Jackie Brown

A true thorough bred Tarantino with this one, and has become as legendary a cult classic as some of his other productions. As his style go’s, we are blessed with: time juggling juxtaposition, an all star cast, a super high octane story line right from the onset, and an intrinsically human aspect to each character. Set in California in the late 90’s. The feel is laid back, feel goody and casual. We step in to the story at an inflexion point in the underlying character’s storylines. We meet each of the main characters just as they are all, individually, putting the past aside and looking forward to better things. As with the Tarantino take on things, this superbly allows for any number of permutations to occur. They do, and somewhat synchronously and simultaneously at that.

What I absolutely love about this movie is the down to earth and human nature of the characters. Ok, so we get a feel for some of the shadiness in their backgrounds, and also are made aware of the power that some of them have. However, regardless of the couple of homicides (it is a Tarantino Gansta Flick after all), and underhand dealings, there is no outright vitrol in any of the scenes. From the cold Acting Samuel L Jackson dealing with lakcadaisical Chris Rock and De Niro, to naughty but nice Jackie herself. Shit happens as they say, and the violence is only the most extreme last resort. You can specifically see this in Samuel L Jacksons face, as he does the two hits. It’s almost as if he is praying for the universe to cause and effect him out of the act.

Fast paced and you need to have a quick analytical mind to link all the integration strings in one viewing. Every subsequent viewing throws light on layers and subtleties that can so easily be missed. Clockwork, timing and being in the right place at the right time; that’s one of  the underlying gists of the story, amongst others.