On the subject of interconnectedness, Quentin Tarantino has stated in interviews that his films are all part of a shared universe. Some of the movies are part of the "real" world, and some are movies people in that "real" world might go to see.
For instance, in Pulp Fiction Mia Wallace had starred in a TV pilot called Fox Force Five. This could be part of the "real" world level, which could mean that Kill Bill (with its Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) could be a retooling of the Fox Force Five concept into a movie. In fact that could very well be Mia Wallace playing The Bride, getting swords from Hatori Hanso who also made swords for Miho in a shared cinematic universe within Tarantino's own cinematic universe. The layers are mind boggling.
Sin City is a 2005 neo-noir semi-anthological film based on the comic book series by Frank Miller. I'm no fan of Miller's personal politics. He has been known to espouse support for conservative and fascistic politicians, and a few years ago he did try to soften that image after going on a twitter rant against Occupy Wall Street, among other liberal element. Politics notwithstanding, the man can weave an entrancing and intriguing tale.
To be sure when you look back on stories like Sin City or The Dark Knight Returns through the lens of the current cultural temperature, it would certainly seem that creators like Frank Miller seem to advocate for things like fascism at worst, at the very least a return to white hetero testosterone toxic maleness.
And while politics certainly do have a bearing on the art, I am much more interested in discussing the art than Miller' s political views.
The art of Frank Miller is, to be sure, stunning, visceral, densely layered, inspired by classic film noir tropes and, most of all, entertaining.
The characters of Sin City are like flies trapped in amber. They have modern conveniences like cell phones, yet they drive old cars and act like the world they live in is Los Angeles, circa 1946: Real men stand up for their values, politicians and clergy own the police, and mafia rules still apply vis-a-vis how the sections of town are carved up. The hookers even get their own part of town and the rights to defend it as they see fit. So long as they don't fuck with cops, the cops don't fuck with them.
So it is that the three stories and some change, presented in a Pulp-Fiction-esque, non- linear manner, concern good cops, ruffians, and outlaws trying to take on a power structure much bigger than they are, and each character meeting his own nihilistic end.
The three characters - Dwight, Marv, and Det. Hartigan (played marvelously by Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis, respectively) - are all in some part expressions of Miller's idealized fantasy, inspired no doubt in equal measure by the comic books he read in his youth as by the noir films he so lovingly references in his hand-drawn tales.
The comic books are literally so good all co-director Roberto Rodriguez needed to do was use them as both script and storyboard. It's one of the most literal translations of comic book to screen I have ever seen. Sure, it could be called lazy to work that way. Rodriguez certainly could have rewritten parts and set up his own angles. But there is a certain thrill as a comic book reader to see all those lovely panels brought to roaring life.
There isn't any subtext or metaphor to Sin City. Certainly there is some level of social commentary to the piece and while that treads the same territory as most noir (the rich get away with everything and keep regular joes under their heel by intentionally keeping society in a state of being perpetually impoverished), it was quite refreshing in 2005 to see a movie like this take the noir tropes and amp them up to action movie levels.
Yes, everything was filmed in front of a green screen but that was also part of the charm, was that the backgrounds were specifically tailored to look like comic book panels. So even though the storytelling tropes were old and perhaps even tired, the visual flair was absolutely fresh and intriguing.
For instance, in Pulp Fiction Mia Wallace had starred in a TV pilot called Fox Force Five. This could be part of the "real" world level, which could mean that Kill Bill (with its Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) could be a retooling of the Fox Force Five concept into a movie. In fact that could very well be Mia Wallace playing The Bride, getting swords from Hatori Hanso who also made swords for Miho in a shared cinematic universe within Tarantino's own cinematic universe. The layers are mind boggling.
Sin City is a 2005 neo-noir semi-anthological film based on the comic book series by Frank Miller. I'm no fan of Miller's personal politics. He has been known to espouse support for conservative and fascistic politicians, and a few years ago he did try to soften that image after going on a twitter rant against Occupy Wall Street, among other liberal element. Politics notwithstanding, the man can weave an entrancing and intriguing tale.
To be sure when you look back on stories like Sin City or The Dark Knight Returns through the lens of the current cultural temperature, it would certainly seem that creators like Frank Miller seem to advocate for things like fascism at worst, at the very least a return to white hetero testosterone toxic maleness.
And while politics certainly do have a bearing on the art, I am much more interested in discussing the art than Miller' s political views.
The art of Frank Miller is, to be sure, stunning, visceral, densely layered, inspired by classic film noir tropes and, most of all, entertaining.
The characters of Sin City are like flies trapped in amber. They have modern conveniences like cell phones, yet they drive old cars and act like the world they live in is Los Angeles, circa 1946: Real men stand up for their values, politicians and clergy own the police, and mafia rules still apply vis-a-vis how the sections of town are carved up. The hookers even get their own part of town and the rights to defend it as they see fit. So long as they don't fuck with cops, the cops don't fuck with them.
So it is that the three stories and some change, presented in a Pulp-Fiction-esque, non- linear manner, concern good cops, ruffians, and outlaws trying to take on a power structure much bigger than they are, and each character meeting his own nihilistic end.
The three characters - Dwight, Marv, and Det. Hartigan (played marvelously by Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis, respectively) - are all in some part expressions of Miller's idealized fantasy, inspired no doubt in equal measure by the comic books he read in his youth as by the noir films he so lovingly references in his hand-drawn tales.
The comic books are literally so good all co-director Roberto Rodriguez needed to do was use them as both script and storyboard. It's one of the most literal translations of comic book to screen I have ever seen. Sure, it could be called lazy to work that way. Rodriguez certainly could have rewritten parts and set up his own angles. But there is a certain thrill as a comic book reader to see all those lovely panels brought to roaring life.
There isn't any subtext or metaphor to Sin City. Certainly there is some level of social commentary to the piece and while that treads the same territory as most noir (the rich get away with everything and keep regular joes under their heel by intentionally keeping society in a state of being perpetually impoverished), it was quite refreshing in 2005 to see a movie like this take the noir tropes and amp them up to action movie levels.
Yes, everything was filmed in front of a green screen but that was also part of the charm, was that the backgrounds were specifically tailored to look like comic book panels. So even though the storytelling tropes were old and perhaps even tired, the visual flair was absolutely fresh and intriguing.
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