The Brad Pitt Effect

Not too long ago I opened up the USA Today to the Life section to see an article about "Inglourious Basterds". Now, I hadn't seen the film at the time but it still managed to get me totally riled up- and gave me that much more motivation to go out and see it. It reported that more women have gone to see this particular film compared to previous works of Quentin Tarantino- 42% of the audience so far, actually. Obviously, that's not the part I had a problem with. I was pretty excited to hear that women are showing up in greater numbers to this than "Post Grad".

What really surprised me was the reason why. Or at least USA Today and Harvey Weinstein's reasons why. Two words: Brad Pitt. This actor, or his face rather, is attributed to the sole reason why women are seeing "Inglourious Basterds" more than other Tarantino movies. It literally states, "That tandem was all it took to lure female moviegoers". Okay, I'm no feminist but this is pretty insulting. As if placing a widely regarded attractive male actor in a lead role suddenly causes all us brainless females to finally leave the kitchen and buy a movie ticket. This is no surprise to the Weinstein Company, though, since recent trailers were cut to purposefully focus more on Brad Pitt and less on any violence. Right- because women would never be smart enough to attribute violence to a Tarantino flick.

And you know what? "Inglourius Basterds" has turned out to be one of my favorite movies of the year, so far.

The funny thing is, USA Today also grouped "Inglourious Basterds" into an article called, "Film Remakes Gone Wild". Really? That many people have seen the 1978 Italian work "Inglorious Bastards"? How many people who have seen or are planning to see Tarantino's movie even know it's a remake at all? I think it's ridiculous to lump this movie into the same category as "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra" and "Land of the Lost". The article also asserts that this is a "familiar" movie since it's about war...What? Here's the quote:

"Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is another time warp, a historically egregious nod to war flicks, film noir."

Here's the link to the whole article, if you're curious:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-08-17-film-remakes_N.htm

Taking their formula, I'm not sure a totally original film exists. (Sounds like a good topic for a future post...)

But more importantly, what really sets this movie apart from other summer blockbusters we've seen dominating the box office lately is not only Tarantino's unique style but the traditional pacing of the film. Anything with fast, erratic cuts anymore is attributed to this "MTV generation" idea since the style emulates music videos more than it does a movie. Tarantino pushes his audience to sit back and actually watch an entire scene unfold... for a very long time. By doing this he builds a form of suspense that I don't think bombarding us with images so fast we might have a seizure can ever come close to. It is one of the most original as well as entertaining films I've seen in the theater in a while and I only hope more people (especially women) will agree... after they get past the shock that Brad Pitt's glorious mug isn't even actually on the screen very much.