Today I watched Reservoir Dogs one of my all-time favorites by Quentin Tarantino. The way this movie was shot and directed is very unique. From the opening seen showing all the guys around a table drinking coffee, to then cutting to Mr. Orange and Mr. White driving as Mr. Orange bleeds all over the back seat. Great use of dramatic structure, conflict, and allegory make this movie stand out above many others.
The dramatic structure of Reservoir Dogs is definitely non-linear. What I mean by that is that the movie is not structured in chronological order. Our text talks about a story beginning in medias ves which is a Latin phrase meaning in the middle. As I had previously stated in my introduction the story jumps from place to place. This makes the movie somewhat confusing to some viewers in the beginning, but also grabs your attention to keep you watching and wondering what had happened to lead up to this point. In the case of Mr. Orange bleeding in the back of Mr. White’s car it left the viewer asking many questions. Who shot him? Why was he shot? What did Mr. White have to do with it? As the movie progressed and the pieces began to come together everything then started to make sense. I love movies that are filmed in this way and would put this film in my top five all time favorites.
As our texts states; conflict is the base for all stories. It is the element that captures our interest, heightens the intensity of our experience, quickens our pulses, and challenges our minds. In this movie there were many different conflicts. The main conflict being who the rat in the group was that led to the robbery going wrong? This is very hard to identify at first due to the non-linear structure in which this movie was filmed. Eventually we come to find that Mr. Orange was an undercover cop who shoots Mr. Blonde when Mr. Blonde threatens to light a cop on fire that he had captured from the robbery. In the end the answers are finally known when Joe comes to the rendezvous point at the end and says that he knew Mr. Orange was indeed a cop.
Allegory is shown in both a concrete and figurative way. For most directors it becomes difficult to show both of these, and the figurative side to a story becomes more prevalent. To make a more concrete statement the character that is involved needs lack a lot of unique characteristics. In the case of this movie Mr. Blonde made the concrete statement when he was shot by Mr. Orange. In the end he became a symbol due to his loyalty to Joe.
In conclusion this movie showed many characteristics of a great movie. The dramatic structure, conflict, and symbolism shown in this movie were portrayed very well. If you are looking for a film that will keep you guessing and is full of great acting Reservoir Dogs is one I highly recommend.
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