Reservoir Dogs (1992)

              Reservoir Dogs (written and directed by Quentin Tarantino) is an independent film about eight criminals who plan and execute a diamond store heist which goes horribly wrong and amidst the chaos the crew must decide if one amongst them is an undercover cop.  The crew consists of six professional criminals who have never met, and two crime bosses who organized the scheme.    Throughout the film, the remaining criminals return to a warehouse to deal with the aftermath of the botched robbery and attempt to uncover the identity of the one who betrayed them.

                Reservoir Dogs utilizes a variety of different cinematic elements and techniques to convey a highly intense and dramatic atmosphere.  One of these elements is a non-linear storyline.  The way in which this non-linear story is presented is that the post-robbery scenes shot within the warehouse are occurring in “real-time” and are briefly interrupted with flashbacks of past events to give the audience critical background information at key points within the film.  Tarantino did an excellent job with the timing and placement of these flashback scenes which changes up the mood of the film at times, and keeps the audience’s interest peaked.  Another interesting technical element used in this film was the abundance and length of many scenes utilizing a “long shot”, in which the actors interact at a relatively far distance away from the camera for extended periods of time, occasionally moving closer while the camera stays in a fixed position.  This creates a more realistic atmosphere that makes the audience feel like they are actually in the warehouse and less aware that they are watching a movie as opposed to films that utilize more close ups and thus requires “cutting” between different actors faces.  The film also makes use of a fair amount of long-takes and steadicam shots to add to the realistic effect.  One notable example (which can be viewed below) of a well executed long-take/steadicam shot occurs while one of the criminals is torturing a cop.  The camera follows behind the criminal as he walks out of the warehouse to his car and then back to his original location, all in one continuous shot.  While this continuous and free flowing shot adds realism, the main contribution to the realistic effect is accomplished by the diegetic soundscape created by a song playing from an in-scene radio.  As the camera (and audience) follow the criminal out of and back into the warehouse, the volume of the song changes accordingly with the location of the camera, creating a realistic soundscape.  All the elements in this scene were extremely well executed by the director, the cinematographer, and the sound designer. 

           Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs makes for a great watch with its interesting plot and excellent execution by all who were responsible for the technical aspects of the actual filming.  It should be noted that due to some scenes of excessive violence and the abundance of foul language throughout, some viewers may be easily offended by this movie.

            

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(for all the Tarantino fans out there...)