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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 12/21/2012 : 13:13:25
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Newsflash - Quentin Tarantino is a terrible actor! Film at eleven!
OK just wanted to get that out of the way.
Now, if one were an independent movie theater owner who could schedule whatever s/he wanted instead of fulfilling the contract to play what the distributors dictate -- if one were, one could do worse than program a double bill of Lincoln and Django Unchained.
In fact, I wish there were a way to fuse the two films into one. For the first immerses us in a coolly convincing if partial political context of the years covering the American Civil War, and the second shoots us in the face with the power of prejudice and gross exploitation by whites [rich and poor] toward primarily African-born slaves.
What writer/director Tarantino has achieved with Django Unchained is so powerful, so resonating, that its premiere was delayed "out of respect" for the victims of Sandy Hook.
I suspect the distributors may actually have another agenda, but, hey, I've always been the cynical type.
As for the film itself - well, yep, I loved it! Amazing - it's about the same length as Les Miserable. Yet while the latter dragged its way through decades, this one galloped apace.
That's because the story has a clear through-line that plays itself out with wonderful performances, magnificent editing and cinematography, directorial sensitivity and emotional contrast, and a population of characters who surprise in the context of their personal adventures.
Les Miserables, in contrast, presents us with a calling card crafted by a master story-teller of real-life events which unfold over decades, all through the eyes of different characters. In some ways the two films have common cause - stories of a downtrodden, unfairly abused man whose station is risen to achieve a human [as opposed to a material] goal.
Hugo's tale is necessarily too complex for one narrative voice. And, especially as redacted into a stage musical presentation, the solution has been to diffuse the focus.
Tarantino's film, though set in a realistic context, gives us a single point of identification - Django himself.
As played by a quietly powerful Jamie Foxx, we see a slave, having been cruelly torn from his beloved wife as both are auctioned to separately serve The Man. His one true desire is to find her, claim her, and free her to fulfil their destiny as a couple.
What Tarantino has so brilliantly recognized is the mythic power of the story. He lets us know this in many ways, successfully showing rather than telling. It's what involves and engages us whether or not we'd usually be attracted by its cowboy-like setting. It may look like a "western," but it surely ain't, nosirree bob!
The film's journey begins with Django's fortuitous meeting with the terrific Christoph Waltz, who - as Dr. Schultz, a travelling dentist on a secret mission - extends to Django the hand of life-changing friendship. The journey quickly evolves into adventure, as throughout the rough and ready territories of pre-Civil War Texas and adjoining southern lands, the two friends have to battle all the human monsters that keep the man from the woman.
The whole is threaded together by some remarkable performances, not least Leonardo DiCaprio as probably the biggest monster of all; he's the plantation owner of a business that represents the reality of slavery. His chillingly charming portrait is matched by his "house nigger" Stephen, his devoted servant whose word is law to all the other plantation niggers, yet whose easy relationship with the master belies his unquestioned devaluation of himself. Samuel L Jackson is just superb.
Many smaller roles & cameos delight us, including Don Johnson, Don Stroud, Russ Tamblyn, Bruce Dern, Ted Neeley, Michael Parks, even Franco Nero who himself played Django in the very different Italian original of 1966.
That version was - well, it was entertainment - things happened up there on a screen far away. Tarantino's version keeps us watching as it transcends the screen and invades our feelings. Let's just hope he keeps away from the other side of the camera.
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 02/25/2013 : 09:05:03
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I haven't seen this yet, but here's an interesting article on the multiple nods in this movie to Tarantino's favourite Spaghetti Westerns (and other movies).
I wish I hadn't read it now, I wonder how many I would have picked up without prompting (I've seen most of the ones mentioned except for the crap ones). 
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/a-guide-to-the-film-references-in-django-unchained/
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MguyXXV 
"X marks the spot"
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Posted - 02/25/2013 : 20:41:45
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| Nice review, Babe! A bit more than four words, but spot on. |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 04/29/2013 : 20:49:51
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You and Tony Scott of the NY Times both suggest a back-to-back screening of LINCOLN and DJANGO. Lassie, that's six hours!
Also saw and loved, but I'm not sure it's as profound as critics [including Tony] maintain. It's not a Western, you're right. It's a Southern. Just as Sergio Leone's distance -- physically, phonetically -- from the Old West made his Eastwood movies look like they were set on Mars, so it is with the "Mississippi" locations that take up most of this picture. It's so off that it's on.
