My Best Friend's Birthday

I mean no disrespect to any of the other commentators of this movie, but I never would have expected to hear someone say this is, would have, or could have been QT's best. In fact, I think Tarantino himself would have a good laugh at that notion. He might even take offense to it.

If you've ever seen the time Tarantino was on Charlie Rose, he talks a bit about this movie (without ever mentioning the title) and I can see and completely agree with everything he said about it. It's really an awful movie - largely due to the horrendous acting... but what are you gonna do; it's essentially a student film for a man who was never a film student.

In case you haven't seen the interview I mentioned, here's basically what he said: He admitted that the movie was really bad, but if you watched it, you could tell that he did it (very true). He also said this movie, while a complete failure, was his film school. He learned about film-making during the process of making this film; it really amounted to an experiment. In another interview he mentioned that, when he was in negotiations for Reservoir Dogs, when asked by a studio exec if they could see his previous work, he said no.

There are a few moments that are very much Tarantino, and a couple of them show up in evolved forms in his later movies. This is the reason referred to in the summary line of this review. QT is, without a shadow of a doubt, my all-time favorite filmmaker, so it's an interesting look back in time to see what a completely inexperienced, unprepared Tarantino with no budget whatsoever could do.

I realize I haven't quite specified what was so bad about this movie, but it's pretty much everything. It's not well thought out, it's disjointed, the sound and picture are horrible (don't worry, I'm not really counting against it for that - it's to be expected for such a low budget film), the dialogue is not up to par, and I reiterate that the acting is truly awful (with the exception of QT himself).

However, it is undeniably a Tarantino movie, and for that reason and that reason alone I can see fit to give it 5/10 stars. I can guarantee, though, that most of these people rating it at 10 stars would not give this movie the time of day if it were from a no-name director. I'm no different, but I admit it openly, and I'm not afraid to critique the man despite my near-idolization of him. I think it was actually a nice twist of fate that this movie was destroyed, making Reservoir dogs his first official film credit instead.

Well I finally saw Quentin Tarantino's "film school", which is what's left of his 70 minutes long debut, never officially released (saw it on a bootleg DVD), film My Best Friend's Birthday (35 minutes). This worth watching stuff that is just for fans of Tarantino; for me QT delivers here, not quite because of his direction, not quite because of his cast but just because of his dialog and his participation as the main character, radio disc jokey rockabilly Clarence Pool (the birthday of the title is the one of Clarence's best friend). Basically Clarence Pool is the best thing of the 35 minutes, and Tarantino doesn't deliver a truly fantastic performance but his character has pretty much the best dialog, he is fun. The 35 minutes are very fragmented: we have first Clarence at work, we have stuff at the K-BILLY radio station and we have three other characters (two K-BILLY workers and the guest of Clarence's show). It's both very funny and not quite funny, for instance is hilarious when Clarence recalls certain reaction that he had when he was a 3 year old kid but is not quite all the stuff with the other two dudes, except when one gives cocaine to Clarence (and Clarence sniffs, not hesitating because of his guest)…it's poorly made but nevertheless fun! The other fragments mainly involves Clarence's best friend Mickey (played by Craig Hamann, who also wrote the film together with QT), the girl that supposedly will give Mickey a truly great birthday and that began doing her current job thanks to Nancy Allen in Brian De Palma's 1980 film Dressed to Kill (Misty is her name, played by Crystal Shaw) and Clarence's girl. Aside of a sort of funny fight with Misty's black pimp the scenes with Mickey are uninteresting just as the scenes involving Clarence's girl, even the very last fragment with Clarence and Misty is mostly not good (yet there are some cool lines and for QT fans may be interesting hearing from Clarence that he "has a food fetish"), well basically after the first fragment at the radio station the stuff I really liked comes from Tarantino's character: a really nice talk with a clerk about Elvis, Marlon Brando, Chaplin's swan song, The Beatles, Colonel Parker and stuff ("you see the same cake?", that was hilarious!). My Best Friend's Birthday is not a Tarantino thing that I would like to see a lot, basically once is good enough, funny bits, some memorable lines, let's re-watch True Romance

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.

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.