Hoezo in KINO

“You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat ‘em. That’s how you beat people who torture you.” We were lucky enough to attend a 35mm screening of Rolling Thunder at Cannes in 2023 introduced by Quentin Tarantino himself. Having the big man a couple of rows behind us cackling with anticipation when the lights went down, was an experience in itself, as we were then submitted to one the most austere and brutal examples of the revenge flick this subgenre has to offer. Tarantino describes the troubles with Paul Schrader’s script and the studio execs to fully commit to the bleakness it conveyed in his excellent book Cinema Speculation, but even this altered vision is a sight to behold. An Airforce veteran returns to his suburban life after spending years in a Vietcong POW torture camp only to lose his wife, son and a limb in a home invasion. The only reason to live remains vengeance on the men who caused this. English language without subtitles.