''Cinema Speculation'' is a 2022 nonfiction book by American filmmaker
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
, published by
Harper on November 1, 2022.
Background
''Cinema Speculation'' is Tarantino's debut work of
nonfiction
Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...
and combines "film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history". The book is a collection of essays organized around "key American films from the 1970s" which Tarantino saw in his youth, ranging from
blaxploitation films
In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, a ...
to all the
Best Picture nominees of 1970. It was inspired by the film writing of critic
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
.
Contents
The first and last chapters are autobiographical. Two other chapters are a homage to film critic
Kevin Thomas, and a comparison of two generations of film-makers. The rest of the chapters are essays about the following films:
* ''
Bullitt
''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American action thriller film directed by Peter Yates from a screenplay by Alan Trustman, Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner and based on the 1963 crime novel ''Mute Witness'' by Robert L. Fish. It stars Steve McQueen, Ro ...
''
* ''
Dirty Harry
''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...
''
* ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...
''
* ''
The Getaway'' (1972)
* ''
The Outfit''
* ''
Sisters
A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...
''
* ''
Daisy Miller
''Daisy Miller, A Study'' is a novella by Henry James that first appeared in '' The Cornhill Magazine'' in June–July 1878, and in book form the following year. It portrays the courtship of the beautiful American girl Daisy Miller by Winterbo ...
''
* ''
Taxi Driver
''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in a morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, it stars Robert De Niro as veteran Marine and ...
'' (two chapters)
* ''
Rolling Thunder''
* ''
Paradise Alley
''Paradise Alley'' is a 1978 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone (in his feature directorial debut). The film tells the story of three Italian American brothers in Hell's Kitchen in the 1940s who be ...
''
* ''
Escape from Alcatraz''
* ''
Hardcore''
* ''
The Funhouse''
Publication
The book was initially scheduled to be published on October 25, 2022; ''Cinema Speculation'' was published by
Harper on November 1, 2022. It is the second book in a two-book deal Tarantino signed with
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
in 2020.
Tarantino promoted the book with a nationwide book tour. The book's cover features a photograph of
Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...
with director
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Instit ...
on the set of the 1972 action crime thriller ''
The Getaway''.
Reception
''Cinema Speculation'' debuted at number five on
''The New York Times'' nonfiction best-seller list for the week ending November 5, 2022. ''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' gave the book a
starred review
A starred review is a book review marked with a star to denote a book of distinction or particularly high quality. A starred review can help to increase media coverage, bookstore placement and sales of a book.
Outlets that published starred review ...
, writing, "Whether you agree with his assessments or not, he provides the original reporting and insights only a veteran director would notice, and his engaging style makes it impossible to leave an essay without learning something." ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reviewer Jasper Rees gave the book 3 out of 5 stars, writing, "At times it's like leafing through yellowing back issues of ''
Screen International
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...
''. At others you feel Tarantino would have made a brilliant Tinseltown gossip columnist."
See also
*
New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, Hollywood Renaissance, American New Wave, or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of Experimental film, avant-garde underground film, underground cinema), was a movemen ...
*
Exploitation film
An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...
*
American independent cinema
*
Cinephilia
Cinephilia ( ; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' cinema'' and '' philia'', one of the four ancient Greek words ...
*''
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies'' - 1995 documentary film similar in content
References
{{Authority control
2022 non-fiction books
American essay collections
Books by Quentin Tarantino
Books of film criticism
Books of film theory
HarperCollins books