āCinema Speculationā is only the second book by Quentin Tarantino (is debut was a novelization of his film āOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood), and the first non-fiction book. Apparently, Tarantino is aiming at a writing career, after heās finished with the movies (heās been saying for a while, his next film would be his last).
āCinema Speculationā was just edited in 2022, and was straight away on my books waiting list to acquire. I was lucky enough to have got it as a Christmas present. Aside from the book being a true page turner, the fact that I had a bit of extra time during the holidays made me able to finish it in 3 weeks ā for such a large book, I was unusually quick.
Speculation is a sort of a memoir of Tarantino's experience of the movies (and movie theaters he went to) throughout the 70s. I already knew of his reputation as a movie buff, but itās quite different to read it. Because Iāve seen quite a few interviews of Tarantino, as well as watch him act in many movies, itās hard not read with his voice in your head when you're going through the sentences and expressions, which are actually very characteristic of his.
Tarantino goes through a very wide array of movies, and not just the gender youāre expecting (blackspoitation, grind movies,ā¦). He has very particular knowledge on many stories that surround movies like Escape from Alcatraz, Bullit, Rocky. I didnāt know many of these and a lot of the movies I never heard of either ā it made me feel that I still have a lot to go with regards to American cinema (I thought I was completely lacking on the cinema of other countries, which I will not name here), but it also made me feel the urge to list those movies and start watching them all with the new information I just learned.
It's also very entertaining to hear about how was the experience of going to the movies in different areas of LA in the 1970s, and to learn some details of Tarantinoās own life while growing up, son of a single mother, and trying to pitch his scripts. He actually lands himself an interview with a very well known script writer, Paul Shraeder.
The whole book is a compilation of film critiques of all these movies, that Tarantino actually loves. He knows it's still his own view and you take it as you wish.Ā But, agree, or not, with his perspective itās worth the hours you take to read it.
āCinema Speculationā written by Quentin Tarantino, Orion Publishing Co, 2022
ISBN: 9781474624220