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Quentin Tarantino is one of the most respected (and controversial) filmmakers of his generation, and he has a very specific narrative and visual style that has earned the praise of critics and viewers for years, and he has a couple of tricks that he uses in every one of his movies. Quentin Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker began in 1992 with the crime movie Reservoir Dogs, which went on to become a classic of independent cinema, but his big break arrived two years later with Pulp Fiction, which is still widely regarded as his best movie.

Since then, Tarantino has explored a variety of genres in his movies – from martial arts with both Kill Bill movies to slasher with Death Proof and even alternate versions of historical events with Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Although Tarantino hasn’t limited himself to one genre, every one of his movies has those distinctive elements that make it a Tarantino movie, and these have become so popular that viewers now look for them in every one of his projects – and here are eight tricks that Quentin Tarantino uses in every movie.

8 Trunk Shots

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The trunk shot is a camera angle capturing the subjects from inside the trunk of a car, and has become a trademark of Quentin Tarantino. The director first used this shot in Reservoir Dogs, in the scene where Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), and Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) are gazing down upon officer Marvin Nash, who was caught and tied up by Blonde. Shooting the characters from a low angle is a way to show their dominance, strength, and power, whether they are looking at a kidnapped police officer, the weapons at their disposal (Pulp Fiction), or the Nazi soldier they are about to leave with a permanent scar on their forehead (Inglourious Basterds). Death Proof gave the trunk shot a twist by looking at Kim (Tracie Thoms) and Zoë Bell from under the hood of the car, while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood completely skipped the trunk shot.

7 Food

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Food scenes and references can be found in every Quentin Tarantino movie and there’s actually a narrative reason for that. Scenes like the opening ones in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with the team having breakfast in the former and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) in the latter, establish the characters’ roles in the story as well as their personalities, with the thieves giving hints at how they see the world and what they do and Honey Bunny and Pumpkin showing that they are sociopaths. The famous “Royale with Cheese” scene in Pulp Fiction also brings out the personalities of Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta), and in Django Unchained, everything goes down during dinner at Calvin Candie’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) house (and his rotten teeth are the result of his excessive sugar intake).

Another memorable food scene, and one that continues to be subjected to analysis, is the restaurant scene in Inglourious Basterds where Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) is interrogating Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), and orders apple strudel with cream for both and a glass of milk for her. This is one of the most suspenseful scenes in Inglourious Basterds as it seems for a moment that Landa has figured out that Shosanna is Jewish, and food is key to showing Landa’s power over pretty much anyone he talks to. Adding to how Tarantino shows a character’s dominance through food is the scene in Pulp Fiction where Jules takes a bite from Brett’s Big Kahuna Burger, as well as a sip from his soda.

6 Feet

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One of Tarantino’s most talked about and even controversial elements in his movies is how he always finds a way to add, at least, one shot of female feet. Tarantino hasn’t expanded on the potential meaning or reason behind all the feet shots in his movies, saying that he doesn’t take them seriously and “there’s a lot of feet in a lot of good director’s movies”, so it might just be yet another example of Tarantino taking inspiration from other directors (more on that later). However, in some cases, the feet shots in Tarantino's movies are there for a reason, such as in Death Proof when Mike McKay (Kurt Russell) touches and licks Abethany Ross’ feet (Rosario Dawson), showing that he’s a predator, and in Inglourious Basterds when Hans Landa wants to confirm that the show he found at the tavern belongs to Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).

5 Violence & Blood

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Of course, the most controversial Quentin Tarantino element in his movies is his (sometimes excessive) use of violence and blood. Tarantino’s stylized violence might be his biggest trademark, and he has explained that, while he definitely doesn’t excuse violence in the real world, “in movies, violence is cool”. Violence and blood are present in every Tarantino movie, more in some than others (Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained are the two Tarantino movies with the highest kill count), but even less-aggressive movies like Jackie Brown have their good dose of violence.

4 Frequent Collaborators

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Like many other directors, Tarantino has his list of frequent collaborators, so much so that every time he announces a new project, some of them are immediately assumed to be part of it. The actor who has appeared in most Tarantino movies is, unsurprisingly, Samuel L. Jackson, appearing in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Volume 2 (both Kill Bill movies are counted as one), Inglourious Basterds (where he serves as the narrator), Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. Other frequent collaborators of Tarantino are Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, and Uma Thurman.

3 Fictional Brands

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Quentin Tarantino has come up with fictional brands that pop up in all of his movies, and they have become part of the Easter eggs to look out for whenever he releases a new project. First is Big Kahuna Burger, which was first seen in Reservoir Dogs, as that’s where Mr. Blonde’s beverage is from, but the most memorable appearance of Big Kahuna Burger is in Pulp Fiction, in the above-mentioned scene where Jules intimidates Brett and takes a bite from his burger. The other brand that appears in almost every Tarantino movie is Red Apple Cigarettes, first seen in Pulp Fiction at Honey Bunny and Pumpkin’s table and later seen as Mia Wallace’s (Uma Thurman) brand of choice, and used in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’s end credits scene as Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) starred in a commercial for the brand.

2 References To Other Movies

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Quentin Tarantino has been quite honest about taking inspiration from other movies to write and make his own, but sometimes these inspirations and references have led to accusations of plagiarism. Reservoir Dogs, for example, takes its plot from the 1952 movie Kansas City Confidential, the characters being named after colors is taken from the 1974 movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and its final minutes are very similar to the 1987 movie City on Fire. Other examples are Pulp Fiction’s famous dance scene, inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à Part, Django Unchained is inspired by the 1975 movie Mandingo, and both Kill Bill movies take elements from Game of Death, Lady Snowblood, and The Bride Wore Black.

1 The Tarantino Movie Universe

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In addition to making references to other movies, the works of Quentin Tarantino include references to his past movies as they are all part of the same universe. The Tarantino Shared Movie Universe is divided into two levels: the “realer than real” universe (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) and the “movie-in-a-movie” universe (both Kill Bill movies and Death Proof), these being the movies that those in the first level watch. Because of these, some characters appear in different movies (such as Earl and Edgar McGraw) and others are related, as is the case of Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega and Reservoir Dogs’ Blonde/Vic Vega, and Jimmie Dimmick (Tarantino) and Mr. White. Quentin Tarantino’s tenth (and possibly final) movie will surely have links to its respective level in the Tarantino Shared Movie Universe, as well as some (if not all) of the above mentioned tricks.