BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition - November 2019

11.19YYCAGENDA
NOV. 2
SKYDIGGERS
QT8:
Quentin
Tarantino
Doc Highlights
Two Decades
Of The Good,
The Bad, And
The Ugly
NOV. 11
REMEMBRANCE DAY CONCERT
KANTOREI “AFTER THE WAR”
NOV. 17
CALGARY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
NOV. 22
HAWKSLEY WORKMAN
AT THE BELLA
TAYLORCENTRE.CA
By BRAD SIMM
W
hen the reviews for
Once Upon A Time In
Hollywood started rolling
in, film critics sharpened
their pencils and went in
for a volley of deep, multi-layered analyses.
Not only does the internet give writers infinite
space to spew away, but some well-known
publications took numerous kicks at the can
to get their ya-yas out on director Quentin
Tarantino’s latest cultural exploration.
While the praise largely favoured Tarantino
doing a fantastic job, criticism also fell that
he reinforced male heroism with the lead
characters (both men), didn’t elevate Sharon
Tate’s role (played by Margot Robbie) that’s
central to the tragic storyline, stereotypes
the 60s (those damn hippies), and still uses
far too much violence.
QT8: The First Eight documents 21 years
of Tarantino producing hip Hollywood cinema
while addressing his artistic maneuvers. To
do so, filmmaker/director Tara Wood teases
out playful, smart and heartfelt interviews
with a wide cross-section of collaborators
close to Tarantino who reveal much about the
man and his unconventional craft. Tarantino
himself, however, doesn’t make an appearance,
which is how Wood also approached
her documentary on Texas filmmaker Richard
Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused).
“We don’t interview directors,” she says.
“It’s more interesting to hear about them
through other people, rather than hear somebody
talking about themselves. It kind of
chooses different paths when you go down
that way, which I think kind of opened it up.”
Wood adds, “That’s what Quentin loved
about the Linklater doc and why he and his
team supported the film. But he also said,
‘Yes, I’ll tell everyone to show up (to the interviews),
but you and I are not going to meet
until this is complete.”
Consequently, QT8 is a very open, honest,
unfiltered account of people who know, trust
and respect Tarantino and his work. In it,
Kurt Russell talks about crushing the male
macho stereotype, supreme stuntwoman
Zoe Bell discusses at length roles where she
plays herself or filled in for Uma Thurman,
redefining female characters as strong and
dominant, and Jamie Foxx and Samuel Jackson
speak towards how Tarantino takes an
anti-racist stand.
Of course, there’s the elephant in the
room, Tarantino’s former boss, Harvey
Weinstein. Wood also confronts that extreme
complication midway and at the end of the
film, and not causally.
“On the darker side,” says Wood, pausing
for a moment. “It was very interesting to learn
all these things about Quinten, then learn
what we learned about Harvey and how that
could possibly exist together. Wow, you just
can’t imagine these two people working in the
same room, on the same planet together.”
The 7th annual CUFF.Docs runs Nov. 27 to Dec 1
at Globe Cinema.
40 BEATROUTE NOVEMBER 2019