Movies - TV
Reservoir Dogs' Opening Diner Scene Was A Pain
For Quentin Tarantino
To Shoot
By ERNESTO VALENZUELA
Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut "Reservoir Dogs" helped set expectations for what would come in future Tarantino movies: Long-winded conversations, excessive and bloody violence, non-linear storytelling, and inspired music choices. However, "Reservoir Dogs" wasn’t a studio movie and had its fair share of difficulties, especially the iconic opening diner scene.
In a 1994 interview with Film Comment Magazine, Tarantino spoke about how the diner scene had the most pronounced camera moves in the whole movie. He said, "But while I've got this big camera thing happening — and believe me, it was a big pain in the ass to shoot that — at the same time, the camera is just catching whoever it happens to catch at the time."
The difficult camera work is an interesting contrast to the mundane happenings at the diner table. The meandering nature of the camera almost mimics the flow of the conversation, easing you into this world and setting the metaphorical table, only so Tarantino can yank the tablecloth
off later when the heist goes wrong.