<b>Battle of Directors:</b> Wes Anderson vs. Quentin Tarantino

Battle of Directors: Wes Anderson vs. Quentin Tarantino

Battle of Directors is a weekly column that pits two filmmakers against one another, sheds light on their respective filmographies, and then asks readers to state which director they prefer. Thoughtful discourse and discussion is encouraged and desired. Enjoy!

Each week I make a dutiful attempt to link two fascinating filmmakers together. It doesn’t always pan out the way I hope (look no further than our Woody Allen vs. Charlie Chaplin matchup), but nevertheless its something I enjoy constructing. This time around we have Wes Anderson vs. Quentin Tarantino.

Before your eyes begin to roll at the mere conceit, allow me to briefly state my case: both filmmakers have similarly amassed a cult-like following among cinephiles. Both filmmakers have developed their own distinguishable aesthetic, a sort of signature style visible through each of their movies: coincidentally, this happens to be (for both directors) their greatest virtue and vice. Both filmmakers are perpetually emulating and drawing from their personal favorite directors.

But most importantly, both Tarantino and Anderson continue to make films consumed by their own self-awareness. However, the major difference between the two directors lie within their content. There’s a clear dissonance between Anderson’s rose-colored lens of storytelling, and Tarantino’s pulpy one. Yet while one filmmaker is fixated on fictionally recreating historic and cultural movements (the Holocaust and slavery), and the other is obsessed with tackling the painstaking movement of falling in love, both live and die by the English language. I’m not sure we have two working auteurs today with a penchant for quick quips and pithy dialogue like Tarantino and Anderson.

Taking in the good with the bad, I’m sincerely grateful for both.

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Seven example films from Wes Anderson: 

Moonrise Kingdom

The Royal Tenenbaums

Rushmore 

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 

Bottle Rocket

The Darjeeling Unlimited 

Fantastic Mr. Fox

vs.

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Seven example films from Quentin Tarantino:

Pulp Fiction

Reservoir Dogs

Jackie Brown

Kill Bill: Volume 1

Kill Bill: Volume 2

Inglorious Bastards

Django Unchained

…

So which filmmaker do you prefer? The choice is yours.

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  • James Ewing

    Wes Anderson, because I like pretty images more than violence and 200+ n-words.

    That being said, both have amazing uses of music in both of their films.

    • Tarantino manages to make pretty images, albeit the violence. As for the profanity, I can’t tell whether you’re using that as a real or sarcastic criticism?

      • James Ewing

        I’m being a bit sarcastic, but I’ve never been crazy about the throwaway use of profanity/racially charged terms. I’ve heard his reasons as to why, I just find it a bit too grating after hearing it so often in his films.

        • I found it noticeable and a bit distracting in Django. Not so much in his other films.

        • I’ve bought into his reasoning. I find other things about his movies more aggravating than the profanity.

  • This is not fair! I will go with my list of favourite directors, which has Tarantino at #2 and Anderson at #7. Tarantino just rocks my boat, that’s all I’m going to say.

    • You know how much I love to cause inner-conflict Nikhat.

  • Although Tarantino’s average grade would likely be higher than Anderson’s for me (though his worst film is definitely lower than Anderson’s worst), I find Anderson is more capable than Tarantino of escaping the self-aware irony in execution. There’s more earnestness, more heart pumping blood beneath the style. Tarantino’s blood is mostly squibs. I know what I’m getting every time Tarantino emerges, but Anderson still somehow manages to surprise me. He gets my vote.

    • Tarantino still manages to surprise me. Not so much with his content, but stylistically.

      Anderson is certainly more earnest though.

  • I really like Anderson and think it’s really a draw, but I’ll give the slight edge to Tarantino because there have been a few clunkers for me with Anderson.

    • Death Proof?

      • Christopher Runyon

        Hey man, Death Proof is very good. Much better than a lot of people give it credit for.

        • I know no one who loves the film more than Sales.

      • I thought about that, and while it isn’t one of his best, it still has a pretty amazing car chase. That is probably his worst feature, though.

        • Django is the weakest of his films for me. Granted, I haven’t seen everything yet.

  • Christopher Runyon

    Tarantino by a landslide. I like Anderson, sure, but Tarantino has brought some incendiary classics. Meanwhile, the only Wes Anderson movie I can admit to wholeheartedly loving is Fantastic Mr. Fox, while the rest are good but not quite great. Tarantino, meanwhile, has Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill, Jackie Brown…y’know what, I love all of his films. Even my least favorites are filled with transcendent moments (The money exchange in Jackie Brown, the car chase in Death Proof).

    So yeah, my money goes to Tarantino.

    • I appreciate your realization mid-comment.

