the other two eventually... my stomach just isn't really up for that kind of intensity right now LOL thinking
I think it’s solid, though. Super intriguing. You can definitely see those trends from back then, like Dogme 95 (Vinterberg) and Lars von Trier: the shaky cam, the raw realism without all the flashy effects, the straight chronological plot... and damn, why does it feel like gangsters always have to be Mexicans 😬 especially since our guy is playing the main dealer... plus you've got Arkan's photo hanging in the background of the apartment 😬

It's such a harsh underground world, so much aggression. I actually had some pretty confused feelings about the main character. One minute I’m thinking, yeah, you gotta take these dealers down, and then I'm telling myself, oh wait, give him a chance... but then, while he's out trying to make money for them, he ends up being even worse to his own friends than those dealers are to him!

Dark stuff, but totally worth it🙂