The biggest monster is not the DiCaprio character, though his part is a riot, so much so that he literally fusses with his mustache a la Snidely Whiplash. The Sam Jackson character is the truly transgressive one. That took courage to write, direct and perform. P.S., Baffy: we all know QT is no actor. [I saw him on Broadway in WAIT UNTIL DARK, so I'm even knowier than you are!] But he filled this movie with so many other recognizables, why not take a small piece for himself? After all, he may be speaking here for many critics!
If we're supposed to be rooting for Django b/c he's black, then that's a smidge of racism in and of itself. We should be rooting for him b/c he's wronged. But we don't get the chance: it's niggerniggerniggerniggerniggernigger. Only in a QT B-movie, of which this is one, could such an underdog possibly ride off into the [explosion-lit] sunset. Maybe not racism. Condescension then.
Well worth the rent, for Christoph Waltz throughout, for the hilarious Keystone-Kop Klan sequence, and, let's face it, for God's gift to squib manufacturers, Mr. QT. |
Edited by - randall on 04/30/2013 21:46:22 |
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benj clews 
"...."
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Posted - 05/01/2013 : 15:24:32
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Really enjoyed this too, bu-u-u-u-ut... am I alone in finding it a bit all over the place in terms of tone? I know QT loves to mix genres but this was like a film made with Sam Peckinpah fighting Mel Brooks over directing duties.
I mean, I laughed out loud at the Klan scene but thinking on it afterwards, it didn't sit well with much of the rest of the film. Same goes for the springy tooth, Fox's initial choice of outfit and the somewhat overindulgent horse dance at the end. Even Django's wife's response to his mindless destruction of the plantation house seemed just... wrong. I'd like to think if I went on such a rampage, no matter what said residents of house had been up to, my wife would be somewhat shocked and wary of me from then on.
For those reasons, I didn't much go with Fox. I was there primarily for the easy charm of Waltz (hard to believe this is the same guy we despised so in IB) and the brilliant mega-shit that was Sam Jackson- it's been a long time since I've so wanted to see someone get their comeuppance as he.
Oh, and I did find it a bit long- for me it should have ended just before we encounter QT. Seriously, was that bit really needed? Take Django out of the house for 5 minutes, just so he could go storming back in? Even Django's means of escape from that predicament didn't seem likely. Seemed to me if a short breather from the carnage was needed, why not just stick in some classic Tarantino banter in a stand-off?
Still, a good watch, just a bit of a weird genre fusion (even for Tarantino) I thought. |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 05/01/2013 : 22:53:26
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There are inelegant nods to BLAZING SADDLES inside this movie. But QT has never been accused of elegance, and I think those nods are so heavy-handed -- another QT trait -- that they fade instantly.
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/07/2013 : 03:36:18
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quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
I mean, I laughed out loud at the Klan scene but thinking on it afterwards, it didn't sit well with much of the rest of the film.
I know what you mean, that scene had a bit of a Coen Brothers feel to it. But, I think this is Tarantino saying "Hey, there is slavery in this movie but that doesn't mean you should take it too seriously, this is good-fun entertainment like all my other movies". Other parts of the movie were similarly OTT or non-serious. E.g, the shootouts had a fastest-gunman-in-the-west-is-actually-100-times-better-than-all-the-rest quality (common in Spaghetti Westerns), and the reaction (or non-reaction) of Django's wife at the end to her husband's sadistic carnage was also implausible and detached - such things only happen in the movies.
Slavery is still hallowed ground, we're supposed to take it seriously, or more to the point, there aren't supposed to be good-fun movies set in that era in the deep South. Tarantino gets my thumbs up for testing the waters here. [I wonder when someone will try to set a comedy in Auschwitz? I'm guessing not for 100 more years, although I guess La vita � bella made a start...]
I agree this isn't altogether a 'Western', but it was up until they headed south. The bounty-hunting phase was as 'Western' as the part in Mississippi was 'Southern'.
Tarantino can do no wrong in my book, and with his tribute to a genre he loves (Spaghetti Westerns) not much could have gone wrong. It didn't.
9/10
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 06/08/2013 : 16:32:46
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| Regarding the review you just posted: you're welcome for the inspiration. [Wish I'd thought of it!] |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 13:05:19
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quote:
Originally posted by randall
Regarding the review you just posted: you're welcome for the inspiration. [Wish I'd thought of it!]
I was rather surprised to see it wasn't already there. I even did a site search to see if it was on any other movies (not that I could think of where else it might 'fit'), but nope.  |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 14:42:46
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Was mortified a moment ago to see I'd neglected to vote for it: I just corrected that mistake. IMO it's our best review of this picture so far. Still wish I'd thought of it!
As we used to say, keep 'em coming! |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 23:01:31
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My first review for two years. Thought I'd make it a goodie!
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Django Unchained
