Special Note: This is a repost from a MySpace blog I wrote on January 21, 2007. I wanted to repost it on this site as well. I believe this is where the Quentin Tarantino obsession begins. Thank you.
Sometime yesterday morning as I was waking up, I could not stop thinking about that Babel film. Not the usual stuff, why did it win a Golden Globe or any awards season crap like that. It will get a lot of nominations this Tuesday and it does not really matter in the long or short run of things. So many people seem to like the film that really is Crash's sleeker and hipper younger brother. I was really just thinking of Brad Pitt's performance and why I deleted my review I was writing on October 8th. I was forcing myself to like a film that may be 21 Grams lite at best. It is Pitt's performance that stands out and the one thing I take away from the film. So thinking about that and dreading a morning run against the cold winds-- my mind wondered off back to the Blizzard of 1993. My last year of college, I moved back home and it turned out to be the best decision I could make. I must be the only person in the history of the University Of Maryland who preferred home to dorm or apartment life. Sometime in 1992, I finally fell in love with reading on my own again. Sadly, I dumbed myself down during the first couple of years of college. I knew I was on the right track while reading Tom Robbins Skinny Legs And All before class one time and someone came over and thought it was for class. They were relieved it was not required reading. English majors were not to keen to do outside reading-- at least this was one observation. I just kind of had to read again and catch up. My Dad always said I would be playing catch up. He is still so right.
During Spring Break of 1993, we got hit with a major blizzard for these parts. It was very cool. I just stayed home watching films and writing a lot of poetry for class and just for myself. Than I looked at the show times in the paper. Reservoir Dogs was back in circulation. It opened in October of 1992 and closed after a week at the Outer Circle. I told someone we should go see the film and they looked at me as though I was nuts. For an indie film, it did get a write up for its poor box office performance in Variety the following week. I always thought that was odd. All I knew at that time was Wes Craven walked out of a screening of the film. My brother, Saul, was lucky enough to have seen it in New York and said it was the best film of 1992 besides Howard's End. Tarantino's film would come back to the Foundry or the Cerebus-- old Georgetown theaters that no longer exist. But it didn't stay long there either. So when I saw it playing at the Janus-- I knew we had to see it. Loyal friend and fellow movie partner, Scott a.k.a. Skippy was game for it. Although he would not do the original double feature of Reservoir Dogs and Bad Lieutenant. It was so cool to see Harvey Keitel enjoying a second wind. Mortal Thoughts and Thelma And Louise brought him back and this was the reward. I would have done the double feature with no problem. But Skippy was not sure about either film. So we got into the good old Red Jeep Cherokee that 10 years later would take me to and from California. Lots of snow, but very little traffic and parking was not that bad. Come on it's the aftermath of blizzard in Washington DC-- this place closes down for flurries.
The Janus like the Outer Circle, the Key, the Biograph, the Embassy and countless others is no longer around. My Mom and I were counting the theaters that have closed around over the last twenty years and it is staggering. I think the first film I saw at the Janus was Watership Down and we saw Das Boot there too. Watching Reservoir Dogs was meaningful. I would come back here to see Stalingrad, Trees Lounge, Boys Don't Cry and countless others. So how was watching Reservoir Dogs? It was perfect. This Tarantino guy was like one of us. The geek that triumphed and got his vision to the screen. The dialogue was so razor sharp and the references were kept telling me-- he gets it. He loves the art form so much. The violence was so refreshing-- at the time Steven Seagal passed for action and that was unacceptable. It was only the summer before that I saw John Woo's The Killer-- how could I ever go back to the generic shit after seeing John Woo or Ringo Lam or later on Johhny To. I felt vindicated watching this heist film. I felt good. It was refreshing and would set everything up. True Romance and Natural Born Killers became things to look out for sooner than later. Killing Zoe was a film to see no matter where it was playing. Pulp Fiction needed to be seen opening day at all costs. I devoured everything about him after watching the film. It was a revelation. Hell, Tarantino owned War Of the Gargantuas on laserdisc-- how could you not love this guy?
Before this blizzard, actually during winter break. We went to go see The Crying Game at Dupont Circle and then went to The Palm for dinner afterwards. I miss those days and times. Those family outings and going to our favorite restaurant will live with me for the rest of my days. While watching the trailers before hand. My brother, Michael, turned to me and mentioned that I had seen all the films already. One of them was for Peter's Friends which my Mom and I saw earlier that week. I never get bored of this thing. The best is when we went to The Usual Suspects at the same theater back in 1995 and we were all pretty blown away by that one too. Those days seem like a distant era. Another time that seems like it never existed in the first place. I really miss the times my brothers and I would walk up to the Mercado-- a great theater that is no longer with us. We saw The Man Who Would Be King and The Wind And The Lion there. We saw everything there and yes that is where I watch Excalibur for the first time. That film is one of my favorites. Just go check out Shaun's Blog for more on that.
A normal person would not make the jump from Babel to Tarantino, but that is just how my mind works. I think for many people my age and younger, Quentin Tarantino represents to us many things. Sure, he is one of hundreds of directors I worship. And I am very grateful that I went with my gut that day and witnessed the birth of something special in my life. Tarantino made me love film making again. The freshness of things came back. The following week, the film came out on video. My parents watched it and were enthralled and years later I loaned the film to my friend, Dave. I decided to buy another copy; the thought of Reservoir Dogs not in the house freaked me out, but I wanted him to see it. We had a blast watching Pulp Fiction. And my friend Skippy is a good guy. He moved to Seattle and I visited him out back in 1997. It was a weird time I was going through back then, but he made it worthwhile. 1997 was a a cluster fuck of a year for me-- but that is another blog. And for those of you who have been reading since July. Skippy is a lot like Jay Liebenow. Are they my Tyler Durdens? I miss them, but we all have to go our own ways. But I would be a liar, if I did not say that they added a lot of value to my life.
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