I’m Sorry; I Just Don’t Have Much to Say About (True Romance)

Commissioned by Ted Adams

A few months back, I caught some flack by noted critic who’s better than me at literary criticism, Will Brooker, over a political compass I made based on the films of Quentin Tarantino by saying that True Romance was a Quentin Tarantino film. In my defense, True Romance is the only work by Tarantino out at the time that would be considered purely “Authoritarian Right” (other than Kill Bill Vol. 1, but I had to stick the two Kill Bills together) and I was quite cross at Tarantino at the time.

At the time, another critic who’s much better at this than me, Scout Tafoya, did a video examining the film and found it… wanting for a lot of obvious reasons, not the least of which being “it has one of Quentin Tarantino’s most racist monologues in it and it’s extremely uncritical of the guy who’s blatantly supposed to be Quentin Tarantino.” That’s not to say that people haven’t made the case for it. I’m sure another critic better at this than me, like Lindsey Romain, could make the case for it. But I just don’t have the energy to do so.

So instead, let’s talk, briefly, about a song from the Estelle album True Romance: All That Matters. Normally when I talk about music, I take a lyric by lyric analysis of the song with occasional noting of the more musical aspects of it, but the beauty of All That Matters is more in how the song is performed than in its lyrics. Not that the lyrical component isn’t important, but rather that one can’t quite capture the soulful longing of Estelle’s voice through simply talking about the symbolism of the music.

Every aspect of the song goes into the core theme of All That Matters: that of a love that was true and honest, but now is no longer. The instruments low tones and slow beat give the song an air of melancholy and distance. Estelle’s singing is beautiful as ever, but also aches with the absence of her true love. That’s ultimately the sign of a True Romance: the hole it leaves behind when it’s gone. The original ending of the film had the blatant Tarantino stand in die and Alabama, the female lead, reveal that she didn’t actually love him. She was in a bad place and needed a way out. Theirs was not a True Romance.

But then, lies are part of the point for Tarantino. His films, after all, largely deal with the stories we tell ourselves to keep us going, to protect us from those who would do us harm, the lies that shape the world. But there’s a truth lying underneath the lies, the stories, the movies we watch. The Tarantino stand in, in the original script, thought that one date was enough to create a True Romance. But, as Estelle notes, it’s the moments together that make up a True Romance. But, as she also notes, all that matters is the time we’ve spent together. Sometimes, you only get the length of a movie.

What is your favorite Tarantino film?
Reservoir Dogs (Libertarian Left)

True Romance (Authoritarian Right)

Natural Born Killers (Right Axis)

Pulp Fiction (Libertarian Axis)

From Dusk ‘till Dawn (Authoritarian Axis)

Jackie Brown (Libertarian Left)

Kill Bill (Libertarian Right) [Vol. 1- Authoritarian Right; Vol. 2- Libertarian Axis]

Death Proof (Libertarian Left) [Me]

Inglorious Bastards (Left Axis)

Django Unchained (Authoritarian Left)

The Hateful Eight (Authoritarian Left)

Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood (All Four Quadrants)

I don’t like Quentin Tarantino films at all (Libertarian Left or Authoritarian Right)

I think Pulp Fiction is his best, while Jackie Brown, Death Proof, and at least one Kill Bill are his worst (Authoritarian Right)