'Take a dive into the brain of master auteur, Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of multiple award-winning films such as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. In this sensational graphic novel, the author imagines an interview with Tarantino himself, revealing the history of his ostentatious career and illuminating insights into the icon's life.
'In a first-person account, Amazing Améziane leads us through the life story of this iconic auteur, from his humble beginnings as a video shop clerk, to his rise through iconic indie blockbusters, all the way to global superstar. Discover the influences, opinions, and history of one of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, unmistakable in his style and talent.'
Growing up in the 90's, entering my 'adulthood' in the early 2000's, Quentin Tarantino was one of those names that I feel film fans of my generation couldn't avoid hearing. I had a friend who was very much into the work of Tarantino, and his enthusiasm of him definitely helped to put the writer/director onto my radar too. We were also the perfect age that when Kill Bill hit the cinemas we were there to watch it, having a blast at how ridiculous and fun it was.
Whilst my 'devotion' to Tarantino may have dipped somewhat over the years (having still not watched a couple of his movies) I've always tried to watch what I can when given the opportunity. But in my current life I don't get as much time for films as I'd like, and often the only time I make to watch movies is when I've been asked to review them. Books are where I find most of my time going. As such, when I was given the opportunity to read one of the more unique sounding biographies about Tarantino I knew that I didn't want to miss out on that chance.
Quentin by Tarantino is unlike any other graphic novel that I've ever read. Whilst most of my comic reading tends to be in the traditional capes and tights genre I'm not adverse to more indie books, but even with that I'm not sure I've ever seen one structured this way before. Presented as an interview with Tarantino across different points of his life, writer and artist Amazing Améziane 'chats' with Tarantino, sometimes presenting his words as a talking head in the space where he's being interviewed, and other times filling the page with images from across his life and career.
The opening pages of the book makes it clear that this isn't your average graphic novel. Beginning with a recreation of the iconic Claremont and Miller Wolverine #1 cover, but with Tarantino in his place, the first scene then takes us to a weird back alley bar where QT tries to tempt his visitor with a bottle of booze that has a living snake inside. He launches into a speech about world building, on gaining the trust of the audience, all wrapped up in iconic Tarantino weirdness. It sets the tone well for what is to come with the rest of the book.
From here we go back to the beginning, to QT's early years of him growing up with his mother and step father, presented as newspaper strip style comics, akin to things like Calvin and Hobbes, which is completely different to everything else in the book yet works perfectly for reinforcing the part of Tarantino's life we're currently reading about. Style shifts as we move into his teenage years, things getting messier and less stylised as he moves away from childhood. But, Quentin has yet to discover who he is, so the style isn't fully formed yet, just as he isn't a fully formed adult.
It's as he's talking about making his first movie, a project that would be lost in a fire, that a style begins to solidify, and once things move on to him selling the script for True Romance, and he enters the world of filmmaking for real, that the style of the book finally settles onto something that we'll see from here on out. It's a very clever technique from Amazing Améziane, one that doesn't even really register when reading through the book the first time, but becomes so much clearer when looking back on it. Yes, there are some further refinements to come, some further tweaks to the look of the book, but this is pretty much it from here on out, as Quentin Tarantino has finally found his feet as the man we all know him to be.
Much of the book is dedicated to Tarantino's career, and very little time is given over to his personal life. Could this be because the people coming to read about one of the worlds most famous directors are more interested in his work than his personal life? Possibly. It could also be possible that for the most part he didn't have much of a personal life. The book very much presents Tarantino as a man lost in his work, who gave himself fully over to writing, directing, or even just experiencing movies. It's clear from the mans work that he knows film well, and the idea of him just spending his time watching old movies when not making his own doesn't feel too far removed from reality.
And that love of stories and film is very much felt throughout Quentin by Tarantino, as the book is filled with small stories, tangents, and asides that help to flesh out the world around the director. You might think that you're only going to be learning about Quentin Tarantino when you pick up this book, but you'll also come away knowing a little bit more about people like Danny Trejo, Robert Rodrigues, and John Travolta, along with films like The Virgin Springs and Inglorious Bastards, a film for which QT would take an inspiration for a title (though with some spelling mistakes thrown in).
Quentin by Tarantino is a biography, but unlike any other biography you've read before. It goes into the life and work of one of the worlds most popular filmmakers in a way that keeps the entire thing feeling fun and entertaining, and the quality never dips once. The book looks fantastic, and Amazing Améziane has done a fantastic job at presenting things in a wonderfully imaginative and engaging way visually. But, he's also managed to nail it in the writing too. It really does feel like the reader is talking directly to Tarantino here, and his manner of speech is captured perfectly. I don't know if this is because Amazing Améziane actually sat down with QT and got a ton of dialogue from him, or if he's just able to replicate it, either way, this new book is perfect for Tarantino fans, and something you're not going to want to miss out on.
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