Analysis of Quentin Tarantinos Movies - Essay Example

 Quentin Tarantino “Born in 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was named, fittingly enough, after a character on a TV show, the half-breed blacksmith Quint played by Burt Reynolds on Gun smoke. When he was two, the future filmmaker's single mom moved with him to the South Bay area south of Los Angeles, which was his home for the next two decades. His neighborhood in the city of Torrance was a mixture of black and white, and he was exposed to a wide range of film and pop culture influences. Martial arts movies, for example, continued to play in black neighborhoods for several after the kung fu fad ended elsewhere; Tarantino was able to cross the tracks to continue watching them until well into the 1970s.” (Film Bug, September 19, 2008) When he was young, he was given exposure to different kind of films and he was also influences with the pop culture, which still influences many people. He called it a day as far as schooling was concerned at the age of 17 and wanted to pursue his career in acting, he supported himself financially during this time. When he turned 22, the genius in him started to show, he started writing scenes which were used in the practice of his acting classes and people also admired him because of his knowledge in the field of movies. All this came to him naturally, right from his childhood films played a big role in shaping up his life. Tarantino did not get success instantly; he literally wasted many years writing scripts for his debut as a director. The year 1991 saw him write Reservoir Dogs, an upcoming producer by the name Lawrence Bender took notice of Tarantino’s work and asked him for a month’s time to turn his work into a fully fledged movie. All the plans became successful and the movie was shot in less than month in exotic locations of Los Angeles. The movie has a star cast, which included stars like Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Laurence Tierney, Chris Penn and the movie was a huge success and turned around the fortune of Tarantino. The 1997 saw him writing and directing Jackie Brown. The movie was based on Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, the stars of the movie got nominated for academy awards and this goes to show that the film was a very successful one. “Tarantino's first career goal was to become an actor, and he has continued to play roles in his own films and in the work of others. He was the thief known only as Mr. Brown (That's a little too close to 'Mr.Shit,') in Reservoir Dogs and the jittery Jimmie Dimmick, saddled with a fresh corpse, Pulp Fiction. In the Man from Hollywood section of Four Rooms he was a blow-hard movie director. He also played bandit George Clooney's loony brother, Richard Gecko, in Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, played the title role in Jack Baren's Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995) and appeared in Spike Lee's Girl 6 (1996). (Film Bug, September 19, 2008) Tarantino’s Movies Quentin Tarantino became very renowned after the release of Pulp Fiction (1994), the movie did really very well and shot Quentin Tarantino to the limelight. The writers of the movie were Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. The movie achieved the biggest prize which any director can dream of, which is undoubtedly The Oscar Award. “This film oozes inspired casting, of actors who either played against type or at least became offbeat and edgy in ways in which we hadn't hitherto known them. Then, through the editing process, by telling the story in a maximum non-linear way, out of time, reducing the film to a series of seeming disjointed non-sequential vignettes, each vignette featuring the aforementioned snappy dialog delivered by the aforementioned hand-picked edgy actors. It is only after watching the entirety of the movie, and reflecting back on it, does the gestalt emerge for the viewer. And, it may take more than one viewing to get there. Then, lastly, by topping it all off with a snazzy soundtrack. That's how. Add all that stuff together and you get Pulp Fiction.” (Pulp Fiction, 19 September 2008) The movie is a hardcore action movie and involves a lot of violence, it is only meant for the Adults because of the content the movie has. The language used in the movie also includes abuse, another factor which makes the movie different is the drug abuse shown in the movie. The audience liked the movie because all the action scenes were presented in a very nice manner and this was exactly what Tarantino wanted. The main focus of the movie was on crimes and most of the scenes in the movie portray criminal activities, this is the only reason why the movie involves hardcore violence. Tarantino was awarded the Academy award for the best screen play with regard to this movie. Tarantino proved himself yet again by writing the script of the movie called True Romance, which was again a huge hit. This is just like any other Tarantino movie; it includes scenes of extreme torture, sexual situations. The sound track of the movie makes the audience believe that it is a fable. “True Romance rolls out a number of big names in small roles, providing a strange sense of familiarity. Actors like Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken have appeared in very similar a role before, which removes the need for character development in this instance. Clarence and Alabama have slightly more depth to their personalities, but not much (since background and motivation don't feature highly in this movie). If the statements of never-ending love seem rushed that's because everything in True Romance is moving at speed. The key is to accept events without question - it's that sort of film. (True Romance, 19 September 2008). The movie is full of hilarious dialogues which add to the beauty of the movie. It is really important to know what the audience is looking for unless and until their expectations are fulfilled; no one can become a successful director or a script writer. The director of the movie tried his level best to give the movie a look of any other Hollywood movie and he succeeded in doing so but people still wonder had Tarantino directed the same flick the result would certainly had been different because Tarantino’s ideas usually have influence from John Woo and Martin Scorcese, the final result would surely had been different and Tarantino would have made it look better, because if the script writer takes up the script and also directs the movie, the audience finds the same complementing each other where as in True romance. It was just not the case, the movie was directed by Tony Scott and the script was written by Tarantino. Cinematography Style of Quentin Tarantino Tarantino omitted his name for the movies Reservoir dogs and Pulp Fiction, which means that he never gave himself credit for these two movies. Mexican Standoff is quite common in his movies, which basically means that, a scene in which three or more characters in the movie point guns at each other. Tarantino’s obsession with pop culture shows in almost all of his movies, all his movies have a great influence from pop culture. Another worth mentioning point is that, all his movies have very sharp dialogues, in the sense that excessive foul language is used which is quite required for the kind of movies which Tarantino makes. Tarantino has the ability of portraying violent scenes with a knack of humor in them; this is very acceptable by the audience, which is why almost all his movies worked out in Hollywood. Tarantino accepted in an interview that he admired the work of Brain De Palme and Howard Hanks ad liked them as directors. Tarantino uses flashbacks in his movies; this is quite predominant in movies like Retrospective, Desperado and many other popular flicks of his. Tarantino once said that he hated people who said that his movies followed the methods of flashbacks. Tarantino uses some typical camera angles for his movies, in so many movies of his, the characters can are seen getting in and getting out of the doors. This is very typical of Tarantino and it’s not used by any other director. Tarantino makes sure that the main characters in the movie smoke cigarettes and this is again found in so many movies of his. Extent of Quentin Tarantino films influencing the modern film makers Tarantino has a very huge influence on modern day film makers, he introduces cheesy dialogues in his movies and the same is being followed by every other director till date. This is one of the biggest influences which he has made in the minds of the modern day directors. Another big influential fact is that, Tarantino brought the criminal activities and the crimes to the notice of the people and the same is followed by so many directors these days. After watching a Tarantino movie people feel that they have just witnessed a discussion, so he involves the audience in that discussion and the same is followed these days, the modern day directors use the same method of involving people in the movie to get the desired results out of it. Tarantino’s reference to the pop culture is one of the biggest influences which the other directors of the modern day have got from him. The main characters smoking for a considerable period in the film is the most commonly found scenario in modern day films. Another big influence is that, he has brought a lot of respect in the mind of the directors who write scripts too. He is the role model of so many emerging film makers considering this it is very fair to say that he influences their work in a very big way. The sound track used in his movies has been really influential, and has set a new trend of his own. References Pulp Fiction, In Imdb.com. Retrieved on September 19, 2008 from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/ Quentin Tarantino. In Film bug. Retrieved on September 19, 2008 from: http://www.filmbug.com/db/355 True Romance. In Film U-net. Retrieved on September 19, 2008 from: http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/True_Romance.html Read More