"Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs"

[HoopyFrood]

Luckily I can still turn it off -- mostly! -- otherwise I might drive myself mad by keeping up a constant monologue while watching films. But it's what I love about films -- that they can keep you talking endlessly about every little bit and all the aspects of it, be it fan, theorist, critic, maker, casual watcher, other.

I also feel a little bit preachy (it's getting late, I'll be packing up my soap box shortly!), but another thing we really got hammered with was the aspect of Desire as the driving point of a film -- the character's desire moves the plot and the film ends when they do or do not have it. In Dogs, it's the desire to find out who's the rat and what's going to be done with them. In Fargo it's the money (which gives it that driving 'race' force)...but not for Marge. For her, it's to get back to her home life with her husband, pretty much summed up by her getting into bed at the end and talking about the small stuff. It's quaint and fluffy, but in an otherwise really quite brutal film at times, it's also rather...well, nice!

[J-Sun]

Warning: spoilers in post (and likely succeeding posts, if any).

Don't worry about any soap box - many posts are "yep" and "nope" - sometimes some energy and detail are great.

I get what your saying on Fargo. Given the brutality of the film I guess I wanted a sort of more searching look into the lunacy but it was kind of swept under the carpet but, as you say, that's what a lot of people would like to do with it. So I will agree that Fargo's always in control of itself and does what it wants to do - it's a technically good film.

As far as RD, I'll agree that desire is a prime motivator in plot terms but, in a sense, it always is. I think the thing about RD that's most interesting is, like I say, the authenticity and loyalty aspects, about which I started rambling before deleting a bunch of it. I need to think about it all some more first. But, primarily, where Fargo ends up with everything tidied up and dismissed, RD ends with everybody shot to smithereens and all the questions still hovering. I think that's why I found it more satisfying.

That is interesting though - I think other than violence and Buscemi, there's no direct connection to the two films, but they do make an interesting study in contrasts. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of Fargo, so it's all from memory and it's been awhile. Amazing how much seems to still be sticking so far, though.

[HoopyFrood]

I read the script to Fargo before seeing the film, and at the time, I was all "what is this? There's hardly anything here!" I just didn't get it, it was so sparse. But it worked so well on the screen! Hardly anyone is a big talker in the film, which means what they do say has so much more weight, even the most every day and normal conversations. I love the accent. And I think I just generally get the feel that it's just a bit too...cold...in Brainerd for anyone to waste energy worrying about things!

And yeah, when I was chatting on about desire, it's something that should ideally be driving all films.

Leaving the audience with questions at the end certainly means they'll leave/finish the film with it lingering in their minds for a long time after, and talking about it endlessly. Gah, the ending to Inception! What a way to leave us hanging! And because of it, it's definitely memorable. I love that we cut to black before finding out what really happens at the end of Dogs. Although a large part of me really hopes that Mr Pink just gets arrested, rather than shot to pieces by the police!

Another film by the inimitable Coen brothers that stars Steve Bruscemi (though, from a fan point of view, he is massively underused) is The Big Lebowski. It has their trademark stand-out characters and brilliantly understated and layered dialogue. It's hard to place it in terms of Fargo and Reservoir Dogs, but it's certainly less violent, but still somewhat dark. Very enjoyable.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by HoopyFrood

Although a large part of me really hopes that Mr Pink just gets arrested, rather than shot to pieces by the police!

Funny you should say that - in part of what I cut, I was going to say that I figured the off-stage gunfire is him getting shot down but, on the other hand, he shot his way out of the bungled heist so the gunfire could as easily be him getting away again. And while, from a realistic point of view, he "should" be shot down or jailed, from a fictional, thematic view, you could make a case for it to make sense for him to escape. As far as arrest though, I guess it's possible, but I doubt it. Pink might be arrested (as an independent character) but I doubt Tarantino would let him be.

As far as the other references, I haven't seen either of those movies, unfortunately.

[HoopyFrood]

Ooh, you should definitely try Inception, it's one of the best films of recent years. Christopher Nolan is another crazy mofo director who seems to do no wrong.

And yes, the ultimate part of me hopes Mr Pink escapes entirely, but as you say, this is a Quentin Tarantino film after all....

[J-Sun]

Okay - I'll put Inception on the list. The only Nolan I've seen is Memento, which I've only seen once and I'm not sure what I think of it but I will definitely be seeing it again to find out. It was definitely interesting.

[J-Sun]

Saw Inception. Nolan fell into a big ol' bucket of money. The special effects in Memento were provided by a magic marker but were a little more elaborate in this one. I had a very similar reaction, though: definitely interesting, definitely partly puzzling, will definitely see again.

One complaint is that the exposition was the movie version of an infodump (albeit an active and entertaining one) and the movie was too long (two and a half hours - hour of setup; hour and a half of main movie) and seemed so fraught with potential "psychic power" that it actually underutilized its pieces. Also, di Caprio came off a bit flat to me much of the time.

Otherwise, some neat ideas with extremely arresting visuals and a generally good cast and I was interested throughout. Thanks for nudging me to watch it, Hoopy.

[HoopyFrood]

Tsk, J-Sun, I'm not going to recommend these brilliant films unless you agree with my opinions about them 100%!



I watched Memento the other day and it was so very good. I love films where you have work things out (well, you don't have to, but I love guessing stuff. Often out loud. I'm a terrible person to watch films with). It also made No One, whose DVD it was, to have a minor epiphany about how all the groundwork for Inception is in Memento. Which, considering how long ago Nolan started writing Inception, probably is the case.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by HoopyFrood

Tsk, J-Sun, I'm not going to recommend these brilliant films unless you agree with my opinions about them 100%!

Aw, isn't 95% enough? I hope you do recommend more, as I did like this.

I watched Memento the other day and it was so very good. I love films where you have work things out (well, you don't have to, but I love guessing stuff. Often out loud. I'm a terrible person to watch films with).

No, that's fun - unless maybe you're a really good guesser and manage to give away the true ending a lot.

It also made No One, whose DVD it was, to have a minor epiphany about how all the groundwork for Inception is in Memento. Which, considering how long ago Nolan started writing Inception, probably is the case.

Yeah - I agree with that. That's part of why I made the comment about the budget. Under all that difference of scale, he's definitely playing with some of the same themes and interests. I need to re-watch both and plan to do so in close proximity.