Masters of Cinema
2 total works
Quentin Tarantino (born 1963) is considered the enfant terrible of contemporary cinema. From his outstanding debut at the Sundance Film Festival with 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) to his most recent controversial war film 'Inglourious Basterds' (2009), Tarantino has created a fascinating, violent, and highly personal body of work. A self-taught and crazy director who is a complete cinema buff, Tarantino juxtaposes disparate genres within each of his films, deconstructing the narrative process and building characters saturated in pop culture. His feature films are full of references to undervalued cultural devices and genres such as cheap sensationalist story magazines in 'Pulp Fiction' (1994), blaxploitation films in 'Jackie Brown' (1997) and kung-fu movies in 'Kill Bill' (2003, 2004). Undoubtedly a stylistic innovator and gifted dialogue writer, Tarantino continues to push the boundaries of the Hollywood movie.
Michael Man (born 1943) is one of the most interesting directors of our time, whose work lies at the intersection of the mainstream cinema and the avant-garde, of public entertainment and private obsession. Throughout his career, Mann has moved freely between television and cinema: he produced 'Miami Vice' and 'Crime Story' - two of the most successful TV series of the 1980's - in addition to directing the historical epic 'The Last of the Mohican's (1992), the biopic 'Ali'(2001), and more recently the crime thriller 'Collateral (2004) and the gangster drama 'Public Enemies' (2009). Although varied in genre, Mann's films often share the same preoccupations and style: the depiction of solitary men in conflict with the society in which they live.