Death Proof

Stuntman Mike has done the maths without the powerful female trio around Zoë Bell. In Quentin Tarantino's exploitation homage, a neck-breaking duel takes place on the streets of Tennessee.
Stuntman Mike has done the maths without the powerful trio of women around Zoë Bell. In Quentin Tarantino's exploitation homage, a neck-breaking duel takes place on the streets of Tennessee.

Deep down Dixieland: DJane Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) and her friends are on the road. In the car and later in the bar, in front of which the mysterious ex-stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) has parked his muscle car, they are in constant conversation, drinking and flirting around unsuspectingly. But Mike has it in for them with his car. Some time later, three other women are enjoying their time off chatting. Zoë (Zoë Bell), Kim (Tracie Thoms) and Abernathy (Rosario Dawson) work in film and have a few days off. During a high-speed game, the trio of women bump into Mike. They quickly realise what kind of guy they're dealing with and turn the tables.

Because Tarantino playfully subverted expectations for his next project with DEATH PROOF after the epic KILL BILL films, the grindhouse road movie is criminally underrated. As is so often the case, Tarantino does not simply copy the cinematic role models, but turns the exploitation set pieces into a post-feminist empowerment fantasy. This is evident not only when the women take action, but also when Tarantino simply lets his heroines talk, creating an unrelenting flow of cool. Then there are the breathless and bloodily choreographed chase scenes and one of Tarantino's best soundtracks. The film fits perfectly into the Open Air, and we are showing the longer version - from an analogue print, of course, as befits a Tarantino film!

- In bad weather: 9.15 pm in the cinema