Natural Born Killers is a film which is perhaps most remembered for its controversial production, violent content, headline making theatrical run, delayed home video release and for constantly being mentioned in relation to crimes such as the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 and the Richardson family murders of 2006 (see below). However, as fans are always keen to point out, there is a lot more to the film than violence, and when discussions of the film can leave behind the violence topic, they tend to focus on another aspect of the movie; the aesthetic, the form, the way the film looks. The frenzied editing techniques (the film contains more than three times the usual number of edits for a two hour movie), the use of multi-formats (eighteen different formats in total were used; most films use one), the unusual camera angles (known as Dutch angles), the unrealistic set design, the self-conscious lighting; all of these aspects combine to give the film a look which is quite unlike anything else made up to that point (or, perhaps, since). Even reviewers who disliked the film (such as Oliver Stone's ex wife, Elizabeth), praised the technical aspects and the look of the piece.
So, why does the film look the way it does? Is there a thematic reason for it to look this way, or was it all done for effect and because it looked 'cool'? Does the unique form of the film in some way reflect the content, or is the form arbitrarily generated irrespective of the content, or, worse still, is the form an attempt to cover up a lack of content? What aspects of the story prompted the filmmakers to frequently cut to black and white, to use 16mm in the middle of a scene shot in 35mm, to cut from animation to live action, to use rear projection etc?
Oliver Stone has always maintained that the film looks the way it does for a very specific reason, that the form and the content are very much linked, and whenever a scene looks a particular way, there is always a very good reason for that scene to look that way.
In his director's commentary track, Stone provides a great deal of information about the aesthetic of the movie, often going into detail about why the film looks the way it does. Unless otherwise noted, the following quotes come from the commentary to either the theatrical release or the Director's Cut (NOTE: the two commentaries are different in certain sections of the film).
Firstly, Stone discourages the viewer from attempting to unravel the meaning of every single format shift, and from reading profound meaning into every little stylistic nuance. Sometimes, the format switches simply 'felt' right: "Don't expect to understand every change-over. It plays off texture, instinct, deconstruction of reality."
On the other hand however, Stone is unequivocally clear in his reasoning as to why a multi-format approach was taken in the first place, and that that approach very much carries thematic weight and works in tandem with the content of the film to establish theme: "We really mixed stocks, Super 8, 16mm, 35, video, animation, to disorientate, to deconstruct. The film really deconstructs itself as it goes along, it never presents one surface. It's constantly changing."
Indeed, Stone argues that the unique look of the film is in fact generated by whoever the central character happens to be at a particular moment; we see how they see: "We're inside the heads of two killers, schizophrenic, hallucinatory, they're on the road, at the beginning of the movie, they're completely nuts, they're maniacs. The style represents what they see, we don't know what's going to happen next for the first 30 minutes, like their heads. When Robert comes in, we change the style of the movie, we go to a slicked up TV style, and then when Tommy Lee Jones comes into the movie as the crazy warden, we go to Tommy Lee's point of view, and what a crazy camera we see there. The picture is always changing style, trying to find, but not finding, the reality of where we are in the 1990s, it's Beavis and Butthead. The end of the movie is chaos, deliberately so, completely chaos." (Charlie Rose Interview with Oliver Stone: Available on Theatrical Cut DVD (12 minutes).
Opening scene (diner fight): Stone refers to the frequent cuts to black and white, where dialogue is often repeated with a slightly different intonation, as "vertical cutting"; the idea behind this editing technique was to create an outer moment (the color footage) and an inner moment (the black and white footage) at the same time. For example, when Mable (O-Lan Jones) takes Mickey's order in the opening scene, the outer (color) scene shows her simply recommending the key lime pie, but the inner (black and white) scene shows her flirting with him (or thinking about flirting with him). "The black and white is what you could call vertical cutting, just going vertically on the moment, and creating an inner moment and an outer moment at the same time. The waitress was feeling something else, she was coming on to Mickey in-between her color texture; it was black and white coming on to Mickey." Another example of this technique in the opening scene is found when the cowboy (James Gammon) refers to Mallory as "pussy". At that moment, there is a flash cut to Mickey covered in blood; this is Mickey's 'inner' feeling, whereas in the outer scene he remains calm and collected.
Title sequence: "The titles reflect the madness and fevered dream aspect which the two protagonists are living in. They're sailing, they're unstoppable."
Sitcom format: See above for more information on this technique.
TV commercials: After the sitcom scene, there is a cut to a demon and then immediately to a Coca-Cola commercial. This is "to show the power of commercials to soothe on television, to remind us that we're safe."
Prison escape during tornado: The scratches on the film are an attempt to emulate "old prison break movies."
Murder of Mallory's father: The killing of Mallory's father was staged as a TV cartoon fight, complete with cartoon-esque music and sound effects, in an effort to trivialize the violence as a satirical commentary on how we have become so inured to violence, we accept it as mere frivolous entertainment.
Wedding: The wedding scene was shot in both 35mm and 8mm, because 16mm was "too clean, too slick", and not different enough from 35mm. The reason for mixing formats in the first place was that Stone wanted to " keep the look off balance, we never let you relax into the 35 slickness."
American Maniacs: "We did our best to do our worst. We used stock footage, and so-called television documentary techniques, pseudo-documentary techniques [...] We were making fun of Hard Copy and Police File type movies".
