Death Proof = Masterpiece

Death Proof is Tarantino's best film. It is everything I look for in a work of cinema. It's cruel and matter-of-fact about certain realities, yet it is full of sensitivity and grace. Its camera is vibrant and alive but slower moments of striking gravity and beauty stagger the film with startling control. It's spontaneous and rebellious but always attentive to its thematic milieu. It functions on both naturalism and expressionism, each giving way for the other as the instance calls for it. It's crude yet refined. It addresses and encompasses human insecurities in its fine-combed detailing of clashing sensibilities, gender roles, and thrill-seeking. Its thematic exploration is insidious, obscured by genre deviltry and subversion. It's part horror film. It's fun. It's sexy. It's unbelievably tender. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but nothing about it is a joke. Nothing, as counterintuitive as it is, is camp. If I make a film, I would want it to be like Death Proof: lean, mean, yet rich with humanity.