Cinema Speculation (2022)

by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino examines some films of personal significance from the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, a decade during which the author was forming his taste in cinema. 

Quentin Tarantino

It is a pretty intoxicating ride. 

Sections of this book also provide a kind of origin story for one of American cinema’s most distinctive auteurs, telling the story of a boy whose single mother allowed him access to adult cinema (not in the porn sense of the term) and brought him into contact with Floyd, a black man who loved movies and brought Quentin along to grindhouse theaters showing blaxploitation flicks and others. 

"Cinema Speculation" (German)

That decade’s independent producers broke the stranglehold of the big studio establishment to exert unprecedented creative control and utilize stylistic innovation to treat subject matter that had often been considered verboten. 

"Cinema Speculation" (Hungarian)

Small-time producers could make money with exploitative films that sometimes possessed real quality.

 

"Film Speculation" (Dutch)

The often raucous audience reaction to those films left an indelible mark on the young Tarantino. 

"Cinema Speculation" (Italian)

His appreciation of those experiences is evident in his filmmaking but also in his criticism.

 

"Speculations About Cinema" (Polish)

While many critics seem to be sitting back with their arms folded waiting to be impressed, I can imagine Tarantino leaning forward enthusiastically, alert for glorious moments in even the most unlikely films. 

"Cinematic Speculation" (Romanian)

I know that his personality can be grating to many, but when he starts talking about movies he loves, his enthusiasm is infectious, and his knowledge is prodigious. If you like this book, then you owe it to yourself to check out his Video Archives podcast, cohosted with friend and fellow filmmaker Roger Avery.