Sally Menke - a great loss for modern cinema

Quentin Tarantino has only himself to answer too. His films are bold statements bursting out of his own persona and ego, influenced heavily by all the movies and pop culture that goes through his system.

There is however one other consistent individual that has crafted the films of Tarantino. Shaped the stories and help construct some of the most memorable scenes of recent cinema. Film Editor Sally Menke. Sadly she died last week from being over come by the heat whilst hiking in the hills outside of LA.

Few director/editor collaborations have been so successful and offered such a wide range of styles and creating such a variety of moods and emotions. The almost excruciatingly exciting tension of the ear slicing scene in Reservior Dogs, the cooler than cool dance scene in Pulp Fiction, the wonderful play with split screen technique and reaction in Jackie Brown, the opening and closing of Kill Bill ("Bill, it's your baby"...BANG! IN THE HEAD)/("Does she know he child is still alive?") basic perfection.....(and the martial art fight sequences may have made Hong Kong blush), to the awesome car chase and 4 POV car crash in Death Proof, to most recently everything about Inglorious Basterds....the opening interrogation by Hans Landa trying to root out hiding jews in a French farmhouse...probably one of the best crafted scenes ever!

Hopefully Tarantino will continue to create amazing and original films without his 'number one collaborator', but either way Sally Menke's talents and understaning of film and stories will be greatly missed. However, her talent and skill will remain with the films that ain't going no where!

The Guardian Film Blog has much more thorough and well-written obituary and over view...HERE!