Might be sacrilege for my 19 year-olds at Columbia College, but no, I don?t love all his movies.
Tarantino, for me, is the mad video clerk who has seen 10,362 movies. He has total recall, can sample, skim, or outright steal from the obscure Korean flick you never saw and do it so artfully, you?ll never know it was ever done. Picasso told us, ?good artists borrow, great artists steal.? There?s much more to Tarantino than this aspect, though.
Make no mistake: Tarantino will be around hundreds of years from now. Inglorious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill are for the ages. Are they on my Top 100 stuck-on-a-desert-island list? Hell no. All style, little substance, few female characters of any depth, violence reduced to cartoon level. Bloody body counts rise and I just kinda?shrug. It?s Roadrunner shit, death with no stakes or meaning.
But style?holy Christ, the style! When you get an esque after your name, the debate on whether it was deserved or not is pretty much academic.
Have you read the guy?s scripts? You should.
Just like with Shane Black, by some alchemy, reading a Tarantino script is a unique experience. Nobody writing for genre can write dialogue at his level. The action sequences are unparalleled. One pictures Tarantino at the computer having a grand old time and the reading experience is similar: It?s hellava lotta fun to read his stuff. Breaks tons of rules in the process but it?s utterly beside the point? He tells a story like few others.
How about if we start with his most recent, Inglorious Basterds. Apologies for running the dialogue long, but I want it to sink in: This isn?t even half the scene. We?re talking about one of the most remarkable set piece to open a movie. A 10+ minute dialogue scene OVER A TABLE, totally static except for the camera tilting down to show the Jewish family beneath them, their survival hanging on every word between the farmer and Nazi Hunter. It?s pure Hitchcock, the definition of suspense?but Hitchcock?s bomb under the table is the Jewish family. How many screenwriters have the chops to pull off ten solid minutes of interrogation to open a movie? Tarantino shatters the screenplay manuals that tell the new writer it?s the visual over verbal, show don?t tell.
13. The Jew Hunter, removes both a pipe and a bag of tobacco fixings. The pipe, strangely enough, is a Calabash, made from a "S" shaped goard kith a yellow skin, made famous by Sherlock Holmes. A the Nazi Colonel, busies himself with his smoking life, he ontinues to hold court at the Frenchmans table. COL LANDA The other mistake the German soldier make is their severe handling of the citizens who give shelter and aid to the Jews. These citizens are not enemies of the state. They are simply confused people, trying to make some sense out of the madness war creates. These citizens do not need punishing. They simply need to be reminded of their duty in war time. Let's use you as a example Monsieur LaPadite. In this war, you have found yourself in the middle of a conflict that has nothing to do with yourself, your lovely ladies, or your cows - yet, here you are. So Monsieur LaPadite, let me purpose a question. In this time of war, what is your number one duty? Is it to fight the Germans in the name of France to your last breath? Or, is it to harass the occupying army to the best of your ability? Or, is it to protect the poor unfortunate victims of warfare who can not protect themselfs? Or, is your number one duty in this time of bloodshed, to protect those very beautiful women who constitute your family? The Colonel lets the last statement stand. COL LANDA That was a question Monsieur LaPadite. In this time of war, What do you consider your number one duty? PERRIER To protect my family. COL LANDA Now, my job dictates, that I must have my men enter your home, and conduct a thorough search, before I can officially cross your families name off my list. COL LANDA (CON'T) And if there are any irregularities to be found, rest assured, they will be. That is unless, you have something to tell me that will make the conducting of a search unnecessary. (PAUSE) I might add also, that any information that makes the preforming of My duty easier, will not be met with punishment. Actually quite the contrary, it will be met with reward. And