Characters- Harvey Keital , Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and Lawrence Tierney
Proffesional review (BBC films) - 4 out of 5 stars
User Rating - 5 out of 5 stars
"Reservoir Dogs" is a supremely confident debut feature by writer and director Quentin Tarantino. And just like his follow up "Pulp Fiction", it generated the type of hype that it should struggle to justify. But it remains as shocking, perversely funny, and stylish as upon original release." (BBC Review)
This is another Quentin Tarantino film and was originally submitted for film classification in June 1992, and it gained alot of notice in a mix of film festivals. Its compilation of criminal behaviour, cool style cultures and exciting story of a bunch of thieves who fall out after a botched robbery, the story brang excitement and addrenaline to the viewers.
In this scene Tarantino uses alot of dark humor, which he uses in alot of his films. By saying things like "i hope you enjoyed that as much as i did" and saying "now dont you go anywere, even though the man was tied to a chair, all of this humor is seen as dark humor which is defined as a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness. Synonyms include dark comedy, black humor, dark humor, and morbid humor. which tarantino uses very well in this films. How one man is dancing along to very happy cheerfull music as he is about to kill another man, brings a horrible sense of reality and adds a sick twisted nature which is played so well by his character (Mr Blonde). As you cant see the police mans ear being cut off, the scene is made visual by just the sounds being made by the person in pain, which How he is dancing and singing while throwing petrol on him about to burn him to death, as if he was mocking him, as if to say i'm so happy with the crime im about to comit.
Although strong, much of the violence in the film, such as that which occurs during the robbery, happens off screen or is limited to the climactic shootout at the warehouse and the strength of such ‘gangster’-related violence had been precedented in films such as Goodfellas.
This scene can be referenced to pulp fiction as they both start in a diner, and both have inter scene references.
You've made some perceptive points about Tarantino's use of black humour in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
ReplyDeleteTarantino's title sequence in Pulp Fiction set in the diner with a couple of crazy loose cannons is indeed an explicit intertextual reference to Reservoir Dogs.
To develop your post you could add another explaining:
Why the use of so many closeups in the title sequence of Reservoir Dogs?
Why has Tarantino used the intertextual reference to Reservoir Dogs in the title sequence of Pulp Fiction?
Think about what he's saying about American culture; think about what he's saying about genre.
Also note how in Reservoir Dogs Tarantino utilises the generic convention of costume and enclosed spaces whilst also taking the genre further. You may wish to consider these points.
Why so much dialogue? Think about the purpose of the banal dialogue in both opening squences and what it tells the audience about the characters.
Reference your yellow coursework booklets to explain the purpose of camera angles and movement, location, costume, lighting, character types and soundtrack.
I'm very pleased you are researching Tarantino films.