There are very few directors who can boast that they not only revolutionized a film genre, but also created a unique visual style all their own. With "Pulp Fiction", Quentin Tarantino did just that, revolutionizing what it meant to make a crime saga, but also set a course for making films which would be ripped off countless times after that. With his second film he set the bar far too high for him ever to hurdle again--there simply will never be something as good as "Pulp Fiction" or even "Reservoir Dogs" that comes out of him--but I don't necessarily believe it's fair to him to do side by side comparisons of his work. What I can say after watching his latest film, "Django Unchained, is that there has been noticeable growth and maturity in his work which is something I commend him for.
In one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, Tarantino sticks to his crime epics, but takes us to the Deep South, just before the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression, if you prefer), where we meet a severe young slave named Django (the "D" is silent) who is purchased by a German bounty hunter in the guise of a dentist. On the hunt for the Brittle brothers, Dr. King Schultz employs Django, for he knows what the brothers look like, offering him his freedom in exchange for his help. From there the two partner up to find Django's wife, Broomhilda, who is owned by the evil Calvin Candie. Along the way they make their small fortunes killing bandits as they travel from plantation to plantation.
Just from their names it is obvious that Tarantino has decided to do away with realism, creating a sprawling picture full of heightened characters in a time and place that was almost a caricature in and of itself. But even through the extravagance of it all, I didn't feel the overwhelming sense of muchness that seemed to characterize his more recent films, like "Inglorious Basterds" and the "Kill Bill" films. It was a cleaner, more polished version of his later attempts, with a rather straight forward love and revenge plot filled with great performances.
Jamie Foxx plays Django, a man who quickly embraces his freedom, and with the fires of passion burning in his heart becomes an ultimate badass in bright blue tails. It is far more a love story than a retribution film, and Django wants his woman bad. Of course the violence and the revenge are far more entertaining and Tarantino delivers that too, in gleeful abundance.
There might be two Supporting Actor contenders from this film. Chrisoph Waltz, who was rocketed to stardom in "Basterds" as the insane Nazi, Hans Landa, gets far more screen time with his amusing Schultz character, a man disgusted by slavery, but someone who still feels an obligation towards his purchase. Some of the funniest moments are delivered Waltz, whose snappy and articulate character is the most progressive person in the film.
The other is Leonardo DiCaprio who is a fantastically sinister charmer; a smooth talking plantation owner with brown teeth. As Calvin Candie, his "Candieland" is home to a great many slaves and the location for last--and truly Tarantino-esque--showdown. DiCaprio gives the most energetic and exciting performance as the deranged biological racist who specializes in "Mandingo Fighting" (I will let you discover for yourself what that means). It seemed apparent to me that our colorful screenwriter had the most fun penning this character and DiCaprio definitely took full advantage of that.
More than any other of his movies, Tarantino was also making a political statement. I don't believe that he thinks slavery has ended, it has just changed its disguise, like Dr. Schultz. His depictions of slavery are horrific, at times almost unwatchable, though I'm sure were dramatized like everything else he's done. After all, Hitler didn't die by a machine gun to a face.
In the end, I feel like this was his darkest and most emotionally resonant film to date. It is fun and funny, but I felt like a lot of what he did was more formality to appease his audience. It was a still a zippy, genre-blending whirl, a spaghetti western for the modern age, but I don't believe its purpose was honest. I felt like I was seeing past that, and finding an artist with a little something more to say behind the camera tricks, and that was what made the film exhilarating to me. I expect he only has a few more good films left in him, so I would love to see more growth and maturity bring him, and myself, to new and exciting places of the same caliber as "Pulp Fiction", even if it's not as revolutionary as that piece.
3.5/4
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