Quentin Tarantino
Bastardi Senza Gloria

So, perhaps the most sensible thing is to ask what works and what doesn't in Quentin Tarantino's latest film.

Yes, because, although the film ends with the phrase "this might be my masterpiece" (we won't say more out of respect for those who haven't seen it...), we do not agree with the message, not even subtly hidden by the author in the mouth of his protagonist.

This is not his masterpiece. It is a film that meets the director's extremely high standards, his absolute mastery in moving the camera, and above all, and perhaps here lies the limit (the only real limit of the work), almost all of his "classics."

Yes, it is true, this film is in costume, and this is the real originality. It touches on the "Nazism" genre, and it takes a lot of courage, given all (and perhaps too much) that has already been said.

But this is Tarantino we're talking about, so the guarantee of "non-banality" is a certainty that brings us to the cinema feeling assured and relaxed.

Whatever happens, with Tarantino, the price of the ticket is always well spent.

The limit, as we said, seems to be the excessive respect for his own classics: the female figure stronger and less foolish than the male counterparts (a historical truth that is hardly deniable), the division into chapters, the references to Italian cinema (from Leone down... and much lower, to General Fenech...), the brilliant and surprising lines, the sharply defined characters, yet excellently so.

Is it a formula that has become tiring? In my opinion, no, and for two reasons. The Nazi setting offers everything a sense of novelty, at least in terms of aesthetics and visuals.

And quality, true quality, never tires. If, to use the usual gastronomic example, I go to my favorite restaurant because they make the best cotoletta alla milanese in the history of time, I certainly can't complain about it always being the same. On the contrary: the important thing, in some way, is that it is always the same.

Having said that, probably, until "Kill Bill," we were used to a Tarantino in constant growth, in continuous search and evolution, until reaching the hyperuranium of perfect cinema with that very long film, divided into two parts, which already then made me reflect on the concept of "unsurpassability" and "perfection within human reach." It is, of course, about the "impossibility of succession." Already with "Grindhouse," I left the cinema very entertained but with the sensation of a "steady step" if not even a slight "step back."

Therefore, in life, you also need to know how to be content, even if being content with a normally impeccable Tarantino, with some aftertaste of "seen before," is a great contentment...