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Quentin Tarantino, fresh off the success of "Reservoir Dogs", decides to continue with his idea of a Pulp Trilogy, which will include "True Romance" and "Pulp Fiction". Engaged on the set of the latter, which will establish him among the new phenomena of the film industry, the direction of "True Romance" (in Italian "Una vita al massimo") was entrusted to Tony Scott, a name that came from box office hits like "Top Gun" and great films like "The Last Boy Scout" and "The Hunger". Detroit: Clarence works in a comic book store and has a passion for Elvis and martial arts movies. On the evening of his birthday, he will encounter Alabama, whom he will discover after a sexual encounter to be a call girl paid by his boss. The two fall in love instantly, and their actions lead them to end up with a suitcase full of cocaine, with the mafia and the police on their tail. For those who have yet to see the film, it's difficult to talk about it without spoiling, as every action involves the entry and exit of one or more of the many characters present, but I'll try to be as succinct as possible.
Although the script feels like it comes from Tarantino's head, Scott's direction takes many liberties, and the technical difference is instantly noticeable. A frenetic montage, close-ups, and a neurotic handheld camera in the most action-packed sequences, but it must be said that the director succeeds in his intent to stage a pulp story of unbridled romance, adrenaline, dialogues on the edge of the surreal, and a river of full-blown violence and blood. "True Romance" is a hotchpotch of great actors playing their eccentric characters, savoring them to the end in their brief time on screen. The protagonists Alabama and Clarence are played respectively by Patricia Arquette, a talented actress who, despite the Oscar in "Boyhood", unfortunately isn't recognized as much as she deserves, and the handsome Christian Slater, at the peak of his career. The love binding the two characters is almost close to classical tragedy: two lovers who will face a destiny that will cost blood to those around them, a theme that Tarantino also controversially tackled in "Natural Born Killers" directed by Oliver Stone. Clarence is a character who, in his apparent calm, reveals his most ruthless side to defend his woman, thanks also to the support of his mentor Elvis Presley, played by Val Kilmer fresh off the success of "The Doors", who paradoxically returns here to play another great icon of world music.
The best thing about "True Romance" is undoubtedly the screenplay, which intelligently mixes the right dose of irony with sequences where violence skyrockets: just think of the hotel encounter between Alabama and the henchman Virgil, played by a grinning James Gandolfini, one of the most successful sequences in its explosion of violence, as well as the final shootout that parodies in some ways the western films of John Ford and Akira Kurosawa, and somehow will inspire years later Robert Rodriguez. Among the most memorable sequences of the film is the interrogation of Coccotti, played by an always-excellent Christopher Walken, with Clarence's father, played by the great Dennis Hopper: pure Tarantino, both within the dialogues and in the predictability of the characters themselves. In the role of Alabama’s protector, we find a quirky and piratical Gary Oldman, who is always a delight to watch in this type of role, up to a young Brad Pitt in the guise of a drug-addicted boy, one of the wittiest and over-the-top characters in the film. And also Saul Rubinek, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Michael Rapaport, Bronson Pinchot (in my opinion, the best character of the film) and even Samuel L. Jackson. All these characters interact with each other, giving the viewer moments of sharp irony, spirals of violence, and dialogues to savor as is Tarantino’s trademark. The dirty and suffocating photography sets the story in a bleak and dark Detroit, dressing the film as a typical noir film in the wake of films like "Black Rain," directed by Tony's talented brother. The soundtrack is curated by Hans Zimmer, with the main theme especially seeming almost to come from "The Lion King", with its sounds balancing between a Savannah setting and Caribbean rhythms; wonderful, especially because it manages to break the gloom inside the film, giving it a more harmonious cut.
"True Romance" is one of Tony Scott's most successful films, thanks to the collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, which thanks to the vast range of actors within it, has achieved great success, although in Italy it followed a terrible distribution. I do not recommend purchasing the DVD in the latest 2013 version, with an image quality that removes that damned noir charm from the film, in addition to a heavy cut in some of the more violent sequences. A film that, although not without flaws, manages to make us get over and entertain us thanks especially to the characters who, in their short time on screen, make themselves the absolute protagonists of their sequences, taking their role home as if it were the last.
"Clarence, I like you. I've always liked you... and I always will!"
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