Review – Django Unchained

Django Unchained
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Release Date: 18th January 2013
Run time: 165 minutes

With his eighth feature film, Quentin Tarantino sets his sights on the theme of slavery in America and chooses to frame it in the archetypal American film genre, the western. Taking the name Django from a series of spaghetti westerns, Tarantino puts his mark on that sub-genre while using the wider influence that the western had on American cultural history, in conjunction with the slavery theme, to emphasise the uncomfortable fact that this is a large part of the country’s history that its mainstream cinema has largely failed to confront.

In an opening scene that bears all the hallmarks of its director, bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) interrupts the journey of a couple of hicks who are leading a line of shackled slaves across the country in the dark. In the guise of a travelling dentist, complete with comedy giant-tooth wagon ornament, Schultz reveals that he is looking for a particular man among the slaves. Bamboozling the slave traders with his long words and false charm, Schultz finds Django and, when his offer of trade is refused, dispatches the traders with an ultraviolent flourish.

That first scene reacquaints the audience not only with the fizz of Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue but also with the best actor he has ever found to deliver it. Having been a revelation as chief villain Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, Waltz once again excels with a Tarantino script, bringing vital comic touch and a beautiful lyricism to a film that is often unflinching and brutal. His gift for bringing out the comedy in the script is delightful but the real brilliance in this film is in the chemistry between himself and Jamie Foxx as Django. They feed off each other and the relationship between the characters evolves beautifully. Schultz never seems patronising even as he assumes something of a teacher role to Django’s student, the pick of their scenes together being Schultz’s recounting of the Norse myth of Brünnhilde being saved by the hero Siegfried. This and a number of other memorable scenes are crucial to the film holding together. Django’s search for his wife and quest for revenge are so much more engaging thanks to the strength of the character work that goes before it, resulting in a long but consistently rewarding film.

The choice to tackle slavery as a theme in a western revenge fantasy is ambitious to say the least and with so unsubtle a director as Tarantino at the helm it could be cause for trepidation. It is a wonder that it all comes together so well. In fact, the uncompromising attitude taken by the director pays off tremendously because his use of violence is so intelligent. Just as many of the great American novelists show adept use of violence in their literature, so Tarantino does here, establishing himself as one of today’s great American directors. Django Unchained features two distinct types of depicted violence, that which is done to the slaves and that of Django’s revenge upon the slavers. The film’s approach to the violence of slavery is to show it as brutal and raw and extremely discomforting. A number of scenes are tough to watch, one in particular involving a pack of vicious dogs is possibly the most arresting scene that Quentin Tarantino has committed to screen. In contrast to those, the scenes of revenge fantasy are pure exploitation cinema. Blood packs aplenty explode all over, throwing up laughably copious amounts of red gloop. This is unashamed revelry in violent cinema as pure, cathartic entertainment and it is glorious. Elements of Quentin Tarantino’s direction can and will be debated for many years to come but his ability to produce disconnected, colourful, exciting, escapist entertainment can surely not be questioned. Of that genre he is a master. Thanks to the adept balance of style between raw brutality and over the top splattergore, Django Unchained is both an interesting, intelligent film about slavery as well as being one of the most wickedly entertaining films in many a year.

Django Unchained earns its payoff with the strength of its character work. From the duo of Django and Dr Schultz, whom you will cheer on every step of the way, to Leonardo DiCaprio’s blustering man-baby villain Calvin Candie, a perfect cartoonish monstrosity, the strong and diverse cast of characters are consistently entertaining and well acted. While Christoph Waltz’s performance would probably steal most other films, Jamie Foxx matches him scene for scene, creating a cracking protagonist. He gets every ounce of depth from the script, showing his love for his wife as he pleads with a slaver not to whip her and then later sharing an electric scene with DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie as Django holds his nerve to stare him down.

Foxx and Waltz carry the majority of the film, as its first ninety minutes or so is essentially a buddy movie, but the rest of the cast add much once they make their late entrances. Leonardo DiCaprio is in his element under Tarantino’s direction. Unrestrained and over the top, Calvin Candie is a brilliant comic-book style villain that DiCaprio has bags of fun with. In particular his exchanges with Waltz are a treat, trading punchy dialogue that can’t fail to raise a grin. It is also refreshing to have a movie villain that doesn’t base itself on Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight, a trend that has diluted many a blockbuster recently.

As Django’s wife Broomhilda, Kerry Washington is also very impressive. Brutally separated from her husband she endures horrors thereafter and is branded on the face with an ‘r’ for her attempts to run away. Washington’s performance is touching and adds much to the early scenes at Candieland (Calvin Candies modestly named ranch). Broomhilda serves there under the servant-elder Stephen, played by Tarantino stalwart Samuel L Jackson, and with that character Django Unchained gets very unsettling indeed. Stephen is as vile a character as one could imagine and, as if deliberately eschewing good taste, also one of the funniest. The usual raucous comic performance that you expect from Jackson is here but comes from a character that is viciously devoted to his white master, using the N-word numerous times, with venom. A shaky old man with a cane to support him, his weak physical appearance is in contrast to his authority over the black servant staff and his apparent hatred of them. In Stephen, Django Unchained has a character that demonstrates the film’s unerring portrayal of this time in American history and it is testament to both Tarantino and Samuel L Jackson that his presence is so chilling and memorable.