that reward will be, your family will cease to be harassed in anyway, by the German military during the rest of our occupation of your country. The Farmer, pipe in mouth, stares across the table at his German opponent. COL LANDA You are sheltering enemies of the state, are you not? PERRIER Yes. COL LANDA Your sheltering them underneath your floorboards aren't you? PERRIER Yes. COL LANDA Point out to me the area's where their hiding. The Farmer points out the area's on the floor with the Dreyfusis are underneath. COL LANDA Since I haven't heard any disturbance, I assume that while their listening, they don't speak english? PERRIER Yes . COL LANDA I'm going to switch back to french now, and I want you to follow my masquerade - is that clear? PERRIER Yes. Colonel Landa stands up from the table, and switching to FRENCH says SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH; COL LANDA Monsieur LaPadite, I thank you for milk, and your hospitably. I do believe our business here is done. The Nazi Officer opens the front door, and silently motions for his son to approach the house. COL LANDA Mademoiselle LaPadite, I thank you for your time, we shant be bothering your family any longer. Yet the LaPadite women watch the Nazi soldiers, machine guns at ready, approach the house. The Soldiers enter the doorway, Col Landa, silently points out area of the floor the Jews are hiding under. COL LANDA So, Monsieur and Madame LaPadite I bid you adieu. otions to the Soldiers with his index finger. wy TEAR UP the wood floor with MACHINE GUN FIRE. The little farm house is filled with SMOKE, DUST, SPLINTERS, SCREAMS, 0ULLET CASINGS, and even alittle BLOOD. With a hand motion from the Colonel, the Soldiers cut off their gunfire. The Colonel keeps his finger in the air to indicate silence. UNDERNEATH THE FLOORBOARDS The entire Dreyfus family lay dead. Except for sixteen year old $HOSANNA, who miraculously escaped being struck by the nazi's bullets. With her dead family surrounding her, the young girl goes for freedom (represented by wire mesh vent). L LANDA ears movement underneath the floor, looks down and see's a SHAPE Wing forward between the planks in the floor. COL LANDA It's the girl. Nobody moves I'. T KICKED open, the girl SPRINGS out. COL LANDA ae he crosses the floor, he see's the young girl RUNNING towards the cover of the woods. He unlatches the window, and opens it. Shosanna to perfectly FRAMED in the window sill. 1SANNA RUNNING towards woods. Farm house and Col in the window in B.G. LTHY BAREFEET LAPPING against wet grass. Qt! SHOSANNMA' S FACE same as a animal being chased by a predator FLIGHT - PANIC - FEAR SNOSANNA'S POV the safety of tree's, getting closer. COL LANDA Pramed by the window, takes his LUGAR, and straight arm aims at the fleeing Jew, cocking back the hammer with his thumb. CU COL LANDA SLOW ZOOM into his eyes as he aims. PROFILE CU SHOSANNA Sod dash for life. L LANDA changes his mind. He yells to the rat fleeing the trap, heading for the safety of the wood pile, in FRENCH SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH; COL LANDA Au revoir, Shosanna! Till we meet again! HOSANNA Maces it to the woods, and is gone. T h e S.S. Colonel closes the window.
Few writers match Tarantino for action sequences. When a student writes: ?The bullet pierces Jimbo?s chest, Jimbo falls hard, writhing on the ground before dying.? I might tell him the passage is functional, it tells what the camera sees, but it doesn?t go further. In other words, anyone could write it. That won?t get your script sold. If you want to write action sequences, do yourself a favor and read Tarantino, like here from Kill Bill:
EXT. RESIDENTIAL PASADENA STREET - DAY The front door opens and an attractive black HOUSEWIFE the same age as The Bride stands in the doorway. The Housewife's face shows immediate recognition of the blonde on her doorstep. The BRIDE on the porch; we do a quick Shaw-Brothers-style Zoom into her eyes. FLASHBACK - SPAGHETTI WESTERN STYLE (That means our Heroine is remembering something, and we see it with an orange filter.) We're back inside the wedding chapel. The Bride is taking the beating of her life by four people in black suits. A black woman PUNCHES HER in the face... WE see it's the black housewife, five years earlier. The BRIDE ON THE PORCH We Zoom quick out of her eyes to CU, a VENGEANCE THEME PLAYS LOUD ON THE SOUNDTRACK. (Whenever we hear this theme throughout the picture, we'll quickly learn what accompanies it is The Bride goin Krakatoa all over whoever's ass happens to be in front of her at that moment.) As the Vengeance Theme plays, a Vein in The Bride's forehead begins to pulsate. When the Vengeance Theme stops, The Bride ATTACKS The Housewife. INT. HOUSEWIFE'S NICE HOME - DAY The white woman and the black woman FLY into the center of the living room, CRASHING onto her coffe table in front of the sofa. These two wildcats go at each other savagely, TUMBLING OVER the couch, clawing and scratching all the way, landing together on the plush carpet. The HOUSEWIFE KICKS The Bride, sending her CRASHING backwards into the small table where the phone, a note pad (for messages), and the mail is kept. The Housewife scrambles up on her feet, but is caught by a FLYING TACKLE from behind by The Bride that sends them both into........ An ornamental iron and tempered-glass bookcase that has framed family photos, display toys, some African art, and a collection of painted commemorative plates depicting the negro experience in the American military. Starting with a plate featuring Cripis Atkins in the revolutionary war, negro troops in union blue during the civil war, Buffalo soldiers fighting Indians, the Jim Crow troops of the first world war, the colored troops of world war two, Korea, Vietnam, and finally Colin Powell....The Bride and The Housewife CRASH THROUGH all this reducing everything to rubble. They land hard on the floor covered in broken glass, locked in grapple, each trying to get the best of the other one,... When The Housewife HEADBUTTS The Bride in the nose. The HOUSEWIFE hops off The Bride, runs into the kitchen, opens a drawer and comes out with a HUGE MOTHERFUCKIN BUTCHER KNIFE. The BRIDE rises from the floor, and WHIPS OUT a KNIFE in a sheath hanging from her belt known as a SOG. (A SOG is a long, double-edged knife that's as sharp as a razor, and is what Navy Seals use to kill humans with.) The Bride backs up into the mess of the now totally demolished living room. The two woman stalk each other, each holding her blade, each looking like they know how to use it, each waiting for the other to make a mistake so they can plunge their blade deep into the other one. Blood and sweat dript off of the faces of the two women locked in life and death combat...... ....When The back kitchen door opens, and a FOUR-YEAR-OLD LITTLE GIRL, carrying a lunch box steps inside. FOUR-YEAR-OLD GIRL Mommy, I'm home! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ He's allowed to give camera angles in the screen direction, you're not. He's Tarantino, he's directing, he's got the $$$, 'nuff said? I shouldn't, but can't help myself, for a last example check out this sequence from Kill Bill. Dude breaks every rule in the book, utterly tearing up the Guru's Format Guide, but it's a great read: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLACK FRAME TITLE CARD: Five years later. INT. THE COMATOSE BRIDE'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT The CAMERA is in a corner of the ceiling, looking down on the comatose Bride, who lies motionless in her bed. WE HEAR the sound of a BUZZING MOSQUITO, doing loop de loops and figure eights in the air, looking for some warm blood. The BUZZING stops.... MACRO CU of mosquito on The Bride's forearm, its stinger dug in her flesh, visibly drawing blood from its host. CU MOSQUITO'S FACE drinking her blood. MACROSHOT OF MOSQUITO ON FOREARM drinking blood...when The Bride's hand comes into FRAME and SQUASHES the bug flat. Her fingers FLICK the dead bug away. CU The Bride her wide-open eyes, that have stared in a constant gaze for the last five years, finally...slowly...softly...shut. They SUDDENLY POP OPEN. The BRIDE SITS BOLD UPRIGHT IN BED. She has no idea where the fuck she is. WE DO A SHAW BROTHERS STYLE QUICK ZOOM INTO A CU OF HER FACE. QUICK CUT TO A FLASHBACK SPAGHETTI-WESTERN STYLE back at the wedding chapel, gun pointed down at our face. THE BARREL EXPLODES LEAT AT US - BANG! QUICK CUT BACK TO The BRIDE IN HER HOSPITAL BED, BANK still echoing in her ears. She lets out a SCREAM OF PAIN and her hand goes to the side of her head, as if she were just shot. Her hand feels the metal plate embedded in the side of her skull where the hole was. She knocks against it with her knuckle...it goes...TINK...TINK. Suddenly she says out loud; THE BRIDE My baby. Her hand goes down to her belly, unly to find it not swollen but flat. She doesn't understand, lifts up her hospital gown and sees a JAGGED SCAR which runs down her abdomen. Her fingertips trace it. She quickly looks at the palm of her and and counts the lines. MACRO CU The LINES IN HER PALM look like a road map. She stops counting, shocked; THE BRIDE (to herself) Five years. She counts again. THE BRIDE (a statement) Five years. The Bride's two eyes fill with tears as she realizes her baby is long gone. WHEN SUDDENLY... She hears the STEP...STEP...STEP...OF BILL'S BOOTS WALKING TOWARDS HER ROOM.... WE SEE THE CINEMATIC EQUIVALENT OF A COMIC BOOK THOUGHT BALLOON by her head. INSIDE OF IT WE SEE BILL'S BLACK BOOTS walking across the wood floor of the wedding chapel. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR (THE BRIDE'S FLOOR) - NIGHT We see a HOSPITAL ORDERLY'S bright red and white Reeboks softly slapping against the smooth surface of the institution's floor. They make a sound nothing like Bill's shoes. SCREEN GOES TO SPLIT SCREEN LEFT SIDE RIGHT SIDE The BRIDE listening to them Orderly's Reeboks walking getting closer. WE HEAR the down the hospital STEP...STEP...STEP...in time corridor. with Orderly's sneakers. CAMERA MOVES UP TO Orderly's face, leading two TRUCKDRIVERS. The Bride HEARS BILL'S VOICE SPEAK FOR THE ORDERLY; BILL'S VOICE ORDERLY (in time) (in time) She's right in here. She's right in here. SPLIT SCREEN FINISHES STAY WITH The BRIDE'S SCREEN The Bride decides the best course of action, till she gets her bearings, is to play possum. She throws herself back down on the bed, just as the three men enter her room. They see just what they expected to see, The Bride lying in her bed in her coma. She duplicates her comatose eyes-wide-open-fixed stare. Except knowing she's awake, and sees everything in front of her, creates a slightly different effect. The Bride, however, while she sees the Two Truckdrivers for what they are, when she sees The Orderly she sees Bill, when The Orderly talks she hears Bill. WE HOWEVER WILL NEVER SEE BILL'S FACE COMPLETELY. The Orderly takes her shee covering off, and hitches up her hospital gown till her blonde pussy is exposed. He does kind of a "TA-DA" presentation of her vagina. THE ORDERLY Now is that the cutest little blonde pussy you ever saw, or is that the cutest little blonde pussy, YOU-EVEA-SAW? Trucker #2 (Gerald) would tend to agree, Trucker #1 (Warren) fronts. WARREN I seen better. CU The BRIDE EYES WIDE OPEN PLAYING POSSUM. She can't believe she's being exhibited in this manner. A look of chagrin crosses her trying-to-be expressionless face, "I've seen a fuck load better than you, fatass." THE ORDERLY Yeah, in a movie - maybe. But I know damn well this is the best pussy you ever saw you had touchin rights to. The price is seventy five dollars a fuck gentlemen, you gittin your freak on or what? The Truckers pay the bill of fare. As The Orderly counts The Truckers' money, he lays out the rules; THE ORDERLY Here's the rules; Rule number one; no punchin 'er. Nurse comes in tomorrow an she got 'er a shiner - or less some teeth, jig's up. So no knuckle sandwiches under no circumstances. And by the way, this little cunt's a spitter - it's a motor reflex thing but spit or no, no punchin. Now are we absolutely positively clear about rule number one? TWO TRUCKERS Yeah. THE ORDERLY Rule number two; No monkey bites, no hickeys - in fact no leavin no marks of no kind. But after that, it's allll goooood. Her plummin down there don't work no more, so feel free to cum in 'er all ya wont. Keep the noise down - try not to make a mess, and I'll be back in twenty. The Orderly turns to leave, then remembers something, and turns back. He takes out the most disgusting jar of vaseline in the history of cinema, and hands it to Warren.
Source: http://www.scriptgodsmustdie.com/2012/03/rule-breakers-quentin-tarantino/
friday the 13th jimmy fallon jimmy fallon michael pineda coachella 2012 constitution day constitution day
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.