Oh, Django Unchained! How can you be so whimsical and satisfying one moment and boringly brutal the next, all in a setting which does not lend itself to trivial meandering? Oh, Tarantino, how I have loved thee, while also thinking you are much too full of yourself. Where the hell do I go from here in reviewing this film?
When I could stomach this film, I enjoyed it. Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx are awesome. I love violence and revenge and come-uppance perhaps more than the average movie-goer, so we're all good there.
However, some of the lighthearted moments, while effectively funny, seem to compromise the structural integrity of the film. Also, for my taste, gratuitous violence needs to be in a correct proportion to either meaningful catharsis or deep social commentary, and Tarantino's math is fuzzy on this point. (And, truly, I love violence!) It's as if the valid points he makes about humanity are negated by the gleeful exploitation vibe.
I am willing to concede that perhaps Tarantino's film making genius has eclipsed my ability to comprehend it, but I think he just missed the mark a bit. Gone is the restraint of Reservoir Dogs and the tight control of a complicated narrative from Pulp Fiction. Instead, a sort of filmic ADD is unchecked in Django Unchanied and the frenzy does not engage me but prevents me from letting go and taking the journey. Glad to see this film here, but I'll be perplexed if it wins.
Great review! I loved Django but its the first film of Tarantino's (I always disinclude Death Proof, for some reason) that I felt was bloated. I usually love his filmic meanderings but here they felt sloppy instead of fun.
ReplyDelete