If Quentin Tarantino is one thing as a director, he’s a master of style. In fact, certain moments of his films might make you wonder if they exist solely for Tarantino as a director to try something new — though thankfully, Tarantino as a writer manages to make even the most digressive tangents engaging and worthwhile. So it’s no surprise that QT frequently employs slow motion, and a style of slow motion culled straight from B-movie classics no less, and rather dissimilar to the slowed-down fantastical action we might be more familiar with today. Certainly he is no stranger to slowing down action, especially in his “Kill Bill” films, but where he really seems to relish forcing us to linger is on the violence.
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For those of us that needed a refresher, a new supercut from Jacob T. Swinney, “Tarantino’s Slow Motion,” is here to run through each and every brutal moment. The video utilizes clips from each of Tarantino’s films, save for “Jackie Brown,” but including his extra ferocious car crash from “Death Proof.” And while it is an interesting mashup for fans of the genre-blurring provocateur, pulling these scenes from their source material robs them of some of their impact — out of context, they might even carry the potential to feel like violence fetishized, unearned and drawn out for the sake of the gore. Slow motion is, after all, a chance to linger and to tease out a feeling or emotion. Admittedly, though, even out of context, it is fascinating to see where Tarantino chooses to slow things down. Also, and as always with QT, it’s some impeccable filmmaking.
Overall, it’s another engrossing glimpse at the many styles of one of the most interesting and idiosyncratic directors working today. Check out “Tarantino’s Slow Motion” below and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.