#29 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Like I said in my Unglorious Basterds review (holy shit, it's been a while), I love Quentin Tarantino's films. Pulp Fiction is, tied with Dr. Strangelove, my favorite film of all time. And while watching Unglorious Basterds I realized I've missed a lot of his filmography, so I added a bunch of his films to the list. I had to start with this one, being his debut as a director. And what a debut it is.


If you have seen Pulp Fiction (if you haven't, do yourself a favor and go watch it), you'll find the themes, narrative structure and characters here very familiar. The movie is mostly about a gang of professional criminals (the eponymous Reservoir Dogs) and a failed diamond heist. None of the heist is shown in the film: all that is shown is what happens before and after it, using Tarantino's trademark non-linear narrative. Which, in case you're unfamiliar with... it's kind of messy: the order of the events is completely scrambled (the first scene is the second, the second is the fourth, the third is the first, one of them is missing altogether), you definitely have to see it multiple times to make sense of things. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work: you still understand everything that's going on.

  

Wait, didn't we get to know each other a second ago? Oh, that was a flashback... Was it?

The performances are also great, swithcing their moods as the fim goes on: ranging from over the top violent to laid back and relaxed. You have Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen among other actors, playing codenamed characters (Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. White and Mr. Blonde respectively). And while the characters are codenamed you still get to know a lot about their personalities, and most of the character development is done through the interactions between them. And it works. It's a lot of fun to watch Mr. Pink bitching at his boss for getting the most effeminate name, or Mr. Blonde slicing up a hostage cop while listening to the radio, or Mr. White trying to confort a wounded Mr. Orange in the bloodsoaked back of a car ("I shot Marvin in the face", anyone?).

  

And the opening scene, with everyone having breakfast? It's nothing but casual talk, and it's so entertaining!

The twists and turns of the narrative, the interaction-driven character development and the original concept makes this a fantastic film. Not only did it help put Tarantino on the map, but it also did a big deal in making people aware of how refreshing independent cinema can be. It's totally worth checking out.