MYST Post #5: True Romance

True Romance

One of my favorite bands is The 1975. Earlier today, I was watching an interview with the lead singer and the interviewer asked him about his song "Robbers". He said that the inspiration for the song and its music video came from Tarantino's movie True Romance, so naturally I had to watch it.

This movie is about an average joe named Clarence (Christian Slater) who spends a night with a call girl named Alabama (Patricia Arquette). The next morning they confess that they've fallen in love with each other and they get married. Later, upon hearing about how Alabama's former pimp was abusive, Clarence murders the pimp. While he is there, he grabs a suitcase thinking that it is full of Alabama's clothes. Turns out the suitcase is actually filled with bags of cocaine. Their lives take a sudden turn when they realize that by selling the cocaine, they could live comfortably together for the rest of their lives. They journey across the country to find someone to sell the drugs to, all while being chased by the people who own the drugs. At the end, they are sealing the deal with a big-time movie producer when cops burst in. Then the men who own the drugs burst in and there is an intense stand off between the cops, the owners of the coke, and the movie producer's body guards. After a big shootout, Clarence and Alabama escape with a suitcase full of cash and head to Mexico to start a family and a life together.

First of all, the casting in this movie was fantastic. There were a few big stars in there - Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, and Brad Pitt all make appearances in the film. Every actor fits his or her role like a glove and gives an outstanding performance.

Brad Pitt as Floyd, a brain dead stoner

Another thing I noticed that I really liked about this movie was the lighting and coloring. In the beginning, the lighting was all very dark. The color palette was mainly dark blues, black, purples, and deep reds. However by the middle of the movie, the lighting was bright and light and the colors ranged from bright yellow to bright pink and light blue. To me, this showed the progression of the couple from living boring, sad lives in downtown Detroit to leading exciting, adventure-filled lives in California. The very last scene in the film shows Clarence and Alabama on a Mexican beach with their son, and in the background is a sunset. The color palette in this scene is a dark hue of orange, showing that they have settled back into a boring life, but this time it doesn't make the viewer sad; it leaves you with a feeling of contentment.

Dark colors in the beginning of the movie

Bright colors in the middle of the movie

Medium/dark hues at the end of the movie

The level of drama that was in this movie was off the charts. Normally I'm not a fan of overly-dramatic movies, but in this case it really worked well. It added to the whole craziness of the movie. When you have a story about a hooker and comic book store worker falling in love at first sight, getting married, and running away to sell a suitcase of drugs, you cannot understate anything. The most dramatic scene in the film was the standoff between the police, the bodyguards, and the drug lords. There was a lot of yelling - the movie producer was yelling at an actor who went undercover to bust the deal, the police are yelling at the body guards, the drug lords are yelling at the police, Alabama is screaming. Then when everyone starts shooting, it seems like everyone is trigger happy. There are lots of interesting shots and angles and a lot of usage of slow-mo in this scene. It's an interesting juxtaposition between the standoff and the shooting. During the standoff, there was a lot of noise but not much action. During the shooting, there was a lot of action (bullets flying, feathers from cushions floating through the air, cocaine bags bursting, people jumping out of the way of bullets, men falling down) but mainly just the sounds of gunshots. I think that out of all the scenes in this film, this one was my favorite, which is surprising since I'm not too much of an action fan usually.

One of the drug lords hiding behind a couch during the shoot out

All in all, I LOVED this movie, and it has become one of my favorites. There was a great mix of romance and action, and I loved the message of "love conquers all". Whether you're a romance fan or not, this movie is definitely a must-see. I give it 5 out of 5.