(The camera politely pans away from the actual surgery.) “Hey, what’s going, did you hear that,” asks Mr. It is significant that in the most talked about moment in the film an ear is sliced-off – a policeman being tortured. It creates a particular atmosphere and mood. The music you perceive are songs they’re listening to on the radio. What ensues is a non-linear Rashomon narrative about betrayal surrounding a heist you will not see, but you will see its aftermath, hear the different versions of what happened – and you will ultimately experience what happened.Įvery sound in this film is diegetic – meaning that all the sounds you hear are sounds the characters can hear in the reality of the scene. This is the only time you will see them altogether. Brown – all but the first two are uniformed in black suits, white shirts and skinny ties and will file out of the restaurant and walk in slow motion to their cars and to the jewel heist. There’s camaraderie because of their proximity to one another, and there’s tension – and one upmanship in the banter. Brown (played by Tarantino.) Each character will reply and reveal something about themself. “Let me tell you what “Like a Virgin” is all about,” says Mr. His composition matches the verbal dexterity. Tarantino is making you listen and get immersed in their very specific world. They’re talking about Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin.” There’s an audacity in the dialogue as well as a cadence to what they’re saying. The opening scene is in a diner – and the camera circles in a close-up around the characters in the booth. It’s all about forcing you to pay attention.
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“Reservoir Dogs” is essential cinema, and one of the most auspicious debuts in movie history. He’s likened his choreographed mayhem to dance sequences in musicals. The violence and profanity in “Reservoir Dogs” is unrelenting but it’s all done at a heightened level – using them as cathartic devices. Tarantino’s passion for cinema is tangible, and he’s built a style and a brand that is instantly recognizable. It mines cinema – assimilating influences and paying homage to other filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Kurasawa, Sergio Corbucci and Scorsese but he synthesizes them into something that’s his own. I have since – every semester – gravitated to this 98 minute taut film as a a learning tool. I sat there astonished, admiring the artistry of its construction. Twenty-eight years ago, during Labor Day weekend at the Telluride Film Festival – I sat in an auditorium filled with people that were experiencing Tarantino’s vision and vernacular for the first time. But they don’t know each other, so no one wants to back down,” says Joe Cabot – the organizer of the soon-to-go-wrong jewelry heist at the center of Quentin Tarantino’s legendary writing/directing debut “Reservoir Dogs” (1992). You get four guys, all fighting over who is going to be Mr.