"So the bottom line is, my No 1 responsibility is not to society at large; it's to my characters. And to be true to them. If you had to stop and think what some idiot might do after seeing the movie, you'd never do anything."
– Quentin Tarantino
FILMS, they assault our souls in the most wondrous of ways. My last visit to an actual cinema was almost 11 years ago. Making plans to watch particular films always fall through, for reasons I now have no memory of.
The horror-slash-gore genres were always my go-to choices, from Stephen King’s 'Salem’s Lot' and 'Carrie' right to 'The Exorcist', and everything in between.
But two filmmakers, whose movies I have watched over and over, were those done by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, and ones which they collaborated upon.
In an interview with film critic Roger Ebert, Tarantino said: "I hear the laughter. People talk about the violence. What about the comedy? 'Pulp Fiction' has such an obviously comic spirit, even with all the weird things that are happening. To me, the most torturous thing in the world, and this counts for 'Reservoir Dogs' just as much as 'Pulp Fiction', is to watch it with an audience who doesn't know they're supposed to laugh. Because that's a death. Because I'm hearing the laughs.”
'Pulp Fiction' (1994) can be confusing when watching it for the first time, the stories intermesh. The opening sequence takes place in a diner, where Tim Roth’s character (Yolanda/ Pumpkin) and his girlfriend Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny sip coffee and have a casual chat about robbing places. After a tender moment between the two, this pocket-sized creature jumps on a table, aims her gun at the crowd and screams, “Everybody be cool, this is a robbery! Any of you f*****g p****s move, and I’ll execute every last m***********g last one of ya!”
Almost simultaneously, we are introduced to John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson; Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield respectively, Mob Boss Marsellus Wallace’s hitmen who happen to be at the same diner. They were dressed in shorts and t-shirts, which will be explained as the film unrolls. Without giving away too much of the plot, Pulp Fiction is a series of interlocking scenes involving prizefighter (Bruce Willis) who under Marsellus’s orders, was supposed to throw a fight.
There are also ridiculously hilarious scenes involving a drug overdose with Marsellus’s wife Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), a ‘twist’ dance contest of the two at a 50s themed restaurant, a shootout ending in a brutal rape scene, a mysterious briefcase which is the central theme of the movie as its contents were never divulged except for a ray of gold light emanating when opened. Some say it is actual gold, other theorists think it is Marsellus Wallace’s soul.
In the midst of so much going on, Quentin Tarantino’ directing is staggering; no stone is left unturned, each character was fleshed out beautifully albeit a small amount of screen time. That is his genius – the humour and insane energy, seriously odd script, and a cast which is nothing short of stellar.
When asked about extreme violence in movies and real life, Tarantino said: “OK! My answer is the easiest answer in the world, to me: It's just a movie and that's the way I feel! However, while I do not believe there is absolutely any correlation of people seeing a movie and going out and acting it out in real life, and as an example, people go, 'Well, what about the Borgias? There were no movies back then. Well, even more important, what about Tokyo? It's the safest city I've ever been in, and they have the most violent cinema I've ever seen. However, how much society and the image we see go hand-in-hand, I don't know the answer to that. However, I do know that I'm a good person, yet I grew up watching 'The Wild Bunch' and 'Deliverance' on a double-feature when I was 11 years old. All right, you know?"
Tarantino’s reign of terror did not end there of course. Before 'Pulp Fiction', there was 'Reservoir Dogs', made in 1992; the story of eight men, their names in colour-codes (Mr Pink is one unforgettable) again taking place in a diner discussing a diamond heist. Of course, everything became one complete mayhem, resulting in unbelievable torture, guns blazing, kidnappings, a Mexican standoff and mercy killing. Tarantino went on to make 'Kill Bill: Volume I and II' which starred Uma Thurman as the avenging bride who decimates everyone and everything standing in her way to ‘kill Bill’. One of the many, many highlights includes the scene where Uma’s character stormed a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo, slaughtering almost everybody with her Hattori Hanzo sword clad in a yellow jumpsuit; a replica of the one Bruce Lee wore in 'Game of Death'. Tarantino continued his quest for mayhem with 'Jackie Brown', 'Inglourious Bastards', 'Django Unchained', 'The Hateful Eight' and 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.
The Tarantino-Rodriguez collaboration began at The Toronto Film Festival, where the former was showing 'Reservoir Dogs' and Rodriguez, 'El Mariachi'. A conversation at a hotel lobby was the catalyst of a lifelong friendship.
Robert Rodriguez is well-known for his horror/ action/ animation films. Who could forget 'Machete', (his infamous line “Machete don’t text”) 'Sin City' (of which Tarantino directed a sequence) and 'Desperado'? His choice of filming locations has always been Mexico.
Later, both discovered their offices were near one another.
Rodriguez said: “We are both self-taught filmmakers. We would hang out; he would read excerpts from 'Pulp Fiction' and I’d show him 'Desperado’s' storyboards.”
The idea for making 'Grindhouse' stemmed from watching movie trailers in Tarantino’s home theatre. After a while, they both decided to somehow compile these trailers and movies they watched together and both agreed to name it 'Grindhouse'. The double feature, 'Planet Terror' and 'Death Proof' pays homage to 70s exploitation films. Rodriguez, dubbed the ‘one-man film crew’ took charge of almost everything; the film was written, directed, scored, co-edited and photographed by him.
The storyline?
The protagonist is a stripper named Cherry Darling, played by Rose McGowan, in one of her juiciest roles ever. The movie opens with Darling doing a striptease and forwards to a scene where she decides to leave the stripping-world behind in search of a new career. In another scene, a battalion of soldiers under the command of the clinically-insane Lt. Muldoon, (played by Bruce Willis) were in the midst of purchasing a ghastly amount of DC2, a biochemical substance which of course leaked and infected the whole rural Texas vicinity. People became zombies aka bloodthirsty, demented brain-sucking psychopaths. What a trip watching Cherry Darling annihilate these creatures using a machine gun literally stuck unto her amputated leg. Everything went to Hell. I will say no more.
In Tarantino’s 'Death Proof', stuntman Mike Mckay follows three girls into a bar. This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, and to an extent, it is one. The three girls, Shanna, Arlene and hotshot radio DJ 'Jungle' Julia Lucai, spend a night on the town of Austin Texas to celebrate the DJ’s birthday. Towards the end of the evening, stuntman Mike offers a girl a ride home in his “reinforced” death car, which was outfitted with a roll-cage. He looks at the girl and says, “This car is death-proof, for the driver.” What follows is a ride straight into Hades, the girl reduced to crimson jello.
Stuntman Mike then hunts the three girls, and rams full speed into their car, causing limbs to fly out of the window. The scene is horrific but has a certain kind of “beautiful” charm, like an opera conducted by a man on LSD. Audiences witness a mind-shattering death scene which hypnotises. Stuntman Mike finally gets his punishment, but that is something you’ll have to see for yourself. What I can say is the ending is wonderfully-satisfying; you want to watch it on repeat. It is something anyone would do under the same circumstances.
The Tarantino-Rodriguez collaboration is exhilarating for those who relish in violence; exploitation movies spattered with bits from Spaghetti Westerns. It is diabolical, delightfully-insulting, filled with the immoral and corrupted, and strong but flawed characters.
What is not to love? – The Vibes, January 16, 2021
