Day 8: Quentin Tarantino and Inglourious Basterds: Cannes’ most anticipated film and press conference did not disappoint, with a packed Lumiere theater for the press screening and a crush to get into the press conference immediately after the two hour 40 minute film. With the energetic action expected accompanied by a generous measure of comedy, the fictitious, fantasy fulfillment story tracks the eight Nazi-killing “basterds” under the command of Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) behind enemy lines. Their ambitious “Operation Kino” sets out to kill Hitler, Goebbels, and other Nazi officers by igniting a cinema with the Nazi brass trapped inside enjoying a German film celebrating one of their war heroes. A sniper trapped in a town’s tower killed 300 Allies and became a film star. A wily, very savvy German colonel suspects and soon discovers the basterds’ plot and takes his own retaliatory action.

“Inglourious Basterds” includes Tarantino’s loving but derivative homage to film history about which he again shows an enviable depth of affection and breadth of knowledge. Shot in the style of the 1930s and 40s films that he screened for his actors, Tarantino has taken his homage further. He directed his actors to honor the verbal and nonverbal details and extends this inspiration to an impressive art direction, among other stylistic choices.

The film moves well, even with a two-hour forty minute running time, because Tarantino develops several parallel stories without haste so that we can relish the clever exchanges. Each scene settles in with no particular hurry to reach a usually violent climax, with one real whopper at a crucial moment. Less sadistically indulgent than his other films, Basterds induces cringe moments only with the repeated scalpings, rather tame by Quentin’s standards.

Yet another exercise in genre bending, Basterds ultimately feels, in a nod to Faulkner, feels like sound and fury signifying if not “nothing,” than less than the sum of its parts. The window dressing looks great, the playful indulgence in fantasy immensely gratifying on an “if only” level, but I long for more than an audio-visual experience, enjoyable as that tour de force may be. I long for something to take away. It may be wanting too much for now from Quentin until the maturity of his content can match his technical expertise.

btw, when asked in the press conference about the spelling of “basterds,” Tarantino said that to explain “my artistic flourish defeats the purpose, so I can’t explain it.”

Diane Carson, a freelance writer from St. Louis, has reviewed and taught film for over two decades. She’s covering the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for STLtoday.com.