Violence, and its rampant, sometimes overshadowing presence, has become synonymous with the work of both directors. Concentrating on the omission and off-screen presentation of violence allows for an examination and realization of the inherent differences that end up substantially affecting both spectator relationship and tone. Lock, Stock sets up an explosive instance of obscured violence with the culmination of constantly interweaving character and narrative elements that leaves the spectator even more detached from the brutal nature of the almost all encompassing massacre (shown below). As the doors swing open and the players are set the music becomes a defining element. Its upbeat and festive nature removes the bullet fueled violence from the realm of reality and places it in a more comic and lighthearted setting whereas the wedding chapel scene from Kill Bill makes use of a much more heavy handed dramatic soundtrack accented with brutal screams and a solemn church bell. The effect of the latter leaves the audience in a more serious and engaged state of viewing resulting with a pensively more earnest response. Contrasting the camera movement and use of cuts within these two sequences discloses other distinct differences in technique. Tarantino, in a breath of obvious Godardian influence presents the slaughter at the church with one single shot moving out the doorway and eventually upwards while Ritchie incorporates numerous cuts into and out of the action. The oppositional choice of editing, as with the score, further detaches the audience from the violence. In not allotting a substantial amount of time for a sustained image/ location on-screen the viewer is consequently not able to identify with the events of the narrative.
The aftermath of off-screen violence also serves to illustrate the differences of character relations created by both filmmakers. Ritchie leaves the law removed from any aspect of the film as it is more focused on the underbelly of England and pinning criminals vs. criminals. Tarantino reveals a more humanistic approach to the aftermath the El Paso wedding chapel massacre. As the room is being surveyed by the Sheriff he is not concerned with money or drugs but the loss of life remarking of the professional slaughter, “you could almost admire it if you was a moron.” The spectator is left with a moment of embarrassment for having started to admire the brutal killings as opposed to being handed a resolution whose serious subject matter is buried underneath an extremely comic irony.
Off Screen Violence
Split Screen technique, having been defined and most likely inspired by Brian DePalma’s films Carrie and Sisters, functions well within in the body of both directors work. The use of split screen is a defining aspect of the self-reflexive nature presented by both filmmakers allowing us to see multiple locations, characters, and action simultaneously. The spectator is alerted to the fact that what they are seeing is an orchestrated instance of fiction and moreover a visualized novel. Taking note of the transitions to and from split screen presents the viewer with an almost exact match of editing technique but where they are differentiated by the particular use of each scene. Ritchie’s incorporation is utilized to give a sense of location as well as an all-encompassing view of environment that may affect character dialogue. Jackie Brown places the device in a precise time within the narrative framework to reveal something previously unbeknownst to the spectator, this instance being Jackie’s acquisition of Max’s handgun.
Split Screen
Other similarities between the two filmmakers we see throughout are shots at a very low-angle usually inside containers with a character looking inside. Tarantino uses this shot in every one of his films manly from the point of view inside a trunk of a car, unlike Tarantino Guy Ritchie borrows this very Quentin-esque camera placement and uses it throughout his film but not in the confines of the trunk of a car but in many different situations and places. For example Ritchie uses this point of view three time in the first fifteen minutes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels first from in a pot of soup, second within a box of stolen stereo system, and last but not lest we see the camera placed inside of a tanning bed, the first time we see this constant object that Guy Ritchie has in everyone of his films. Like Tarantino, Ritchie borrows from others but in away that is his.
After examining the work of both Quentin Tarantino, and what some might consider his, you can see in obvious ways and yet subtle similarities the way in which they both rely on the same functions and cinematic stylings but moreover the differences in the incorporation and use of these aspects solidifying both filmmakers with an appropriated title of auteur. Through a close analysis of a few of the numerous shared qualities (violence, split screen, image composition) one can easily point to divergences in the style and process of filmmaking that, while associating the two, also proclaims a divide to be referenced in discussing the originality of Ritchie himself as a filmmaker.
Work Cited
James Berardinelli “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.” 1999. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/l/lock.html
“Guy Ritchie.” Art and Culture. http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=1185
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