#132: Jackie Brown
Part of the Top 150 Films series
“They don’t make ’em like this any more” is usually reserved for entertainment made more than 20 years ago, but Tarantino genuinely doesn’t make films like Jackie Brown any more, and we’re all the poorer because of it. Updating blaxploitation to the ’90s and infusing it with wit, verve and a helluva lotta nerve, Jackie Brown combines Tarantino’s gift for resuscitating faded careers with his least showy but most mature screenplay (an adaptation, no less). My favourite performance, line of dialogue, and shot changes each time I rewatch — a sign of a great film! — but the film’s best, consistent element is how perceptive it is while espousing Tarantino’s white, mid-’30s male vision of Jackie’s African-American, late-’40s distinctly female situation. When actors speak about Tarantino’s ‘strong’ roles for women, they’re definitely referencing Jackie Brown. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.
