Jackie Brown (1997)
Tarantino's best film lacks the self-consciously cool macho posturing of both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction--a fact that has not endeared it to many Tarantino fans, who go to his movies for their stylized dialogue, tough guy characters and frequent bloodletting. Instead, Jackie Brown focuses on a tone of painful desperation and melancholy brought about by real life struggles; this is a film about what lives of crime would really be like, as opposed to the hip prism they're filtered through in his earlier work. This is Tarantino's most effortlessly masterful work--it never feels like he's trying too hard, and the direction and narrative unfold with a grace that's so subtle you almost don't realize how ingeniously brilliant it is. The characters and dialogue are so sharply drawn, so wholly convincing and three dimensional that even at two and a half hours long the film feels like it could go on for two and a half more and remain completely enthralling. This is easily the dark horse of the director's filmography.
10/10
