Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2007, 114 min
Section: Midnight Screenings

Synopsis

The Grindhouse project consists of two feature-length films by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. It ties in with the popular tradition in the USA in the 1970s of screening B movies on double bills. Unfortunately the Grindhouse films are to be released separately in the Czech Republic. Tarantino’s part, Death Proof, brings to the screen the character of psychopath Stuntman Mike, played by the somewhat neglected legend of 1980s action films, Kurt Russell. Mike can only be sexually aroused by killing young girls with his souped up Dodge. One night in Texas, Jungle Julia, the best DJ far and wide, catches his eye. After Stuntman Mike kills her and her friends he spends some time in the hospital, but nobody stops him from continuing his cross-country rampage. He goes on to Tennessee where another four unsuspecting girls come under his line of fire. But what Stuntman Mike doesn’t know is that a couple of them can drive a Dodge even better than him.

About the director

Quentin Tarantino (b. 1963, Knoxville, USA) prepared for his status as one of the most important American directors of the 1990’s by watching samurai serials on television, working as a bouncer in a porn cinema, and studying film history on his own while employed in a video rental store. He debuted with the controversial gangster film Reservoir Dogs (1992). After that he made Pulp Fiction (1994), which was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes and became one of the paramount works of cinematic post-modernism thanks to its blend of genres and pop-culture references. This was followed by an episode in the anthology film Four Rooms (1995), the crime film Jackie Brown (1997), and the two-part kung-fu homage Kill Bill (2003 and 2004). Since making his part of the double feature Grindhouse Tarantino has returned to a long-postponed project, Inglorious Bastards, which takes place during the Second World War.