Quentin Retrospective: Falling into the Water

After three years of silence, Quentin the ruffian finally made a strong comeback in 2012, a year that has been exactly 20 years since his debut. It is no exaggeration to call this year a carnival for Quentin fans. He wrote and directed an alternative. The new western work "Liberated Diago" is about to enter the awards season where masters gather at the end of the year, and the new cult kung fu film "Iron Fist" produced by him has also landed in major theaters in North America. In addition, commemorating Quentin's debut The 20th Anniversary "Tarantino 20 Years" Blu-ray set is also on sale soon, and various commemorative activities have been launched one after another. Among them, the restoration and re-screening activities of his two early classics "Falling Water Dog" and "Pulp Fiction" are particularly cited. People pay attention. As a hardcore fan of Tarantino, although I could not witness the new charm of the above two masterpieces brought by digital restoration technology in North America, I still found out the two works that have been stored in my online disk for a long time. The recollection this time can be regarded as having fun with the Kun fans around the world.
As the first complete directorial work in the true sense of Quentin’s career, fans who are familiar with "Falling Water Dog" must know that the inspiration for this film is actually from Lin Lingdong’s equally classic "Dragon and Tiger Storm", which is actually a great influence on Hong Kong movies. The worshipper Quentin has already shown the side of his work that is deeply influenced by Hong Kong movies in the work "Fatal Romance" in which he is the screenwriter, such as jumping exaggerated plots, indulgent humorous jokes and unruly violent actions. Scenes and so on. Therefore, I also found Lin Lingdong's "Dragon and Tiger Wind and Cloud" and "Falling Water Dog" to do a review and comparative analysis together, and here to make a rough personal discussion.
First of all, these two films both tell a story about love and grievances between the police and bandits. "Dragon and Tiger" is in the front, and the borrower "The Dog in the Water" is behind: a group of sentimental, righteous and complex gangsters and a lurking character. The same is true of the undercover police officers who had a fierce emotional collision with each other before and after a joint operation to rob diamonds and jewels, which triggered a black story. Compared to the fate and sadness of "Dragon and Tiger", the mood of "Falling Water Dog" is obviously more lively and cold humor: Chow Yun-fat ran on the street with helpless and sad jazz, while the crowd of falling water dogs accompanied the old dance music "little green bag". With a swaggering promotion on the side of the road, Quentin has given "Falling Water Dog" a lovely sentiment that is different from "Dragon and Tiger Wind" with his precise grasp of music and pictures.
Hong Kong movies always like to show the love between the two heroes, and the same is true for "Dragon and Tiger". Lin Lingdong gave more shots to Chow Yun-fat and Li Xiuxian, the two opposing sympathizers, focusing on portraying the two. In his spiritual world, the shaping of other police and criminal roles is only done, basically in facial makeup, and a lot of time and space are invested in rounds of exciting plot scenes, which is in line with the consistent fastness of mainstream Hong Kong movies. Rhythm and entertainment; Quentin basically gave up the high-profile drama like robbery due to cost and technical constraints. Instead, relying on his superb skills to control the dialogue, he explained the ins and outs of the story through a lot of interesting and connotative dialogues. , Only a few scenes such as restaurants, warehouses, offices, carriages, bars, etc. are used to explain the main clues and styles of the whole film. Not only that, a large number of dialogues create a unique charm that is demonstrated by the new narrative techniques, but also almost perfect to make every character have flesh and blood. In addition to Tim Rose and Harvey Keitel, the pair of police and criminal friends, supporting roles such as Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi have also become vivid and deeply rooted due to their own lines and body language. Although Quentin failed to shoot the intense action scenes of Hong Kong movies in this film, he still has a good grasp of the essence of Hong Kong movies, and he still expresses the kind of Hong Kong movies with good scene management and crazy and bold imagination." "Everything goes too far, everything is crazy" emotions, like Madsen’s torturing the police, Keitel’s blasting of a police car, and Bussimi’s street fleeing and other bridges, the ending of the chaotic gun is exactly the same as "Dragon and Tiger."
Perhaps "Falling Water Dog" is not as lively as "Dragon and Tiger Wind and Cloud", but "Falling Water Dog" is like a thick chocolate, you will find that the more you chew, the more flavor it tastes, even if the appearance is not as good as nougat As gorgeous. But after all, Lin Lingdong represents the jianghu feelings of Hong Kong movies, and Quentin represents the rebellious spirit of the independence movement. The two filming purposes are different. Naturally, there is no way to talk about who is better and who is inferior between the works. I want to be a fan of me. Say: "All are good movies!"

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