Blog #1 Neo-Noir elements: Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is a neo-noir film full of dialogue, suspense, and mystery. The visual elements Tarantino uses in this crime drama are the placements of lighting, character shadows and unusual camera angles. This film opens with the entire cast at a breakfast diner, several men dressed in the same attire; Black suits and black ties. The men converse around the table knowing only one thing about the person next to them, the other person’s code name; Mr. Brown, Mr. Blonde, and Mr. Orange, etc. They have one single connection to one another and that is with Joe Cabot, a crime boss who put together a handful of conflicted anti-heroes in order to pull off a diamond heist at a large jewelry store.

After a few cups of coffee, several smokes, and an argument over how to tip, the gang finally walks out of the diner. The camera slows, pans, and focuses on the men in suits walking deviously, yet almost nonchalantly out to the car. The next scene opens with Mr. Orange screaming in the backseat of a car, bleeding helplessly while Mr. White is trying to comfort the dying man. The two are left with a difficult decision to either rendezvous with the others or to drop Mr. Orange off at a hospital.
Mr. White assures Mr. Orange driving to the warehouse is the best decision for him, though the two hardly know each other, Mr. White treats Mr. Orange like a son or a brother in this scene.
The two enter the warehouse and are then reunited with Mr. Pink who is suspicious of a setup. The angle of the camera when set on Mr. Pink in this scene is one visual element used in noir and neo-noir films. Throughout the rest of the film, Mr. White defends this wounded man of not being a cop because of their time together, though he is a known criminal, he carries himself as a professional and Mr. White is portrayed as the hero in the film. The mystery of being setup and finding the "rat" deteriorates the once solidified group as the movie progresses with each new member that enters the warehouse.

The film ultimately ends with an epic shootout between the remaining members, leaving them either dead or dying, with the exception of Mr. Pink who flees only to be met outside by police. The only two left alive at the warehouse are Mr. White and Mr. Orange, this is when Mr. Orange sobbingly confesses to Mr. White that he was in fact a cop. Finally unveiling the mystery to the only man out of the gang who stood up for him.