Quentin Tarantino's 10 Flawed Retirement Plans

Quentin Tarantino

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Several years ago, Quentin Tarantino was adamant that he was planning to make a tenth and final film, one that would no longer be available. Film critic. Some of his fans were relieved when this news broke yesterday. Film critic It originally seemed like a nostalgic character study (“More denouement,” as Tarantino once said), while his fans particularly like the director's more pulp, genre-driven exposition. The result will almost certainly be fantastic. But would it have been great for it to be Tarantino's last film?

More details about this decision are likely to come. However, one wonders: Would Tarantino have abandoned the film if there hadn't been so much to rely on? His many statements about leaving film directing suggest that he's very focused on protecting his legacy, which seems like a downright masochistic way to put an enormous amount of pressure on yourself. The “tenth and final film” should not only be good, it should be great at the end of his career.

Somehow, the idea of ​​retirement always seemed inappropriate. Tarantino – despite his obvious artistic talent – is a crowd-pleasing filmmaker. However, it's hard to find a Tarantino fan who likes the idea of ​​hanging up his hat. Many doubt he will stick to it. If you really loved doing something, and were insanely talented at doing it, would you stay away from it forever? Stephen King announced he was retiring in 2002, and since then he has published 26 novels (and apparently billions of tweets).

Many are wondering what movie Tarantino will make instead. There are a lot of options available only from projects he has previously developed. There is that Star Trek movie (but does he really have to end his career with a franchise movie?). there Kill Bill: Vol. 3 (But should his latest film be the third entry in an already satisfying story and not something new?). You see the problem, don't you? The “tenth and final” tag adds a lot of weight, and when you have a career as stellar as Tarantino's, what could ever be enough? “What's my next movie?” It is a difficult decision. “What is the last movie I will make?“It is a very difficult decision.

Arguably the best way to make 10 films and finish your career is to not tell anyone about your plan until after the film is released. This way you can be sure that the movie is loved and you won't have to make another movie to try to end your career on a high note. Announcing “Tenth and Final” before you even have a shooting script, well, that's real high-profile work – albeit genius marketing; Nothing excites consumers like scarcity. Who wouldn't line up to see the latest and final effort from a beloved filmmaker?

That's one of the problems with Tarantino's retirement plan, which is the unreasonable pressure it adds to everything about it and Tarantino more than anything else. But let's also look at the logic behind Tarantino's argument: he said that films by great directors always deteriorate in quality. “I don't like working on low returns,” he said. “I know the history of cinema, and from now on, directors are not getting better.” It's like Sick Boy's universal theory of life. Discover trains: “Well, at some point, you've got it, then you lose it, and it's gone forever – in all aspects of life.” The sick boy wasn't wrong. Although there are many exceptions, creatives from across the board generally peak and then decline (eg: every band you've ever liked).

But Quentin Tarantino shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, some consider his last film, Once upon a time in HollywoodTo be his best.

Furthermore, the idea that 10 movies is a valid score is just ridiculous. If Christopher Nolan had stopped at 10 films, he would never have made them Oppenheimer, which finally won Best Director and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Tarantino seems to consider Martin Scorsese to be the best film director alive. But if Scorsese had stopped at ten, he would never have succeeded Good guys – Leave him alone The late one And The Wolf of Wall Street. If Steven Spielberg had stopped at ten, he would not have presented his Oscar-winning masterpiece Schindler's ListAnd forget about fan favorites Jurassic Park.

Scorsese, Spielberg, and Nolan are arguably three of the best directors alive. They all made their best films after ten. The same can be said for some of the filmmakers Tarantino idolizes – Billy Wilder would never have made him Some prefer it hot or flat If it stops at 10 o'clock.

So, as a number to end your career on before falling into the sad trap of hacking, 10 is clearly not a magic number. Admittedly, Tarantino's age, 61, makes a better argument — and he cited his age as a factor in the decision, saying a 30-year career seemed ideal. Spielberg was a relative spring chicken, 46 years old, when he made this film Schindler's List. But being in your 60s isn't what it used to be compared to the days of Tarantino heroes Douglas Sirk and Sergio Leone, both of whom had a modest number of directorial credits. While the ravages of age are a powerful factor that we must all battle, it is also indisputable that a director's style matures and evolves as more films are made.

All of this is not meant to be a fancy attempt to convince Tarantino to change his mind. Well, maybe that's exactly the case. Tarantino has said, correctly, that it's unfair for the industry and fans to have an attitude of: “We'll tell you when it's done; Don't tell us when you're done.” The man doesn't owe us anything, and he's the only one who really knows how much fuel is left in his tank.

However, there is still one final point to be made, which is admittedly superficial: the whole “10” thing. Tarantino is a rebellious filmmaker, and there is nothing rebellious about the number 10. The number 10 makes one think of Internet top 10 lists, Ten Commandments scores, and Olympic competition. The ten is dominant and identical. Ten isn't even the coolest number in its digital neighborhood. Do you know what the most amazing number is? Twelve – as in Dirty scoresOne of my favorite Tarantino films. Or 13, which has some black magic quality. While 10 so…suburbs. And when you think about what would happen to the careers of great contemporary filmmakers if they quit at age 10, it's like what Sean Connery as Henry Jones Jr. did with his son, Indiana Jones, in The last crusade: “I left when I became interesting.” A wonderful line, and one that wouldn't have existed if Spielberg had retired at 10 years old.