My Best Friend's Birthday

SPOILERS AHEAD

To those who wonder how I discovered My Best Friend's Birthday, I found this video on ebay, and it was definitely worth the money despite the deteriorated quality of the copy. This is filmmaker Quentin Tarantino's first independently funded film, and from what was assembled (the film wasn't completed and this can be seen since a couple of plot points are left un-answered at the end of 40 minutes) I can tell that it was one of those well-intentioned (if slight) signs-of-things-to-come.

Clarence Pool (Tarantino, with a full-on "Elvis Man" look) is a disc jockey at K-BILLY Radio (Reservoir Dogs' music conductor in a sense), and is planning to give his friend Micky Burnett (co-writer Craig Hamann) a call-girl for his birthday party (a story later re-used for True Romance). This is used as more of a signpost for the film to follow as the characters, in particular Clarence, go off on riffs of Dialog - the "I'd f*** Elvis" speech is in its first revelation - and it's often very funny. Even a kung-fu fight between Mickey and the call girl's pimp (Al Harrell) is executed with the similar sense of dark hilarity that has made Tarantino the pro he is now. Truth be told, the film isn't without its shortcomings for a budget of so little, and a couple of the scenes really don't work at all. Yet for what it's worth it's a small ruby of underground cinema.

Clarence Pool, a radio DJ, is planning a birthday party for his best friend, Mickey Burnett. However, his great intentions and best efforts don't always work out as planned.

Written and directed by and starring Quentin Tarantino, this should have been his first film. However, the second and final reel of the film was lost in a fire and the complete version was hardly ever viewed. What remains is and incomplete movie of about 36 minutes (technically making it a short).

Hence it not been counted among Tarantino's movies (plus, wouldn't you rather say that Reservoir Dogs was your debut film?).

What remains isn't bad, though isn't great either. The first thing that strikes you is that it is a comedy. Tarantino's dramas always have an element of comedy about them, due to the clever, stylised dialogue but this is a pure comedy, not an action-drama with comedic elements. Moreover, it works, mostly. Tarantino takes the clever dialogue and moves it from entertaining filler to centre stage. Add in some physical gags and you realise that Tarantino may have a gift for comedy (though I'm glad he ended choosing a different cinematic path).

There's also a stoner-slacker aspect to the whole thing which reminds me of Clerks. Tarantino could have been Kevin Smith before Kevin Smith was Kevin Smith!

(This said, I have no idea what path the second half of the movie took, so it could have ended more like the Tarantino we know and love).

In addition to the clever dialogue, there's another Tarantino trademark: long discussions about movies or music. Always entertaining, and edifying.

As mentioned, not great though. The plot is a bit disjointed. Tarantino was clearly still learning his art as a director and editor: the scenes are quite choppy. The whole movie has an overly rough-around-the-edges feel to it.

Also, difficult to rate a movie highly when you're only able to see half of it!

You can, however, see glimpses of what was to come. As mentioned, the sharp dialogue is there. In addition, some of the plot details remind me of True Romance.

Just wish that the whole movie had survived. But then Tarantino would have already made 10 movies and, due to his self-imposed quota, would now be in retirement, so maybe it was for the best!

Needless to say, due to the movie being in this state it is in, this is really only for Tarantino fans, to see where it all began and complete the collection.

Based upon seeing what little footage remains of this movie, I don't think that the full-length version would have been a great movie. What's seen here is a jumble of different scenes that each advance the story very little. Tarantino clearly didn't yet have a full grasp of more proper ways to plot and execute a story. Still, despite this (and the very primative production values and acting), the footage is a fascinating cinematic document of sorts. The movie is full of ideas (and dialogue) that Tarantino later polished up and reused in other movies (primarily TRUE ROMANCE.) So while this is mostly amateur hour as a *movie*, it is very entertaining as a cinematic notebook.

It is Mickey's birthday, and his girlfriend has just left him, so his friend Clarence has a surprise for him.

'My Best Friend's Birthday' is an unknown Tarantino movie for the mainstream audience. There is a legend circling that most of the footage got destroyed by the lab fire. The cinematographer Roger Avery, on the other hand, has said, that the filming was never completed, and the surviving 36 minutes are all the 36 minutes the young filmmakers managed to complete before running out of steam. I guess the legends around this movie will never stop.

What can I say about this incomplete movie? The first thing, perhaps, would be about the obvious talent of Quentin Tarantino (and some other people from the crew) that is obvious. Although the film seems like random scenes edited together, thus giving it fragmented and disjointed feel, the story is still quite clear. At least it is possible to understand where the filmmakers wanted to reach with the story. There is no point of nitpicking about continuity errors, wooden acting or lack of style, as this was Tarantino's self-made film school, and for most of the people involved it was their first film project (including the famous auteur himself). Yet, somehow, the amateurish look and low production values doesn't seem to diminish the artistic and entertainment value of the movie. Its lack of style is almost stylish and feels intentional in the way of 'no-wave' cinema experiments from that era. Even the ridiculously out of place and amateurishly choreographed fight scene between our main hero Mickey and a pimp (who looks like Jules Winfield's dad). There are some other near brilliant moments in the movie, and the dialogue is interesting in most parts (especially for those who love to hear Quentin Tarantino talk about Elvis). It is quite possible that 'My Best Friend's Birthday' is Tarantino's most personal film.

It is very hard to give this film classical numeral rating thanks to its incompleteness, but here I have to say, 'My Best Friend's Birthday' is a must-see film not only for Tarantino fans/completionists but also for the admirer's of 'no-wave' and indie movies of likes Amos Poe or Jim Jarmusch. Besides, it is always interesting to see where the acclaimed filmmakers are coming from.

Tarantino is the man! The movie is watchable (surprising for how old it is), obviously its lacking the polish (both script and video) of his later movies but who cares. This movie probably cost him the price of a six pack and it shows. Whats great about it, is that it shows this generations greatest director in his youth giving this whole "movie" thing a shot. In that respect this movie really succeeds. It's one of those things that you watch and then say "Hey I could do that... why arn't I doing that?". Really cool to know that this guy started with this... offbeat... film and then went on to direct the Pulpiest of Fiction (hands down, best film ever). The best part of this movie is not the script, directing or acting. The BEST part of this movie is that it has inspired me to get going on a film of my own.

Thanks QT No time like the present.