Quentin Tarantino's films are famous for their non-linear narratives, for how they jump around in time like a skipping DVD, sometimes even willing their ways into alternate histories. And yet, despite all of their twisty plotting, his movies are increasingly defined by ' and remembered for ' self-contained scenes that stretch to the breaking point and seem to become iconic even as you're first watching them. From the ingeniously knotted 'Pulp Fiction' to the bifurcated 'Death Proof'; from the sprawling 'Kill Bill' (which is divided into 10 discrete chapters), to the snowbound 'The Hateful Eight' (which limits itself to two locations and finds Tarantino challenging himself to hold a single note of suspense for hours at a time), these epic stories are shaped around chatty, taut, and indelible sequences that simmer with the potential for sudden acts of violence.In honor of the filmmaker's 54th birthday (and with a humble tip of our hats to his late, great editor, Sally Menke), we're offering our list of the seven best scenes that Quentin Tarantino ever directed. Not every one of his films managed to earn a spot ' 'Reservoir Dogs' may have been a watershed moment for American indie cinema, but it endures as more of a (particularly blood-soaked) dry run for bigger things to come, while the climactic ass-beating at the end of 'Death Proof' just narrowly missed the cut ' but these glorious excerpts provide a telling cross-section of what makes Tarantino's movies cohere into so much more than the sum of their influences.SEE ALSO:How the company behind 2 of the year's biggest movies is blowing up the Hollywood playbook7. The Candyland Massacre ('Django Unchained')Youtube Embed:http://www.youtube.com/embed/QbmDpEhAp48Width: 560pxHeight: 315pxThe Candyland Massacre is probably not the reason why Django Unchained earned Tarantino his second Academy Award for Best Screenplay, but well, maybe it is. The immensely cathartic shootout, an orgasmic release that comes after almost two full hours of build-up, is hardly the most nuanced sequence that Tarantino has ever devised, but hes never made anything that feels this good. It arrives after a deliciously twisted dinner scene, in which Django gets a polite phrenology lesson from the sadistic slaveowner whos keeping his wife. Watching our soft-spoken hero endure yet another denigration, it starts to seem as though the title of Tarantinos film is a bit of an empty promise, and that the chains may never come off. Of course, thats just what Tarantino wants you to thinkhes waiting for the moment when your nerves are stretched to the breaking point, and then hes waiting for a little while longer after that. Hes got all day, and hes got the confidence (or the ego) to know that audiences enjoy his cooking too much to leave before dessert.And then it happens, slowly at first and then in cartoonish eruptions of blood. Turning the foyer of a house into a self-contained civil war (complete with gunshots that land with cannon splashes), Tarantino funnels centuries of racist violence through a kaleidoscope of the resilient black culture thats survived it, giving Django his revenge as Tupac and James Brown cheer him on from heaven. Its so satisfying, so cathartic, that even the white nationalists who are turning this damn whole country into Candyland might catch themselves cheering.6. The House of Blue Leaves ('Kill Bill')Youtube Embed:http://www.youtube.com/embed/a3aFv8IQb4sWidth: 560pxHeight: 315pxThe most unabashedly fetishistic film hes ever mademaybe one of the most unabashedly fetishistic films that anyone has ever madeKill Bill is a lovingly pornographic orgy in which all of Tarantinos favorite things get together and fuck each other to death with the fatal specificity of a serial killer. In other words, its heaven. The Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves sequence, in which Uma Thurmans avenging angel slips into a Tokyo nightclub and makes a meaty stew from the entrails of different national cinemas, is the work of a filmmaker whos woken up into a lucid dream. Combining Japanese rockabilly, Shaw Brothers fisticuffs, a Kurosawa-inspired sword duel, an overt nod to Battle Royale, some of fight master Yuen Woo-pings finest choreography, and an unexpected spanking, this is Tarantinos Fellini moment, and he enjoys every second of it.5. Operation Kino ('Inglourious Basterds')Youtube Embed:http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y4P14KKcKF4Width: 560pxHeight: 315pxThey kill Hitler. You didnt think they were going to, but they did.Art doesnt get more viscerally thrilling than this.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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