Coming in at over two and a half hours, Django Unchained does sometimes, inevitably, have failings coming from self-indulgence on Tarantino’s part. In particular his own cameo in the film is drastically ill-advised and, frankly, awful. He attempts an Australian accent with embarrassing results and adds nothing positive. It just leaves you wishing someone on set had taken him aside and just said ‘seriously, what are you doing?!’ By no means as bad but still a little jarring is a comic scene involving an inept group of KKK members. The scene is very funny as a comedy sketch but unfortunately doesn’t fit with the film. Some harsher editing was needed but this is nitpicking really as the film finds its mark again almost immediately. The odd blip (and they are far fewer than in Inglourious Basterds or Kill Bill) is a small price to pay for the moments that Tarantino’s over-indulgence actually pays off though. A long showdown between Candie, Django, Scultz and Stephen at the dinner table is marvellous and the soundtrack too is indulgent but great. For the first time Quentin Tarantino uses original material in a soundtrack and it works very well, with the legendary Ennio Morricone offering up an original piece that calls back his work in the classic spaghetti westerns of the sixties. These fit nicely next to a mix of other genres including Rick Ross’s rap 100 Black Coffins, also written for the film. The tracks are all edited distinctly and meticulously matched with appropriate scenes: the kind of attention to detail that pays dividends.

A clever, funny, chilling and gloriously entertaining bonanza, Django Unchained is an unmitigated success. Its depiction of slavery is rightfully uncompromising and ought to be praised for being so. As well as this, the film is sharply witty, rich with brilliant characters and graced with terrific acting throughout. The inevitable self-indulgence throws up the occasional blip but they are thoroughly overshadowed by the moments of indulgence that create excellent cinema. This is certainly Quentin Tarantino’s best work since Jackie Brown and it may well go on to leave a legacy surpassing that of anything he has done before. See Django Unchained, love Django Unchained and prepare to want to see it again and again and again.

Verdict: 5/5

Review – Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed
Dir. Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Mark Duplass
Release date: 26th December 2012
Run time: 86 minutes

With genre movies of the geeky kind dominating the box office at the moment it seems a wise decision for director Colin Trevorrow to make his feature debut with a film about time travel. Only, it’s not really about time travel at all. Taking many elements from the so-dubbed mumblecore movement (low-budget, heavy on the irony, eccentric characters, grandiloquent dialogue aplenty) Safety Not Guaranteed is more an indie comedy with a sci-fi flourish, and for the most part it pulls this off really rather well.

The film revolves around three employees of Seattle magazine who take a trip to get the scoop on a bizarre local classified ad asking for someone to ‘go back in time with me. Safety not guaranteed.’ Cocky journalist and not-so-eligible batchelor Jeff (Jake Johnson) instigates the trip and picks two interns to accompany him: Darius Britt (Aubrey Plaza), a socially awkward 20-something, stuck in the rut of interning, and the even more socially inept nerd Arnau (Karan Soni). The reluctant trio eventually track the guy they’re looking for in the shape of Kenneth (Mark Duplass). He drives an ancient Datsun, dresses in denim and is deadly serious about his time-travel mission. When Darius enters his programme of training to become his partner on the trip, their relationship blossoms and throws up the possibility of Kenneth’s amateur time travel plans not being as bonkers as they sound.

At the heart of everything that this film does right is a great ensemble cast performance. Aubrey Plaza leads with a confident turn, handling the ironic and awkward 20-something character well while providing the film with heart and charm in the relationship between herself and Mark Duplass as Kenneth. Duplass’s performance compliments the film terrifically as his steadfast seriousness makes a great base for the comedy in the film to work off. The result is great comedy that generally makes up for some of the weaker elements of the film. Jake Johnson, who some may know from the TV series New Girl, has a great future ahead of him, here taking a character that doesn’t exactly jump off the page and making him a charismatic arse that does some much needed learning over the course of the film. Unfortunately, his character is lumbered with a side-plot in which he seeks a former flame (his real reason for taking the trip in the first place) that never really fits with the rest of the film. Johnson’s performance is good enough though to paper over the odd crack or two and ultimately the film’s positives outweigh the negatives.

At just under 90 minutes Safety Not Guaranteed is short and sweet. In a couple of instances it seems a little too clear where cuts were made, resulting in some tangential plot elements feeling under-cooked. In particular it leaves little room for young actor Karan Soni to shine, although when he does get the chance his performance matches those of his fellow cast members in quality. Also, when gifted the presence of a brilliant comedy actor like Jeff Garlin, having him appear in a solitary scene of a few seconds feels a little criminal. On the other hand, the editing prevents the film outstaying its welcome and also gives the main storyline a real energy, rattling along nicely with a great balance of comedy, emotion and a brilliant pay-off. Writer Derek Connolly may not have come up with anything revolutionary but his script is pretty solid and he and Colin Trevorrow have formed a partnership that could certainly go on to make some great, interesting films in future.

If Juno-esque ironic dialogue doesn’t bother you then Safety Not Guaranteed is certainly worthy of attention. Adding a time travel element to a typical indie comedy – an idea that could have easily come off as gimmicky and geek-pandering – it in fact succeeds in the execution of both parts. This is a well acted example of fun indie filmmaking that has a heart and, while it’s not perfect, a great central plot and witty comedy mean that it’s difficult not to come out without having found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Verdict:  3.5/5