Some of you may have read my defense last week of Brillante Mendoza’s grimly violent “Kinatay,” a film that provoked mass hostility at Cannes in May for portraying the rape, murder and dismemberment of a young woman in unrelenting detail. Roger Ebert declared it the worst film ever to play at the festival, and the announcement of Mendoza’s Best Director award was roundly booed in the Cannes press room.
For all that, the film does have its champions, and as it turns out, Quentin Tarantino is among them. Thanks to Ben Mortimer at ComingSoon for pointing me to this letter (itself courtesy of Letters of Note) written by Tarantino to Mendoza, congratulating the latter on his Cannes win and pretty accurately nailing why the film works. (For us, at least.) Spelling errors preserved:
Bravo on your diffcult troubling work. Your decission to never dramatize the murder, never indulge in movie suspense…. was bold, daring, and to me, the whole point of making the movie in the first place. I felt it was completely a eyewitness acount of a horroble murder. I believed everything I saw. Your point wasnt to dramatize it. It was to capture it.
The actual document is after the cut, in case you’ve always longed to see QT’s handwriting.
Comments
16 responses to “Tarantino cheers ‘Kinatay’”
I never knew Quentin had such bad spelling education.
Wow. That’s pretty bad.
WOW! Never saw anyone in my life spelling “decision” as “decisson”. Three glaring 2nd/3rd grade spelling errors. As a writer myself, and literature enthusiast I cringed at reading the letter.
I know he didn’t finish high school but these are grade school spelling errors.
All joking aside, the man has dyslexia. Let’s not be cruel.
that is an extremely touching and awesome letter, and totally endearing. bravo to tarantino for sharing his thoughts and showing his respects to a fellow director, regardless of any spelling errors. that is like another award in itself. now I really want to see Kinatay!
I just gotta say, I love the accompaning picture. So quintessentialy Tarantino.
Dyslexia or not, that is the handwriting of an elementary school student. He doesn’t even have the excuse of growing up in the Internet Age.
Who cares? For a man to have his own unique vision of what cinema is, and to share his appreciation for the vision of others is the mark of a true artist, and as such, who gives a f*** what his handwriting looks like?
Did he have proper schooling? Does he distribute his famous scripts in that hand-writing to his actors? But no kidding, I absolutely adore QT.
Tarantino likes all kinds of trashy, terrible movies. Especially if said movies are ultra violent. Don’t forget his unwavering support for all things Eli Roth and Robert Rodriguez. Having Quentin on your side isn’t quite the feather in the cap you’re making it out to be.
Cameron, I think everyone is just having fun. I don’t think anyone is suggesting he is any less of a filmmaker because of his chicken scratch.
Rodriquez is Disney compared to Eli Roth.
Not regarding it as a feather in the cap at all — QT is passionate about loads of films I think are godawful. Just thought it was an interesting take, that’s all.
Tarantino plays up the whole ‘grindhouse’ thing, but he generally has pretty good taste. His best of the decade list from a few months back was filled with ‘respectable’ choices.
I agree… He has a lot of respect for his co directors… And I appreciate that…
Kinatay should have been the Philippines’ Oscar entry if it was shown in the theaters right after it premiered in Cannes…..
And Brillante Mendoza? He’s really good even if I don’t like his film “The Masseur”, “Kinatay” and “Serbis” in oner wayt or another gave Philippines its long time Cannes drought and international recognition and attention…
Snuff much ?