Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee

Quentin Tarantino began his career in the film industry working as an independent film maker. His first independent films were an immense success with films as Reservoir Dogs, released in 1992 along with the famous film Pulp Fiction which was also released in the same decade, 1994, just two years after the release of his first successful film.  Both of these films were regarded as classics and were a cult hit at the time in Hollywood. Right after his first film was released (Reservoir Dogs), Tarantino immediately became a legend in the film industry due to how well the film had gathered critical acclaim and financially successful.

Tarantino’s films typically incorporate many characteristics in his work which are distinguishable from just watching the film without even knowing who directed it. This is Tarantino’s style, one can normally deduct who directed the film just from the characteristics alone. Tarantino’s films are characterized by satire, non-linear narrative structures, elements of neo-noir genres (Kill Bill 1 and 2) and a particular love for violence as to quote from the director himself “Violence is one of the most fun things to watch.”

However although Tarantino is a director, as stated some of his films he doesn’t direct but then the majority he is the director for and writes the films, while even fulfilling the role as an actor in a few films he’s worked on such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill. 

Spike Lee

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta and developed his film making skills at Clark Atlanta University. After graduating from Morehouse, Lee attended the Tisch School of Arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980)

Spike Lee's role as a documentarian has expanded over the years, highlighted by his part in Lumière and Company (1995), the Oscar-nominated 4 Little Girls (1997), to his Peabody Award-winning biographical adaptation of Black Panther leader in A Huey P. Newton Story (2001), through his 2005 Emmy Award-winning examination of post-Katrina New Orleans in When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) and its follow-up five years later in If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise (2010).

Through his production company 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Lee continues to create and direct both independent films and projects for major studios, as well as working on story development, creating an internship program for aspiring filmmakers, releasing music, and community outreach and support.

London Film

Weekly Film Analysis: Amores Perros (2000)

Amores Perros is a Mexican film directed by Alejandro Gonzzalez Inarritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. The film had been released in 2000 and had been produced by Altavista Films and Zeta Film. The budget of the film had been at an estimated amount of $2,000,000 and had grossed at the box office earnings of $20.9 million. The language of the film is Spanish but had been provided English Subtitles when released in English spoken countries. The genre of the film belonged to a Thriller, however one could argue that this film only slowly introduces conventions of a thriller genre half way through the film when Daniel and Valeria are introduced as their part of trying to search for their dog underneath their floorboards builds tension and the cinematography creates suspense through the quick cuts between shots as they struggle to break open the floorboards, while also the use of a handheld camera shot underneath the floorboards looks as if the audience is taking a look at what the mystery is underneath the floor. This suspense and tension is also emphasized through the mise en scene, the dark use of lighting generates a suspicious feel to the mood and suggests something dark is about to occur.

The film's narrative is of a circular narrative style as at the beginning of the film we are presented to Octavio and his best friend Jorge driving wildly through the streets in escape from men who are chasing him, wanting him dead. The cinematography and performance here is exceptionally executed well as the cinematographer uses close ups on the dog's wounds before he presents if it's an animal or a human on the film, which makes the audience wonder as if it's actually a human in the back seat who's been shot and if that's the reason they're trying to flee from their pursuers. Octavio and Jorge refer to the dog as "he" such as using phrases like "is he still alive?". The director employs these techniques to question the audience to make them wonder if it's one of their friends or not, while also making the audience question the narrative that follows from here.

In the mise en scene, dogs are a main symbol in which the narrative is told. Each of the three protagonists of the film all own a dog in which this is the symbol which also connects the story together. What's to note is that whatever happens to the dog that they own, decides the fate of the protagonists lives. In Valeria's case, once her dog Richie goes missing under the floorboards she starts to lose her mind and enters a mental breakdown. Octavio's dog gets wounded and then Octavio get's killed by a car crash shortly after. El Chivo's dogs all get killed by the wounded dog he takes in, then realises that this is a turning point in his life where he can amend himself from being a hitman and homeless. El Chivo, the homeless bearded man is also seen as a stray dog himself. This is because he doesn't know what's going for him in life as if he's lost. The director captures this through the cinematography of placing him amongst a few stray dogs which is seen in one shot notably, where the outfit and hair colour is grey of El Chivo, whilst he's loitering amongst dogs of the same colour to show the similar comparison between the two and how they're no different than each other.

The narrative additionally features a multi-protagonist outline to the story which is told in segments that intertwine with each other close to the end of the film. All of these three segments tell a story revolved around love, which is the main theme of this film, which their lives become tortured by this love and ultimately connect into a tragic life changing event. Valeria's performance makes the audience feel negative emotions such as anger towards her because of her lack of compassion towards her husband Daniel while she focuses on her dog Richie instead. This could be a reason as to what caused her to be disabled, as a punishment for her actions.