New: Django Unchained

Django Unchained (2012)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio

It’s difficult to know how to treat Quentin Tarantino films of late, his film making hasn’t in anyway matured since his stunning arrival onto the scene 21 years where he produced landmark moments in 90’s cinema; influencing a generation of film makers in the meantime. In fact when you think back to the grisly sharp teeth of Resevoir Dogs, the alluring malignance of Pulp Fiction and the Jackie Brown’s fierce sense of humour you can make the case that if anything there has been a regression in Quentin’s development, his films have become over reliant on a tired arsenal of unmistakable “Tarantinoisms” which are beginning to fail the and belie his talents, Django Unchained his latest release is a perfect example of this.

Djano, essentially a Western concerns itself with the cultural politics of mid 19^th century America, an America still very much embracing the hurt and pain of slavery with seemingly no remorse but instead a sense of pride and entitlement. Scars of subjugation manifest in tangible marks of branded flesh and distorted whip afflicted skin, yet the real damage is evident in the less striking devotion to servitude, custom and an collective acceptance of fate. Tarantino has always used conventional narrative in his features revenge, good, evil and this is no different when a sophisticated Germanic bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz frees Jamie Foxx’s eponymous slave they form a deadly yet profitable alliance collecting high price Bounties for villainous scum; a Riggs and Murtaugh of their time if you will. Django’s end game though is to rescue his wife from the clutches of sadistic Leonardo Dicaprio and his veil of suave southern eccentricity. 

Django's problem are for all of the well written dialogue and characters which are handled superbly by the star cast, Tarantino's inability to quieten the discord between the salience of capturing the distressing plight of slaves who are subject to torture, murder and even the human dog fighting of “Mandingo bouts”, with the kitschy stylistic devices such as the incongruously eclectic sound track accompanied by the overtly graphic and comic violence he seems to have become enamoured with since Kill Bill. All of which only serve to cheapen and diminish the films meaning and strength, perhaps Quentin could one day not make a Tarantino movie and we could see how truly talented the man is.

7/10