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


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


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


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


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.