death proof

deathproof is probably the movie with the simplest story tarantino have ever directed. i could write for it a storyline as simple as this one:

a serial killer that uses his stunt car to kill young women ends up messing around with the wrong girls.

yes, it'd be this simple. this is the plot. now put a face-scarred kurt russell playing the murderer stuntman and eight fairly hot chicks as the two groups of girls he will face - the first one, to kill in one of the most violent (and well directed) car accident scenes i've ever seen; the second, to kick his own stuntman ass after a wild car chase on the countryside (in the picture, the second group).

but what's really impressive is the whole way the film was edited - it seems we're watching one of those old tape movies on our stone-age video set. colour fails, scenes are cut and repeated, and the whole image is bad. wonderfully bad. that's the magic of this movie - it's not the long and brilliant talking moments that tarantino does so good. it's not the astounding acting performances (they are all right for the purposes). it's not also the special effects. it's the photography that gives the movie al its magic, as if it was a treasure long buried beneath the sands of a sunny, remote beach. it makes us feel there, on the old warehouses watching crappy movies. and that's delicious.

(can't help but wonder what happened to lee, the girl abernathy leaves on the farm in exchange for a ride on the dodge challenger, but even though tarantino has shown no more of her, it's not hard to imagine what she was still doing by the time the movie was over).