The Disappointment of Outgrowing My Favorite Filmmakers

I may have grown since my teenage years but too many directors I once loved most certainly have not

I fell in love with film as a medium in about 7th grade - circa 1997 and 1998 - not long before starting high school in the fall of 1998. What really spurred my appreciation for the medium was a variation of “auteur theory” - I noticed that if I liked one film directed by a particular director, chances are I’d similarly enjoy their other movies and then see intriguing connections between them.

And I remember the first three who really entranced me in this regard: Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith. The late ‘90s were a golden age of independent cinema and all three succeeded with one film after another. Tarantino landed the 1-2-3 punch of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and my favorite of his still, Jackie Brown. Rodriguez, a friend of Tarantino, cast him in the amazing action film Desperado and the addictive, innovative horror film From Dusk ‘Till Dawn.And hist first more “mainstream” horror flick, “The Faculty” really was fairly decent for the genre.

And of course Smith created his “View Askewniverse,” a series of ultra-gross out comedies which took place in the same fictional universe: “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma.”

To a teenager this was subversive gold, made all the more inspirational by the fact that Smith and Rodriguez had broken into their career with ultra-low budget offerings which seemed to suggest anyone could start a filmmaking career if they were just creative and inventive enough.

But then what happened? In 2004 I turned 20, in 2014 I hit 30, and now I’m due to *shudder* become 39 next month. And while I’ve grown in my cinematic and artists interests, my three heroes largely have not.

I figured out Tarantino’s schtick awhile ago - he sought to combine art house and foreign film aesthetic with lowbrow “grind house” sensibilities. And most naive critics had bought into it. In 2001 and 2004 he released parts 1 and 2 of his “Kill Bill” epic, which really was just an over-the-top action movie, not saying anything deep or meaningful like “Jackie Brown” had. Then in 2007 he released his first genuinely bad movie, his part of the “Grindhose” double feature he’d made with Rodriguez was called “Death Proof” and it was a slasher movie in which a crazed car driver sought to kill with a “death proof” car. This was fucking stupid and I was shocked that such a talented director would release such dreck. (For the record, Rodriguez’s installment “Planet Terror” was fairly entertaining, though hardly as great as his previous offerings.)

Then Tarantino set about making his “historical” epics - “Inglorious Basterds,” “Django Unchained,” “The Hateful Eight” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” And these simply showcased what a shallow filmmaker Tarantino actually was - he had nothing meaningful to say about Nazism, slavery, the post-Confederate war period, or 1960s Hollywood. He just wanted to revel in the violence and engage in masturbatory explorations of the aesthetics of the periods. These were little more than exploitation movies set in historical periods. I was so disappointed that a filmmaker with such amazing promise would deliver such trite dreck.

Rodriguez faired a little bit better but still disappointed. His first 3 films following “The Faculty” were kiddie movies in the “Spy Kids” series. Then he offered the third in his “Desperado” trilogy, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” which was a huge disappointment, offering little creativity to the mythos he’d build in the previous films. I’ll give Rodriguez some credit though: Sin City was excellent, an exciting and creatively shot adaptation of Frank Miller’s series that was a wild ride. I still need to make the time to see the 2014 sequel. But what else has Rodriguez done since? Just more boring genre movies - 2 “Machete” movies, 2 more kiddie sci-fi movies, and 2019’s “Alita: Battle Angel” which I’ve been meaning to give a chance but whose 61% on Rotten Tomatoes I’ve found rather discouraging.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all, though, has been Kevin Smith. I simply adored “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy,” and “Dogma.” (“Mallrats” I tolerated as overrated, same as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”) But after the disappointing “Jersey Girl” Smith seemed to bounce back with the amusing “Clerks 2” and the very effective Seth Rogan vehicle “Jack and Miri Make a Porno.” Since then, oh has it been downhill: “Cop Out,” “Red State,” “Tusk,” “Yoga Hosers,” “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,” and now “Clerks III.” Just look at the numbers: “Cop Out” has 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, “Red State” a sad 61%, “Tusk” weighs in at 45%, “Yoga Hosers” 24%, “Reboot” 64%, and “Clerks III” managed 62%. Compare that to “Chasing Amy” with 86%. Reading about the plots of each film I just decided to pass, taking a similar attitude as with the new Disney Star Wars movie: I don’t need my adolescent good memories trashed.

And now Smith’s newest slate of films have been announced and I can only respond with indifference:

Smith revealed that his next two films will be the long-awaited Twilight of the Mallrats and The 4:30 Movie, which is a film inspired by his life. We don’t know which of these movies will go first. The filmmaker is also developing his long-talked-about horror movie Moose Jaws, a fourth Jay and Silent Bob movie, and a sequel to Tusk.

So it’s sad to me that filmmakers which could have literally done anything with their success instead just decided to rehash what they were known for. Tarantino just keep making his art house-grind house hybrids. Rodriguez just remained an action director. (Bravo to him for his contributions to “The Mandalorian,” though.) And Smith just could not succeed when he spent a decade trying to break out of his mold as chronicler of overgrown Gen-X adolescence.

But I suppose I should end on an upbeat note: not all of my cinematic heroes failed to grow and evolve. Two in particular I’ll single out for praise: P.T. Anderson and Darren Aronofsky. I fell for both of them early on given the massive achievements of “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Pi,” and my longtime favorite film “Requiem for a Dream.” And in the years since rather than just repeat their success, each has deeply evolved, trying new genres and hitting new emotional notes.

Anderson made the greatest of Adam Sandler comedies with “Punch Drunk Love.” Then he delivered a true classic, one of the greatest films of the last 20 years, the sweeping historical epic “There Will Be Blood.” Then he dazzled with one film of differing style and purpose after another: “The Master,” “Inherent Vice,” “Phantom Thread,” and “Licorice Pizza.” These are both art films and serious entertainment and one can watch them over and over again perpetually finding new elements to enjoy.

Aronofsky has similarly been a creative powerhouse. His criminally underrated sci-fi epic “The Fountain” is such a special spiritual expression. Then the twin depictions of extreme masculinity and destructive felinity in “The Wreslter” and “Black Swan” rightfully entranced critics. He followed that with the amazing biblical epic “Noah” and the wildly polarizing horror film “mother!” And now he’s in the new again for “The Whale,” a film broadly embraced as a comeback for Brendan Fraser. These are directors who evolved both in their artistry and also in their ability to make popular entertainments. My appreciation of them has grown so much as I continue to be disappointed by the trite put out by their Gen-Xer contemporaries.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on Tarantino, Rodriguez, and Smith? Should I give any of their films a closer look?