L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano " I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I've only one more. The last one. The one I'm driving to right now. The only one left. And when l arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill." Do you remember the lost-in-thought look of Beatrix Kiddo while she dri- ves? I t a l y ' s h o m a g e t o T a r a n t i n o , in truth, was a l r e a d y i n t h e F e s t a d e l Cinema di Roma's poster. The 2021 edition welcomed the director, notably fond of Italian cinema, with the mes- m e r i z i n g f e a t u r e s o f U m a Thurman, a "concentrate of energy, freedom, and pas- sion," on its official poster. Happily surprised by the choice, always friendly with public and interviewers, but also very ironic, abrasive, over-the-top, just like his movies, the Sergio Leone fan said: "I don't know what my next movie will be...Kill Bill III perhaps, as you suggested. I can't exclude it." He also admitted he'd like to work in Italy: "I'd absolute- ly love to. And my wife, too. I just need to find the right story. It'd be a blessing, espe- cially shooting in Cinecittà! It wouldn't be my next movie, it's just an idea right now, but this Italian project could kind of be like a Spaghetti Western, with all characters speaking different languages." Director, screenwriter, pro- ducer, actor, and creator of w o r l d s t h a t h a v e h a d a n explosive impact on the col- lective imagination in the past decades, in Rome Tarantino r e c e i v e d t h e L i f e t i m e Achievement Award - and a s t a n d i n g o v a t i o n - a n d entertained a cheering public d u r i n g a n I n c o n t r o R a v v i c i n a t o , a c l o s e e n c o u n t e r , w h e r e e v e r y answer was welcomed with applause. Tarantino received his award from Italy's "master of horror," Dario Argento: " Y o u d o n ' t m a k e o n l y American cinema proud, you also make a part of Italian cin- ema proud. I'm so honored to give this award to one of the w o r l d ' s g r e a t e s t t a l e n t s . Evviva Quentin Tarantino!" Some of the most iconic actors w h o w o r k e d w i t h h i m - S a m u e l L . J a c k s o n , J o h n T r a v o l t a , a n d C h r i s t o p h Waltz- surprised him with a congratulation video. But he was the one to emo- tionally remember Oscar-win- n e r E n n i o M o r r i c o n e : " W o r k i n g w i t h E n n i o h a d always been a dream of mine. He was my favorite composer, not only in cinema. He was my absolute favorite. Years ago, I had asked him if we could work together. While making The Hateful Eight I understood I wanted an origi- nal soundtrack, but if he had s a i d n o , I w o u l d n o t h a v e asked anyone else. I worked with a giant. A real giant." During the long interview he gave at the 16th edition of the festival, he told about the "fake" curriculum where he wrote he worked with Romero and Godard, and how his orig- inal dream to become an actor changed into that of being a director, because "I wanted movies to be my own." Tarantino dropped out of school at age 17 to sign up for an acting course that he paid for doing odd jobs. In 1985, he went to work at a video rental store and started writing his own scripts. In that very shop, w h e r e h e s p e n t h i s d a y s watching films and suggesting w h i c h o n e s t o w a t c h , h e worked on his very first script: True Romance, later a film d i r e c t e d b y T o n y S c o t t . Around this time, he meets the director and producer Roger Avary, thanks to whom Tarantino debuted as a direc- tor in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs, made on a shoestring, but with a stellar cast - Harvey K e i t e l , T i m R o t h , S t e v e B u s c e m i , a n d M i c h a e l Madsen. At its premiere at Sundance, critics instantly grasped that it was revolution- ary. In 1994 his second film, Pulp Fiction, wins the Palme d ' O r a t t h e C a n n e s F i l m Festival. The film establishes Tarantino's reputation: it receives seven Oscar nomina- tions and wins one, for Best Original Screenplay. With his subsequent films — Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Inglourious Basterds, D j a n g o U n c h a i n e d , T h e Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a T i m e i n H o l l y w o o d — Tarantino's cinematic uni- verse reached its maturity and became a legend. That legend e n d u r e s t o d a y , t h a n k s t o Tarantino's now iconic style. Author of screenplays filled with unexpected twists and turns, creator of movies char- acterized by visual panache, c i n e m a r e f e r e n c e s , a n d almost-surreal dialogues typi- cal of true masters, Tarantino reflected on the necessity to feel free to express one's cre- ativity, in spite of criticism: "You need to believe in your ideas, without worrying about whether people are going to like the movie. Pulp Fiction r e c e i v e d a l o t o f p o s i t i v e reviews, but some had some strongly negative opinions about it. If your movie touches the zeitgeist, if people talk about it, if it creates discus- s i o n a n d l e a v e s a m a r k , there'll always be people that don't like it. If you don't take it personally, criticism is use- ful even when it's negative because, in the end, they still take the time to write 10.000 words about it." T h e o t h e r L i f e t i m e Achievement Award at the Roman festival went to Tim Burton, a filmmaker with an unmistakable style, an eccen- tric, astonishingly talented draughtsman, a versatile and visionary artist who has few rivals when it comes to con- veying the fine line between dreams and reality. " I g r e w u p w i t h B a v a , Fellini, and Argento," he said while Oscar-winners and col- laborators Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo, and Gabriella Pescucci cheered h i m f r o m t h e a u d i e n c e . Having always been an out- sider, he was somehow sur- prised that the Studios didn't leave him out of the system, "perhaps they didn't really u n d e r s t a n d w h a t I w a s doing," he stated. He then declared, however, that he's been "very lucky because I had the opportunity to trans- late my daydreaming into art, into my own cinema." Influenced by the literary nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe, the horror film ambiance of Roger Corman, and the "distorted" perspectives of the G e r m a n E x p r e s s i o n i s t s , Burton packed all of these into his first short film, Vincent, made using stop-motion and narrated, in the original-lan- guage version, by his idol, Vincent Price. After that, there would be no stopping him: his creativity overflowed into sto- ries and characters that have rightly made Burton one of the best-loved directors of all t i m e , f o r s u c h e x p l o i t s a s Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas (directed by Burton's friend H e n r y S e l i c k ) , E d W o o d , Sleepy Hollow, and the screen a d a p t a t i o n s o f A l i c e i n Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In all of Burton's films, the real world appears to be static and dreary compared with the fan- tasy world, which is multiform and joyful and pays no lip ser- vice to the ordinary. It is a world in which characters who are melancholic and con- troversial, wrapped in an aura of mystery and, yes, gloom, are nevertheless celebrated and extolled for being anti- heroes with a difference: they are full of humanity. Over the course of his thirty-year-long career, with two Oscar® nom- inations for Best Animated Film under his belt, Burton has always stayed true to his own poetics, his non-con- f o r m i s m , a n d h i s r e v o l t a g a i n s t t h e o r d i n a r y . T h e many awards he has received include the Golden Lion for L i f e t i m e A c h i e v e m e n t a t Venice in 2007. "I like the idea that art can be subjective, depending on who observes and perceives it. What's sweet to me can be u n s e t t l i n g t o o t h e r s . Personally, I don't see myself as an artist, I'm just someone who translates his feelings. E v e r y c h a r a c t e r o f m i n e - Burton said - has something to do with my childhood, with my dreams. My drawings' exhibition at the MoMA sur- p r i s e d a n d e x c i t e d m e , i t made me a happy person. But don't forget: the best ideas come about as a dream. For me, often, while sitting at a bar while having a drink." Quentin Tarantino at the Festa del Cinema di Roma (Photo: Getty Photos) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE The Festa del Cinema di Roma celebrates Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton BARBARA MINAFRA

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