Motel scene: Whilst Mickey and Mallory switch channels on their TV, a massive image is projected onto the sky outside their window, and it too seems to be switching channels. This was done as a commentary upon how the entire century was violent, but Mickey and Mallory are being distracted by the artificial violence on the TV and they don't see the real horrors going on outside. "Outside the window of the motel room is a panorama of 20th century violence. On the TV, there's personal violence, my own movies, Midnight Express, Scarface. Outside, there's Stalin, Hitler, Vietnam, trees being destroyed; the whole century is violent, and in a sense, it is the chain of violence which kicks off their madness. But they're watching Hollywood movies and they don't see what's outside."
"In the scene in the motel where they're making love, on the television, you see violent movies, insects eating each other. And then outside the window, whilst they're making love and talking banally, you see images of the entire twentieth century going by, Stalin, Hitler, Armenia, ecological devastation. The point is that these two kids are the product, the flower, the corrupt fruit, of the 20th century, which has been the most violent century in the history of mankind." (Charlie Rose Interview with Oliver Stone: Available on Theatrical Cut DVD (12 minutes).
Mallory and the mechanic: As Mallory and the mechanic become intimate, there are several black & white shots from the scene during the sitcom when her father is touching her ass. These cuts were used to illustrate that, "she's going to have to deal with these demons all her life, how to overcome this abuse, and how it's going to affect her in any relationship she has. She has a love/hate fear of sex."
Lost in the desert: The use of dirty black and white film stock was because Stone "wanted to make the desert strange and claustrophobic. Instead of wide open, it's small and grainy and claustrophobic."
Words on chest in shaman's hut: When in the shaman's (Russell Means) hut, the word 'demon' is projected across Mickey's chest, followed by the words "too much TV" across both Mickey and Mallory's chests. These words represent the insight of the shaman, who can see into the soul of the two characters; "the Indian sees right through them. He knows who they are."
Scagnetti kills Pinky: As Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) kills Pinky (Lorraine Farris), there are multiple shots of a freight train, as well as the sound of a train layered over the entire scene. At the end of the scene, the train is seemingly driving right past the window of the room. The emphasis on the train in this scene serves as a metaphor for Scagnetti's effort to try to enter a different mindset to capture Mickey and Mallory; "In a sense, Scagnetti wants to become a primordial force in order to capture Mickey and Mallory. By sacrificing this prostitute, he transforms himself into the force of a locomotive. He becomes empowered. He feels ready. The sacrifice has been made."
McClusky shows Scagnetti around prison: "We see nervous, paranoid rhythms, black and white images, unnerving silences, the brutal treatment of the convicts, the constant threat of their retaliation against the prison, the system. We hear strange animalistic sounds coming from behind the walls. It's a descent into hell."
Scagnetti's mother: During Scagnetti's story about how his mother was killed, there is a quick cut to his murder of Pinky. Of this cut, Stone says, "It's an interesting moment when he strangles the prostitute in the flashback, whilst talking about his mother. You almost sense a connection between his mother's murder and his own feelings about women."
Shots of idealized family during prison interview: "Universal audience; the collective. From prior time."
Shots of sex in shower/fruit dying/headless man during interview: "Sexual carnality. Death, sex. Sex, death. Fruit dying. Decay being exciting."
Light changes during interview: "It creates a concept that consciousness comes and goes and flows, like circular, like moonlight, as opposed to literal."
Coke ad/families: "The commercial in a sense reassures us that things are comfortable, that we're cozy, that we're all in the family. And I cut around to a lot of old stock shots of American families watching television. The idea is that we're safe outside the horrors of these people in the prison and that natural forces are under control, with these cute and cuddly creatures."
Wayne Gale demon: "The image of Wayne's devil is funny, because everyone has a different demon, and in Wayne's case I can't help but see that demon as being comic. Hence the horns, and the blood, and the silliness of this man, is part of his charm."
Media map of United States: "It's an image of the power, the old fashioned, Cold War paranoia that we attached to the Russians, and would also apply to the media, because I have very much a paranoia, as do many people, that the media is really the modern enemy, that Russia has now gone into the past and that we in our lifetime, those of us who grew up in that baby boomer era are now saying, "What is the new enemy?", and some of us are realizing that it is us, it is our media, it is our corporations that are the enemy. So it's a deeply subversive message here which Mickey and myself are throwing out at the media. In a sense we're saying, "You are the problem", and many people in the press did not take this film lightly. Either they hated it for these messages, or they really went after it with a poleax to destroy it, to ridicule it as banal, as blah blah blah. But be that as it may, there is truth in the interview, and truth always seems to bother people."
Animation when Mallory attacks Scagnetti: "We cut to animation to suggest her super strength, her super energy, her super woman-ness"
Gale reports live from riot: "The riot is seen through television eyes in a sense that it's not shot the same way or framed the same way as the way we shoot some of the stuff that's already happened in the riot, or is coming up. It's televised, it's sillier, people are waving their legs upside-down, Wayne Gale is ludicrous, the music, everything's silly"
Multi format near prison escape: "The whole kitchen sink gets thrown it. It's Vietnam in this firefight. Of course, it's highly exaggerated, it's nothing I saw. I just wanted to have the madness way beyond even Platoon. So the last scene is surging, a love of chaos, the energy that rebirths us is chaos, it's an energy that invades us."
Channel hoping at end: "In the newscaster, we find the border between reality and what we've just seen dissolve, it vanishes. Channel surfing replaces it. In the context of these events, Mickey and Mallory's lives seem far less absurd. The final series of images flash faster and faster, and we have Rodney King, we have Tonya Harding, we have the Menendez Brothers, we have Waco, Texas, we have Lorena Bobbitt, we have O.J. Simpson. This is the reality of our time, and this is the reason I made the movie."
