Justified

Justified (2010 - )

This weekend was dedicated to this series. I had it recommended by friends and watched first episode some time ago. At the time I thought it seemed promising, but didn’t want to commit to a new series at that point. I always watch series in one go, season by season in DVD or preferably Blu-ray boxes. Such a venture means that features and all other viewing is placed on hold for a period. 

The other thing that held med back was the fear of “Tarantino-sickness”. I appreciate the works of novelist Elmore Leonard and much of the films that are directly or indirectly derived from his writing. Sadly the new focus on making dialogue that has entertainment value in itself in the 90ies and beginning of the new century evolved into something I like to call “Tarantino-sickness”. What is charming and fresh in Pulp Fiction (1994) soon becomes tiresome in the lesser films of Tarantino and numerous followers. 

One problem is the endless speeches about nothing; another is that such long passages focusing on trivialities reveals too much about the writer. Looking back on that decade, you get the weird feeling that urban semi-semi-intellectuals are talking through the mouths of gangsters, police officer and prostitutes. 

It’s my claim that “Tarantino-sickness” to a great extent has ruined a decade of American film, in the same way that the desire to copy the coolness of “Trainspotting” as ruined more than a decade of British film.

This is NOT a fault inherit in Justified. To the contrary it’s good to see that dialogue again has become a virtuous form of entertainment.  This series along with other recent output like the remake of “True Grit” (2010) shows promises for the future.