Cinema Unchained: The Films of Quentin Tarantino

Simona Brancati reads, without resorting to jargon, such films as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. She offers kudos to Tarantino for his transformative work, while balancing her praise with objective analysis. Peter C. Rollins, Emeritus Editor-in-Chief, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Drawing on her vast knowledge of contemporary cinema, Brancati provides a penetrating and original analysis of Tarantino's complete oeuvre and beautifully contextualizes its reception. -Denise J. Youngblood, Professor of History, University of Vermont. Brancati shows how aspects of Tarantino's films-which have been all too frequently dismissed as superfluous silliness-are, in fact, intentional aesthetic and ideological commentaries. -Ben Lawton, Associate Professor of Italian and Film Video Studies, Purdue University. Brancati shows a breathtaking erudition about global cinema and about Tarantino's place in it. Her clear and revealing analyses of the films are alone worth the price of admission. -Louis Menashe, Professor Emeritus of History, Polytechnic Institute of New York University. This fresh study is a valued and skillfully nuanced look at the important role Quentin Tarantino plays in our culture and in our times. -Frank Manchel, Professor Emeritus of English and Film Studies, University of Vermont.