Quentin Tarantino has been called out by Leigh Whannell, the director of the thriller movie The Invisible Man. Tarantino is one of the most influential filmmakers of modern cinema. He is known for his passion for the medium, and as well as making movies, Tarantino has also been providing commentary on the industry for many years.
Some of this commentary has extended into criticism, and the director is actually certified as a critic on Rotten Tomatoes. He has been vocal about some of his more controversial opinions on movies, such as that Psycho II is better than the original, but mostly uses his status to praise movies. Some of Tarantino’s favourite movies include: Jaws, Taxi Driver, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Now, Tarantino has been criticised by fellow filmmaker, Leigh Whannell. In a post to Twitter, Whannell shared an anecdote about Tarantino putting one of the movies Whannell had written on his ‘worst movies of the year’ list. Whannell, who is known for his horror movies, then said that the experience has led to his belief that he should only be positive about movies made by others in the future.
In Whannell’s full post said, the The Invisible Man director said “Re public criticism, Tarantino once put a film I wrote on his “Worst Films Of The Year” list. I still love his films of course but it solidified my belief that the only public mention you’ll hear from me about a film will be positive – because I know how hard they are to make.”
Whannell’s comments are interesting, raising questions about the extent to which filmmakers should criticise each others’ work. If filmmakers begin slating the releases of others, that can quickly get ugly. However, just like with any other form of art, film criticism plays in important role in the development of the field, and in the analysis and exploration of movies. The question is whether or not filmmakers themselves should play that role.
If Tarantino were to respond, he would likely suggest that his praise – and criticism – of movies is from the perspective of a movie fan, rather than a filmmaker. However, whether or not the director of some of the best movies of all time can ever separate himself from his art in that way is certainly up for debate.
Either way, Whannell didn’t give any insight into what the movie that Tarantino criticised was – so, we won’t be able to judge its quality for ourselves. Instead, we’ll leave it to you to decide on the likelihood of Tarantino being right about it.
If you enjoy drama between filmmakers, why not check out our guide to the best drama movies of all time.