My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Academic for an advance copy of this book that looks at a group of filmmakers who began their careers in a time where movies that were personal, even small were the rage, and the shadow of a little film called Pulp Fiction changed the way studios did business.

I loved movies. During the late 80's and 90's I spent way to much money on scripts, movies, posters, books and magazine. I subscribed to Premiere, Movieline, Cinemafantasique, and spent way to much at Tower Books in New York buying import magazines. Part of the reason I worked in a music store was access to foreign magazines, films, soundtracks and more. I loved nothing more than going in blind, renting movies and being either impressed or disgusted by what I saw. This happened at the same time in a lot of films. I read biographies, making of books, and spent more money on Criterion than I think on college. I remember watching Memento and going oh this guy is going places. Batman I would not have expected. Or watching Pi, without even a thought the same director would make a movie about professional wrestling. The 90's were such an innocent time. Which is why I enjoyed this book so much. Generation Tarantino: The Last Wave of Young Turks in Hollywood by historian and film writer Andrew J. Rausch is a look at the creators who began in the 1990's, how they got their start, the works they created, and how the film business was changed.

The book is broken into 14 chapters, dealing with 13 male directors and 1 female director. The directors are listed by the entry into the business starting with Richard Linklater and ending with Sofia Coppola. The introduction discusses how the movie studios had changed into a business that loved blockbusters far more than it liked art. As the 90's came around, many of these blockbusters were showing their age, something that seems familiar. Also with VCRs and soon DVD's there has always been a need for smaller, cheaper movies, if not just for a studio to have product. Into these niches came many of these directors. The book spends time discussing the influence of Quentin Tarantino, discussing imitators, and how every studio wanted a small budget quirky movie that could net them hundreds of millions of dollars, and even awards. The chapters over brief bios of the directors, how they became interested in film, where their ideas came from, early works and home movies, before talking about the films they created. These have lots of information, behind the scenes gossip, studio interference and critical and audience reception. As this book deals with the 90's larger works say Nolan's Batman films are mentioned but not discussed.

A book that really brought me back, filled with a lot of information, and very well-written. Rausch has done a lot of research, finding interviews, discussions, and digging deep to put the reader in the script room and on the set of the film. There is a lot of discussion on equipment, how ideas came about, casting and what life was like on the set. There is also a lot of studio influence, slashing budgets, fights of final cuts, test screenings gone bad, and much more. All told in a oral history kind of way, not gossipy or mean spirited. One can learn quite a bit from what is written here, almost a film school in itself, in what to do, what not to do and how to really believe in oneself.

I have seem all these movies, and it was nice revisiting them. A person just catching up to film could learn quite a lot from this book. People like myself who remember this time with a lot of fondness will enjoy hearing these stories again. A really fun book, and one I quite enjoyed.

Few figures have come to personify the lively independent cinema of the Nineties more convincingly than Quentin Tarantino. But this book isn't just about him. Instead author, Andrew J. Rausch examines the early output of a number of major cinematic talents who first broke through in the Nineties: notably Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, John Singleton, Sofia Coppola and more, as well as Tarantino himself.
It's fascinating stuff. It's easy to forget that Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn) actually subjected himself to medical experiments to help raise funds for his early projects while the likes of Kevin Smith (Clerks) and Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise) encountered all manner of career hiccups even after wowing critics and audiences with their debuts. Given that filmmakers from a variety of countries are included, I was surprised to see that neither Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting) nor Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) were omitted from the list even though fellow Brit, Christopher Nolan (Memento) quite justifiably does.
This is nevertheless a fascinating insight into a fascinating decade in the history of celluloid,

Good overview of the directors who debuted in the 90s. A lot of directors are covered meaning each director gets kind of a quick chapter covering their first couple films. It’s good for directors you don’t know much about, but I didn’t learn a lot about people I’m a fan of like Tarantino, PTA and Fincher. One note, the author attributed Mank to a director who isn’t David Fincher, Mank’s actual director.

Beyond the nitpick, Rausch does give a great summation on this generation of directors.

I received a free egalley of this book in return for an honest review.