Apparently, I do requests. After
discussion, here's what a brief analysis (and accidental movie review) of the plot
of Taratino's 'Deathproof'. There’s two
versions, as it turns out, and I accidentally watched the longer one. My mistake, as you shall see.
(Big Fat Spoiler Alert)
DEATHPROOF - Part ONE (Alabama)
I started this as one outline, then
decided it fit better at two, distinct stories.
The lesson for me here isn’t crafting the perfect Plot Point I when I
write, but a deeper, instinctual understanding of what pacing does to my story’s
content. If I spend 15 minutes on the
lap dance, I give it greater weight and meaning than if I only spend 5. Does it deserve that amount of time? In this case, probably not.
ACT I
1-30:
Some basic introduction to our three female characters, including the fact
that one's sort of famous, that they're all hot. Some talk about a new
boyfriend, some talk about kissing. We actually meet him briefly, and
more of the same. We also meet Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russel) and he's a bit
creepy and a bit charming. He offers Rose McGowan's character (Pam) a
ride home. We get the setup for the lapdance joke for the three pretty
girls, and the actual lap dance itself. (For
me, this part of the plot and character setup is a big fat failure.
There's a lot of Quenten-esqu dialog, but it doesn't go much of anywhere.
We get a little of Mike's washed-up-ness, and how he's part of era long
gone. We get various levels of hip, snark and sluttiness from the ladies,
but no real character.
30-35 (-ish): They explain the poem/lap dance joke to
Butterfly/Arlene. I had some trouble
pinning any one scene as Plot Point I.
Mostly because I didn’t CARE.
This bit DRAGS. There's also a lot of setting/film execution gold
in here: old film posters, exploitation era hair and music, some amazing film
grittiness and spots and bad cuts to give you that old B-movie feel...even the
above commentary on a stunt-man's profession going away becomes very meta with
the nature of this film and Zoe's character later on, but none of that stopped
me from clawing desperately for the fast-forward button. You could make
some argument for a building of tension here, but mostly it's just freakin'
SLOW. 42 minutes is a long time to be waiting for *some* kind of event.
Digression #17: I’m not implying you
can’t ever stretch, break or meld this model – take, for example, the brilliant
extra-long, super-dance-remix extended, white-knuckle, multilayered ACT III of Inception. In Deathproof, though, I don’t think there’s
enough content or story to justify this stretch. Or, if you restructure it differently, enough
content to serve the function of setting up the climax, since really the entire
first half is setup of for the second half.
This first half would never hold up on its own, but its structured like
it would.
35-42:
We intro Mike, and Pam, who accepts a ride from him. Mike is charming and creepy, and shames
Butterfly into giving him the lap dance.
ACT II
42-48:
Pam gets into Mike’s car. She
finds that she’s trapped, and he crashes into stuff, killing her. Poor Rose!
(There’s also more meta stuff here, as this is really 2 stories placed
back-to-back. (And originally paired with
another film, Planet Terror.) Digression #84: the fuzzy and arbitrary
nature of these plot point assignments means you could easily assign something
earlier in the film (Arrival at bar, Rose needs a ride, lap dance) at Plot
Point I/end of ACT I, making the numbers even out a bit, but that still wouldn’t
make those 42 minutes go any faster.
ACT III
49-51:
Climax - The car crash that kills our 3 ladies (and some random lady
number 4 who jumped into the story while I was fast-forwarding.) Point to Taratino for gruesomeness. I originally tagged Pam’s death above as PPI,
but changed my mind and hung it here. I’m
pinning this as PPI, setting up the dangers of – and moving us into - ACT II.
Normally, this would come about 30 minutes in. Normally, this would be the final scene of
ACT I, but it doesn’t feel like it, does it?
52-56:
Denouement. Hospital, cop
rehash. All of which is really set-up
for…
DEATHPROOF - Part TWO (Tennessee)
ACT I
56 - 112: 14 months later, we find Mike skulking around
and meet a new set of ladies for him to stalk.
This is where the film starts to work for me. After the gruesome death from just before, we
have an instant concern for these ladies.
They, too, are talking about kissing when we first meet them, just in
case we missed their connection to the other three hot ladies from before. Also, one of them is kind of famous, like
Jungle Julie from Act I.
1:05-1:11: Plot Point I - Mike plays the a similar
creepy flirtation with them, which doesn’t go very far. But he’s set his sights on these three.
ACT II
1:12-1:27: Intro Zoe and the Dodge Challenger. We leave behind our new famous lady. (Lee, I think.) There’s no real Midpoint here, unless you
count Kim’s resistance to doing stunt, which Zoe eventually overcomes. However, with Kim’s driving, Zoe’s stunt
work, you get at least the feeling that these ladies have a bit more substance
to them. Not a lot, because that’s not
really Tarantino’s priority, but a little.
ACT III
1:28:
They start the car stunt Ship’s Mast.
Reckless driving with Zoe on the hood.
Great fun.
1:32:
Mike shows up for his next kill.
1:33-1:37: Mike makes his play, but it’s not as neatly
set-up, and Kim has some driving skill.
Zoe (and the rest) come out alive.
1:38:
Mike stops, acting like it’s all a big joke. (How does that make any sense?) Kim shoot him in the arm. Now it’s the ladies chasing Mike, and it’s
more than he bargained for.
1:39-1:49: CLIMAX - The ladies chase Mike, drive him off
the side of the road, and proceed to beat the crap out of him. This our climax not only for his attack on
Zoe, but on his murder of the four women in the previous portion.
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