  • Steven Flores

    Shit, 2 of my favorite filmmakers whose works I’m definitely familiar with and influenced by.

    This is tough as they’re also both very devoted film buffs. Tarantino for his love of violence and pulp films while Anderson is more quirky and is more about world cinema.

    I’m undecided. I love both of these guys too much. I would probably go with Tarantino since he’s made more great movies than Anderson.

    • Tarantino and Anderson are good examples of filmmakers who display a deep and abiding love for cinema within their own work.

      How have they influenced you?

      • Steven Flores

        Well, Tarantino I think is a better screenwriter. Not just in the way he approaches violence but also characters. For Anderson, it’s in the way he frames his films but also not be afraid to show some humor and quirks though I felt some of that was a bit forced in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

        • I’m still on the fence with Anderson. I almost always get that feeling the quirkiness is just a bit forced.

  • Of course, like usual, I think comparing these two is like comparing black and white. These two directors specifically attempt to portray two different things.

    Tarantino is explicitly post-modern, sometimes even hyper-post-modern. His is deliberately a controversialist, and his “romanticism” is tiresome. His last several have been much better, but the revenge fantasy narratives are getting old.

    Wes Anderson on the other hand has a romanticism that is humanist and sincere. His characters are often times have fallen from their peak in life and struggle to find their place in a post-fame life. There is always an aspect of forbidden love, and his direction is more much more precise.

    • Yes, these two are entirely different. But as I wrote above, have many similarities.

      I’d hardly say Anderson is humanistic in his approach to portraying love. Everything he makes feels like a quirky fantasy.

  • Anderson.

    Interestingly I think these guys are both MUCH more similar as filmmakers than their styles suggest. Looking beyond the surface– Tarantino’s blood-soaked mis-en-scene, Anderson’s hyper-curated dollhouse aesthetic– they’re both directors who lean heavily on referentialism, allowing their influences not to seep but to bleed into
    their work (Tarantino’s love for grindhouse films, Anderson’s love for
    French pop music, etc).

    But I have to go with Anderson. It’s known (maybe that’s an overstatement) that I don’t love all of Tarantino’s films, notably Pulp Fiction and both Kill Bills,and that I also love Tarantino regardless of my hot-and-cold stance on his filmography. When he’s not being scattershot or pointlessly vulgar or self-indulgent, he’s amazing, and even when he is those things, his craft is impeccable. Plus, he’s a true film fan, and a true advocate for film as a medium. He’s one of film’s great champions. I’ll always admire the guy even when he doesn’t make movies I like.

    I just like Anderson’s films more, or, more accurately, I like more of his films. I really actively hated The Darjeeling Limited and I found The Life Aquatic to be ho-hum, an example of Anderson resting on style instead of telling a story, but everything else he’s made– particularly Moonrise Kingdom and The Royal Tenenbaums— works beautifully for me. Really, I think the only knock you can make against Anderson is that his style is so fussed with and so tuned that he’s a very, very acquired taste, whereas I think Tarantino enjoys slightly higher universal appeal, but “taste” isn’t really a factor in discussions of objective filmmaking quality.

    So, Anderson. Great picks as usual, Sam.

    (PS: Bottle Rocket. Not Bottle of Rocket.)

    • Glad you enjoyed this matchup Andrew.

      And yes, I’m very of your distaste for Pulp Fiction … which I still find baffling. I find that Anderson too often gets bogged down in his own style to actually tell a story.

    • Glad you enjoyed this matchup Andrew.

      And yes, I’m very of your distaste for Pulp Fiction … which I still find baffling. I find that Anderson too often gets bogged down in his own style to actually tell a story.

  • TheOneWhoKnocks

    God, this is hard. These two directors, while similar in the ways you’ve mentioned, are like different styles of music. Tarantino’s films are like a great funk/hip-hop album that’s anarchic and will knock you off your feet, while Anderson’s films are like a great indie pop/rock album that is both poetically whimsical and bitingly real. My gut reaction is to go with Tarantino, but there both incredible directors and two of my favorites.

    • Glad you understood with I find these two filmmakers analogous. Understandable gut reaction my friend.

    • Glad you understood with I find these two filmmakers analogous. Understandable gut reaction my friend.

  • Not even a conversation. Tarantino.

    • The 20 people below you would suggest otherwise Kristen.

    • I think the 20 something other comments would suggest otherwise.

  • Rob C

    I would say Tarantino is the better of the two. More interesting films. Stronger characters. But I do really like Wes Anderson. It’s not really fair that I have to choose between the two.

    • Tupac

      No ones telling u to choose man!

  • John

    You forgot “Death Proof” By Quentin Terantino.