Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino (1992)

Figure 01

Reservoir dogs is the directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino in 1992. It is considered to be one of his best films as it portrays the characters as colours and completely changes the way they are seen throughout the course of the film. The film starts off in a caf with Tarantino telling a sex story just swearing like a madman. Steve Buschemi is portrayed right from the off as being uptight, but through Tarantinos genius turn his character around and shows him to be the voice of reason and professionalism and at the end in a suspiciously Shakespearian ending, is the one who truly deserves to live. The film hides the main plot point by cutting the whole thing out, and just showing the aftermath with little hints of what has happened. Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth are shown in a car racing through the highway, Tim Roth dying I the back talking of a job, leading the audience to think of a bank job. Tarantino decides to hide the cast away in a confined space for the entire length of the film; this location is a good ideology of contempt as these pros feel vulnerable in this is place after being betrayed. The dog gag is later brought into the film with Michael Madsens character, Mr. Blonde taunting Mr. White saying to him Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite? which also secures the fact that they are a band of canine scavengers living by their own values on the outskirts of society (French, 1993) which is a good way of putting the fact that they are all instinctual and want to fend for their own good. The torture scene is one of the most recognizable scenes in the film. Although Tarantino is associated with violence, you dont actually see Blondie cut off the ear, the camera pans away and then pans back to see Blondie holding Figure 02 the ear and then comically talking into it. This scene works well because of the soundtrack that is overlaid. We finally realise that the narration voice is actually a radio host which ties the film through the cinematic soundtrack and the sound within the film. Blondie starts to play the music, which is stuck in the middle with you by Stealers Wheel, a kind of folk/country song. Its upbeat and cheery with the contrast of torture and almost death. This film ultimately succeeds through its top-notch performances (Dawson, 2000) which is kind of true of the opposite. The acting is quote bad and it is shown quite clearly that a lot of the dialogue is improvised, however this fact elevates the audiences reaction to the plot, shock value of of the film, with the racial slurs, homophobic tones and sexist themes, but also adds some comedy seeing it from their point of view.

It abandons the conventional format of natural chronological storytelling (Haflidason, 2000). It completely disregards the usual chronology of an event, the film goes from before the heist in the diner, to straight after with flashbacks explaining the majority of the film. This, however, is an excellent way to show this as it confuses the audience but explaining itself at the end and making the audience feel uneasy but also high immersed and intrigued.

Figure 01 http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Reservoir-Dogs-quentin-tarantino608436_1024_768.jpg Figure 02 http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z455/andriana18/reservoir-dogs-torture.jpg Figure 03 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/vSMWF4y122s/T4zx61YHKUI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/1XMMLteO7nU/s1600/reservoir-dogs-1992-01-g.jpg French, P 1993 (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1993/jan/10/features.quentintarantino Accessed - 12/02/2013 Dawson, J 2000 (Empire Online) http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=6455 Accessed 12/02/2013 Halfidason, A 2000 (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/11/21/reservoir_dogs_1992_review.shtml Accessed 12/02/2013