A diamond heist goes catastrophically wrong, and the aftermath plays out in a warehouse. The surviving thieves (all using color-coded fake names) try to work out which of them is the police informant. Tarantino's debut is a diamond-sharp exercise in tension, dialogue and the conventions of the crime film.
At a glance
Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 crime and thriller film directed by Quentin Tarantino. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (4 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Project Hail Mary uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story out of order by jumping between time periods. The order you see events in changes how you understand them.
How this film uses it
The heist itself is never shown. Tarantino builds it out of scattered scenes from before and after the event, so you have to piece together what happened from shaken witnesses.
Where to see it
Mr. Orange's extended flashback of how he built his undercover identity. It arrives mid-film and plays like a film within a film.
Shooting almost the whole film in 1 confined place. Set design and camera movement keep it visually interesting, and the space itself takes on meaning as the story goes on.
How this film uses it
The warehouse where the surviving criminals regroup becomes a pressure cooker. Tarantino gets a huge variety of camera positions, lighting and staging out of a single industrial space.
Where to see it
The Mexican standoff in the warehouse. With 3 guns covering 3 men, all the tension comes from where they stand in one plain room.
Starting the story in the middle of the action, often during a crisis, with no setup. You pick up the background later through flashbacks or small hints.
How this film uses it
The film opens in the diner before the job, before we know what the job is, who these people are or what will happen. Then it cuts straight to the aftermath and skips the event in between.
Where to see it
The opening cut from the diner conversation to Mr. White and Mr. Orange bleeding in a moving car. That skipped stretch defines the entire approach of the film.
Writing long speeches where characters talk in detail about films, music or other pop culture. How they analyze these small things shows you who they are.
How this film uses it
Mr. Brown's opening analysis of Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' sets up Tarantino's world immediately. These characters define themselves and each other through cultural references, well before they do it through action.
Where to see it
The entire diner opening. The criminals debate tipping etiquette and Madonna for several minutes before anyone mentions the crime they're about to commit.
Never showing the act of violence itself. You only see the aftermath or hear characters describe it, and your imagination fills in what happened.
How this film uses it
The torture scene is the most notorious one in the film (Mr. Blonde's dance, the razor, the ear). Nevertheless, the actual cutting happens off-screen. Tarantino pans away at the key moment and comes back to the aftermath.
Where to see it
Mr. Blonde's ear-removal scene. The camera pans to the empty warehouse wall during the act, and what you don't see is more disturbing than any violence the film shows.
Questions
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