Robert Tarantino (2013) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
2 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
9/10
The wonderful story of a passionately driven Filmmaker
Bobart17 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A shy young man enters the stage of a movie theater and proudly tells his audience that his latest film just got an invitation to an Underground Film Festival only a few minutes after he uploaded the trailer of his film.

Director Houchang Allahyari shows the man behind the pseudonym Robert Tarantino: a man who quit his job to live only for his art. His parents never understood his passion and to him this seems to be a lifelong trauma. We see performances of him as a Singer/Songwriter with a very beautiful and sad song about a girlfriend who committed suicide years ago. We also see his performance as a Comedian and a lot of very funny scenes from his earlier movies with titles like "Wild Rebel", "Vampires in Vienna" or "Vampire City".

As a filmmaker, Robert Tarantino is a rebel without a crew: he writes the screenplay, produces, directs, is also his own director of photography while he also acts in his films, composes the soundtrack, edits the film and is also responsible for the "special effects".

The documentary follows him through the making of his latest project, a slasher flick called "Blood City Massacre". His male leading actor is a wild looking wrestler who has his whole body tattooed, his lead actress is a beautiful model and dancer with not that much acting experience. The rest of his cast are amateur actors, too and it is pretty funny to watch how the film is made: the passion of the director and how he motivates his cast reminds me a little bit of Johnny Depp as Ed Wood in Tim Burton's homage.

In a great scene the lead actress does not understand the script (well, she's a model!) and director Tarantino explains to her that in Trash movies some scenes do not always have to make sense, that is how these films are made. One actor left the set after a day of shooting and never came back, so they all had to be creative and changed the screenplay.

Finally Robert Tarantino completes his film and we see him and his cast at the successful premiere of "Blood City Massacre".

If you love films, especially Independent Films or Trash Movies than this documentary is a must see. It takes a humorous look behind the making of such films but with real respect for the filmmaker and his cast. This is the wonderful portrait of a passionately driven Filmmaker, who would give his own life for his art.
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Filmmaking is his passion
wildrebel201316 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This is the portrait of a young man who calls himself Robert Tarantino, because he is a huge fan of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. He is also a Singer/Songwriter and a Comedian but Filmmaking is his greatest passion and most of his movies cost less than 100 Euro. And - like Robert Rodriguez in his first film - he is a rebel without a crew. Not only does he write the script, he's also the director, producer, director of photography, soundtrack composer, editor and - lead actor in his own films!

This is only possible because he uses auto focus, turns the camera around so he can see himself and - starts filming! The documentary follows him during the production of "Blood City Massacre" and it starts with the casting of the film. His lead actress is model/dancer, beautiful but with less film experience and a bimbo (and she does not even know the real names of the "X-File" characters, calls them Sully and Mully), his lead actor is a wrestler who calls himself Humungus, with tattoos from tip to toe.

So he starts filming with them. A very interesting and also funny look behind the making of a Trash Film, lots of dramatic scenes inclusive: one actor left the set after one day because he was angry that there was not a huge catering service on the set (of a no budget film!'). This is no problem for the creative filmmaker and his actors, they just change the script a little bit.

During the filming Robert Tarantino falls in love with his lead actress. Bad luck for him because she falls in love with one of the supporting actors. It's a little bit too much of a drama when Tarantino talks about his feelings.

Finally we see the premiere of "Blood City Massacre" and hear the proud director talking about that his film was invited to an Underground Film Festival just a few minutes after the upload of the film trailer.

So that's what I call an Happy Ending!
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed