The Film Thread

[Jordan Cole]

Even Lynch's surrealism has prior sources, like the paintings of Francis Bacon, the work of Bergman, German expressionism from the 1920s, etc, etc, etc. That's just how the river of art flows...

 

[Stig Helmer]

He is not quoting like Tarantino does. Influence and reference are two different things.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Not sure I agree there. Here's a few intriguing examples:



I also think how much Tarantino "quotes" is being overstated. A few little things here and there, but I find for the most part his work is as startlingly original as Lynch's. What other film was like Pulp Fiction? What other film is like Once Upon A Time in Hollywood for that matter?

 

[Stig Helmer]

It's still influence over reference.

 

[Jordan Cole]

I feel like that's just semantics. It feels like the 99% original part of a Tarantino film is being dismissed because he's like hey let me use this font from a movie I like or I'll name this character after a character from an old movie (uh, Gordon Cole anybody?)

Here's another interesting video:

 

[shadowtakemedown]

Re: Tarantino and Blue Velvet

I’ve always seen the “Stuck In The Middle With You” scene in Reservoir Dogs as Tarantino trying to do a version of the “In Dreams” beat down in Blue Velvet.

Never saw it that way but I believe it.

 

[Cappy]

Has anyone ever seen QT’s first film, My Best Friend’s Birthday?

I’ve only ever glimpsed a few clips of it divorced from context, but the whole project seems kind of zany and fun.

 

[shadowtakemedown]

Has anyone ever seen QT’s first film, My Best Friend’s Birthday?

I’ve only ever glimpsed a few clips of it divorced from context, but the whole project seems kind of zany and fun.

Came accross to me like a guy in the eighties trying to make a modern thirties Screwball with no money

 

[eyeboogers]

Tarantino entire tone is lifted from Lynch and Gifford's "Wild At Heart" - as is most of the plot and characters from "True Romance". When Tarantino experiments with genre iit usually just consists of not writing a third act and instead unleash 20 minutes of random graphic violence(fx Django Unchained, The Hateful 8, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"). So when Lynch tonally is seemingly doing Tarantino with the Roth and Leigh hitmen characters in TPTR Lynch is still just doing Lynch.

 

[mtwentz]

Tarantino entire tone is lifted from Lynch and Gifford's "Wild At Heart" - as is most of the plot and characters from "True Romance". When Tarantino experiments with genre iit usually just consists of not writing a third act and instead unleash 20 minutes of random graphic violence(fx Django Unchained, The Hateful 8, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"). So when Lynch tonally is seemingly doing Tarantino with the Roth and Leigh hitmen characters in TPTR Lynch is still just doing Lynch.

I never thought of it that, but you're right! Of course, Lynch if influenced by other directors of course, but perhaps Tarantino isn't one of them.

 

[Stavrogyn]

Has anyone ever seen QT’s first film, My Best Friend’s Birthday?

I've seen it a long time ago. I remember it being obviously amateur and unfinished, but I enjoyed it. I always liked watching that kind of early, obscure works by major directors or directors I love.

(If I recall correctly, some dialogue about Elvis was later reused in True Romance?)

By the way, I like True Romance and Natural Born Killers more than most of the films Tarantino directed himself.

 

[Cappy]

Yeah I think I’d have to agree about NBK. I love Tarantino, but NBK’s stylistic excesses make it such a thrilling watch, not to mention every performance, while waaaaay over the top, are career bests for almost everyone involved.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Oh I totally disagree. I can't stand Oliver Stone's super obvious grotesque in your face style, and I bet that script with a different director would have been really cool. I keep trying with Oliver Stone movies and they all just seem so...immature and shallow to me.

 

[Cappy]

I do find Stone movies tend to be too on the nose with their preachy message — Platoon is such an almost great movie that’s tainted for me by it’s overt cultural messaging and specific moral absolutism about American political stances.

But NBK, for me anyway, is such a wild ride that it does distract me from the Oliver Stone of it all. I know that NBK is making a big statement about media and culture, but I personally never need to engage with that aspect of it to have an enjoyable experience watching it.

And this is obviously a matter of personal preference, but some of the soundtrack choices are so masterful: the NIN tracks (“Warm Place” and “Something I Can Never Have”) and Cowboy Junkies’ cover of “Sweet Jane” bring these reprieves of calm and beauty to what is otherwise almost non-stop chaos. Honestly my favorite moments in the film might be the moments where these songs are allowed to take over.

 

[AXX°N N.]

My gripes with NBK and True Romance are pretty specific--the music reduces certain scenes to cliche, melodrama and schmaltz. I've sort of gone up and down with my estimation of Tarantino over the years, but I absolutely believe he's the only one that knows how to elevate his scripts, I'd wager largely because of his music choices.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Not just his musical choices, but his directing (not to state the obvious.) Tarantino's dialogue is really, really specific. And he excels at casting actors who can deliver it, and at directing them in such a way to make it really fly off the page. But then I also love how Tarantino shoots a scene. His shot compositions, lighting, blocking. I also love how damn great he is at editing. So I just love everything he does, really. But I agree, his talent for song choices is incredible. The Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction soundtracks were some of the first real music I ever listened to many years ago.

 

[Cappy]

My gripes with NBK and True Romance are pretty specific--the music reduces certain scenes to cliche, melodrama and schmaltz. I've sort of gone up and down with my estimation of Tarantino over the years, but I absolutely believe he's the only one that knows how to elevate his scripts, I'd wager largely because of his music choices.

I agree about the music “reducing” certain scenes in NBK to cliche and melodrama — but I’m personally okay with it, as every scene in that film is blatantly a media construct designed to illicit a specific emotional response, from the oh-so-cute Coke polar bears to the sequence where Mickey and Mallory eat mushrooms and get lost in the desert to “Something I Can Never Have”.

This is just my reading of the film obviously, but I don’t think there is any “reality” in the film, just different levels and modes of media fabrication. I’m willing to accept certain things that are schmaltzy or melodramatic here, as it’s somehow consistent with the film’s conceptual universe.

In a different film though, a director slapping a quieter NIN track over a sad or meaningful scene might feel lazy and sentimental.

 

[eyeboogers]

My gripes with NBK and True Romance are pretty specific--the music reduces certain scenes to cliche, melodrama and schmaltz. I've sort of gone up and down with my estimation of Tarantino over the years, but I absolutely believe he's the only one that knows how to elevate his scripts, I'd wager largely because of his music choices.

"Something I can never have" works perfectly in "Natural Born Killers".

 

[Cappy]

Haven’t seen Beau yet. I’m kind of on the fence about Aster. I really liked Midsomar, but I didn’t like Hereditary.

Edit: Although I have to admit, Hereditary did a lot of things that I liked — I just didn’t enjoy the sum of the parts.

 

[Cappy]

Oh, and regarding Baumbach, Frances Ha is great imo.