Pauline Kael, the last hero of Quentin Tarantino

Kael occupies a place of honor in Tarantino’s book ‘Cinema Meditations’, which analyzes all that time and is due to be screened in Barcelona on April 9 by the producer. The director of cheap fiction writes about Kael, who was able to recognize his aesthetic merits and production skills in his fascist film ‘Dirty Harry’.and the ability to describe Clint Eastwood’s nemesis, the psychopath Scorpio—inspired by the zodiac killer—without mentioning the name of the character or actor playing him. Tarantino also refers to followers of Kael’s critical line as the “Paulettes” who were great advocates of Jonathan Demme’s cinema long before he became famous for “The Silence of the Lambs,” and always puts him first in his choices when reading about movies.

The great mystery of American cinema in recent years has finally been revealed. Tarantino had announced long ago that he would step down as director after shooting his tenth feature film. Many projects were discussed, from the third episode of ‘Kill Bill’ to a movie in the ‘Star trek’ series. Nothing. Finally, Tarantino chose the most unexpected, which is neither more nor less than Kael’s kind of ‘biopic’.. It will be the first film in history to focus on a dedicated film critic..

They will realize that as a ‘Tarantinian’ farewell to a movie in itself and shooting sets, the ‘Cinema critic’ title in which the project was announced has plenty of encouragement. Rob Garver made the documentary ‘What He Said: The art of Pauline Kael’ in 2018. elevated criticism of art. Oscar Wilde wrote this many years ago in his memorable essay ‘The critic as an artist’ (referring to art and literary criticism).

Influence on cinema

Tarantino went so far as to say that Kael had as much influence on him as any filmmaker. and the director of the ‘Inglourious Gang’ was influenced by a few people. Kael, the turbulent period that completely changed the face of hegemonic cinema between the late 60s and early 70s (Vietnam War, civil rights movement, Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Bob Kennedy assassinations, Woodstock festival, Altamont events, Cassius Clay) The transformation of Muhammad Ali, the Nation of Islam, the Manson clan, the Democratic Party’s national convention. 1968, the Wartergate scandal) resonated in the new cinema. But Kael is the best of recent American cinema, ‘Panic in Needle Park’, ‘Lenny’ or ‘Joe, American citizen’. Sex, drugs, violence and some rock’n’roll.

Kael, who died in 2001 at the age of 82, lived a more or less bohemian life between New York and Berkeley, where he organized art evenings and then devoted himself to criticism.. She wrote some theatrical works, had a daughter with experimental film director James Broughton, questioned the supposed neutrality of critics, wrote several first-person accounts of her personal experiences, collaborated on radio shows, programmed an alternative room in Berkeley, and was also the editor of a “McCall’s” women’s magazine. critic and the first to mention “Bonnie and Clyde” in an excellent text that opened the door to him in “The New Yorker”, where for a time he replaced the review section with another woman, Penelope Gilliatt. , also quite effective. Kael has generated more than one controversy, both for his style and the cinematography he has defended or attacked. But none of his texts could be more controversial than the article on the paternity of the ‘Citizen Kane’ script, which Orson Welles denies and is attributed to Herman Mankiewicz. Many disproved his theory, but David Fincher from “Mank” joined him.