1992 crime drama, dir. Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth:
IMDb /
allmovie. What
happens if the manager won't give you the diamonds?
It's another feature debut, but – politely – it's clearly a film
made by someone who's seen a lot of other films. I confess that it
rubs me wrong to start with: I was really glad when IMDb and
smartphones destroyed that interminable meandering pop-culture
conversation about that guy who was in that thing with that other guy,
and these people who have nothing better to talk about, no life of the
mind of their own, are the people we're supposed to think are cool
(which acts as a substitute for having anyone actually likeable in
the film). (Quite apart from their stunning ignorance: here's someone
who claims to respect minimum wage workers, who doesn't even know that
in many states tippable jobs get an explicit exemption to the minimum
wage laws. And none of his mates knows this either.)
On the other hand, the central relationship of the film, between White
the experienced crook and Orange the undercover cop playing a less
experienced crook, works. That's what saves it for me, particularly at
the end when White's treating Orange tenderly even though he's about
to shoot him in the head.
Beyond that… well, there's a towering moment of professionalism from
Keitel when a door blows open in mid-scene and he walks over and
closes it without breaking character, because there wasn't the budget
for multiple takes. But really I'd much rather have seen the film
about Holdaway the detective-mentor.
The violence and gore were shocking at the time… but if they don't
shock, as they don't shock a modern viewer (still less one who's seen
much gorier things in real life), then there's nothing left. Compare a
Hong Kong action film, which will have bloody shocking violence that
is also beautiful.
I admit this film has been hugely influential, but it really only had
the one thing to say to me.
Once more if you want more of my witterings you should listen to
Ribbon of Memes.
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