Pulp Fiction. Instant Classic.
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
I put this quote at the beginning because it seems to be the driving force behind the story in "Pulp Fiction" which is easily one of the best Q.T. films, which is actually quite a feat, because although I find Tarantino to be one of the most pompous, pretentious asshole-hipsters in Hollywood, who tries a bit too hard to not be so Hollywood, I cannot deny his talent as a filmmaker, but mostly as a writer. Even with just his second film out of the gate, it could not be denied that Tarantino is a gifted filmmaker. The trouble is he knows it and he really lets us know that he knows it. It's not that he's lazy as a talented filmmaker, but there has always been something about these talented "artists" that really pisses me off. I'm thinking in the likes of Jaromir Jagr (an extremely talented hockey player that plays with a sort of laissez faire attitude; or even J.D. Drew, a naturally talented baseball player. I could even lump Jay-Z into the category, as he seems to be a natural artist in the music scene. And John Mayer. Don't get me started. Okay, I think another term (douchebags) that could be used to categorize these guys (yes, I notice that I've only spoken of men, perhaps I have a bias against my own gender, or maybe it is because I feel more comfortable calling them out). Perhaps it is their natural talent that pisses me off. Perhaps I'm slightly jealous. But I think it is mostly their presentation of what I perceive to be a "lack of trying/effort" that grinds my gears. I believe I have a natural talent in two fields: writing and teaching. I've always considered myself an aficionado with words and how to cluster them together and it helps that I've been told so, as well. And I know I'm doing the right thing (professionally), because I strongly believe that 80-90% of teaching is how well you interact with students, the connection you can make, the impact you can have (which has be an ingrained "talent" in other words, not necessarily something that can be taught. It's more of a feeling. Maybe that's why I often get comments like "It takes a special kind of person to teach primary grades" and "I could never do what you do." Both are very true statements. And I consider myself one of a small breed of people. Luckily, I am working with a group of individuals who seem to all possess these natural talents, as well. It's like a "Dream Team" of teachers. It's awe-inspiring sometimes to watch my colleagues work. And I can't help thinking what others think of me, even though, I've been told a few times that I'm great at what I do (helps feed the ego, which some would say, doesn't necessarily need more feeding). I know that I've found my passion in life, as a teacher. But, on the other hand, I know that I have plenty to learn along the way and each day I take away something new or I leave thinking/wondering how I can be better. My writing, again, I've learned in the past few months that I do have a natural talent with certain aspects of the craft and I've seemed to ride those coattails for awhile. It's been great to be "called out" so to speak, because I don't want to just be a decent writer. I want to learn and study the craft so that I can find my way, eventually (hopefully) among the ranks of highly respected writers. Kind of ironic that I am spewing this out in a blog, which doesn't seem to be one of the respected avenues to garner the attention I so desire, but everyone has to start somewhere, I suppose.
To tie this all together, Quentin Tarantino seems to cement his position among these naturally talented "douchebags" every time I watch one of his films. You can tell with each of his films that he is truly in love with making films. Every shot is crucial. Every shot deserves to be in the end result of his filming process. He is a director that has been left alone in the toy store and he is going to play with every toy all night long, until someone finds him.
His scripts can be sort of convoluted (a bit of an oxymoron), and I think seeing Pulp Fiction years ago, I was unable to grasp its actual complexity. I really enjoyed the fact that Tarantino breaks the film up and tells the story in a non-linear fashion. It helps that it is a circular story and how the film starts is almost exactly how the story ends, but with extra juice to it. And it's actually 4 stories that eventually weave into one (in the same sort of fashion that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's films do as well). I loved all the main players in the film. Samuel L. Jackson plays a bad-ass hit man, developing a stronger sense of purpose and wants this last job to be sort of his swan song. John Travolta (can thank Tarantino for resurrecting his career with Pulp Fiction) is unbelievable as a hit man, too. Tarantino developed his professional crush on Uma Thurman with this film (since he would later write Kill Bill specifically for her). Bruce Willis plays a boxer paid to throw a fight, but ends up killing the other boxer in the second round (or something). There's an intricate subplot about a special watch that I still struggle with understanding exactly why Tarantino spends so much time on. Often times in his films, I think he could get away with some implied story details, but again, Tarantino thinks everything he writes is important and finds its way into his films. The method here is for him to put his characters in sticky situations and let them escape into even stickier situations. His heaviest strength, as a writer, has to be dialogue. I could just listen to Tarantino characters speak to each other and I wouldn't even care about the situations they were in.
As a blossoming writer, my biggest struggle is writing dialogue. I create characters but do not let them actually live in the pages. My characters never seem to be authentic, perhaps because I've never seen them as real people, so that I can disassociate myself from them, so that I don't become attached to them. That is perhaps the cardinal sin of writing.
Quentin Tarantino seems to commit a few sins in his filmmaking: Greed and Pride.
Quentin Tarantino Films Ranked:
1. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. True Romance (writer)
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Django Unchained
6. Grindhouse: Death Proof
7. Reservoir Dogs
8. Jackie Brown
I put this quote at the beginning because it seems to be the driving force behind the story in "Pulp Fiction" which is easily one of the best Q.T. films, which is actually quite a feat, because although I find Tarantino to be one of the most pompous, pretentious asshole-hipsters in Hollywood, who tries a bit too hard to not be so Hollywood, I cannot deny his talent as a filmmaker, but mostly as a writer. Even with just his second film out of the gate, it could not be denied that Tarantino is a gifted filmmaker. The trouble is he knows it and he really lets us know that he knows it. It's not that he's lazy as a talented filmmaker, but there has always been something about these talented "artists" that really pisses me off. I'm thinking in the likes of Jaromir Jagr (an extremely talented hockey player that plays with a sort of laissez faire attitude; or even J.D. Drew, a naturally talented baseball player. I could even lump Jay-Z into the category, as he seems to be a natural artist in the music scene. And John Mayer. Don't get me started. Okay, I think another term (douchebags) that could be used to categorize these guys (yes, I notice that I've only spoken of men, perhaps I have a bias against my own gender, or maybe it is because I feel more comfortable calling them out). Perhaps it is their natural talent that pisses me off. Perhaps I'm slightly jealous. But I think it is mostly their presentation of what I perceive to be a "lack of trying/effort" that grinds my gears. I believe I have a natural talent in two fields: writing and teaching. I've always considered myself an aficionado with words and how to cluster them together and it helps that I've been told so, as well. And I know I'm doing the right thing (professionally), because I strongly believe that 80-90% of teaching is how well you interact with students, the connection you can make, the impact you can have (which has be an ingrained "talent" in other words, not necessarily something that can be taught. It's more of a feeling. Maybe that's why I often get comments like "It takes a special kind of person to teach primary grades" and "I could never do what you do." Both are very true statements. And I consider myself one of a small breed of people. Luckily, I am working with a group of individuals who seem to all possess these natural talents, as well. It's like a "Dream Team" of teachers. It's awe-inspiring sometimes to watch my colleagues work. And I can't help thinking what others think of me, even though, I've been told a few times that I'm great at what I do (helps feed the ego, which some would say, doesn't necessarily need more feeding). I know that I've found my passion in life, as a teacher. But, on the other hand, I know that I have plenty to learn along the way and each day I take away something new or I leave thinking/wondering how I can be better. My writing, again, I've learned in the past few months that I do have a natural talent with certain aspects of the craft and I've seemed to ride those coattails for awhile. It's been great to be "called out" so to speak, because I don't want to just be a decent writer. I want to learn and study the craft so that I can find my way, eventually (hopefully) among the ranks of highly respected writers. Kind of ironic that I am spewing this out in a blog, which doesn't seem to be one of the respected avenues to garner the attention I so desire, but everyone has to start somewhere, I suppose.
To tie this all together, Quentin Tarantino seems to cement his position among these naturally talented "douchebags" every time I watch one of his films. You can tell with each of his films that he is truly in love with making films. Every shot is crucial. Every shot deserves to be in the end result of his filming process. He is a director that has been left alone in the toy store and he is going to play with every toy all night long, until someone finds him.
His scripts can be sort of convoluted (a bit of an oxymoron), and I think seeing Pulp Fiction years ago, I was unable to grasp its actual complexity. I really enjoyed the fact that Tarantino breaks the film up and tells the story in a non-linear fashion. It helps that it is a circular story and how the film starts is almost exactly how the story ends, but with extra juice to it. And it's actually 4 stories that eventually weave into one (in the same sort of fashion that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's films do as well). I loved all the main players in the film. Samuel L. Jackson plays a bad-ass hit man, developing a stronger sense of purpose and wants this last job to be sort of his swan song. John Travolta (can thank Tarantino for resurrecting his career with Pulp Fiction) is unbelievable as a hit man, too. Tarantino developed his professional crush on Uma Thurman with this film (since he would later write Kill Bill specifically for her). Bruce Willis plays a boxer paid to throw a fight, but ends up killing the other boxer in the second round (or something). There's an intricate subplot about a special watch that I still struggle with understanding exactly why Tarantino spends so much time on. Often times in his films, I think he could get away with some implied story details, but again, Tarantino thinks everything he writes is important and finds its way into his films. The method here is for him to put his characters in sticky situations and let them escape into even stickier situations. His heaviest strength, as a writer, has to be dialogue. I could just listen to Tarantino characters speak to each other and I wouldn't even care about the situations they were in.
As a blossoming writer, my biggest struggle is writing dialogue. I create characters but do not let them actually live in the pages. My characters never seem to be authentic, perhaps because I've never seen them as real people, so that I can disassociate myself from them, so that I don't become attached to them. That is perhaps the cardinal sin of writing.
Quentin Tarantino seems to commit a few sins in his filmmaking: Greed and Pride.
Quentin Tarantino Films Ranked:
1. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. True Romance (writer)
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Django Unchained
6. Grindhouse: Death Proof
7. Reservoir Dogs
8. Jackie Brown
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