Django Unchained

Started by MacGuffin, March 27, 2011, 10:14:40 PM

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

HeywoodRFloyd

Some might say 5 times if you count the opening black screen which plays the Ligeti piece before the blue MGM logo. One might say that it's like that because the curtains were still meant to be down back in the theatres in the 60's, in an overture like fashion, but I think the 2.21:1 black screen is also the monolith, otherwise why would Kubes play the same track that only accompanies the Monolith throughout the film.

In regards to Django, I enjoyed it, but from this first viewing I can say it's his weakest from his Vengeance Trilogy. The violence in this film is artful, I loved every single over exaggerated blood splatter and bullet penetration that left an array of human limbs as projectiles. But I was hoping for something more, more story. But I still loved the film, probably on my second viewing i'll go into it knowing what it is and appreciate it even more, but at the moment I have to say I was expecting the resurgence of Sergio Leone, but that didn't happen. I couldn't help but want another The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and what I mean by that is, twists and turns all over the place, something QT handles so well, but it felt relatively linear, 'The creation of Django' is the first half, 'Redemption at Candieland' the second half. I just wanted that redemption to sprawl with heaps of different dynamics, perhaps the fact it all happens on the same day they arrive to Candieland limits that, let's say if they did leave and come back in 5 days (Like Django said), I was eager to know what their plan was, and how it was gonna turn out, but good ol' Samuel L Jackson pulled a cinematic cockblock on me. This is not to say this film isn't enjoyable, it really is, just not the masterpiece people made it out to be. Tarantino said this was the most violent western since the The Wild Bunch, and I'll have to give him that crown, it's quite a splatter fest.

Frederico Fellini

Quote from: HeywoodRFloyd on January 07, 2013, 05:07:41 AM
Some might say 5 times if you count the opening black screen which plays the Ligeti piece before the blue MGM logo. One might say that it's like that because the curtains were still meant to be down back in the theatres in the 60's, in an overture like fashion, but I think the 2.21:1 black screen is also the monolith, otherwise why would Kubes play the same track that only accompanies the Monolith throughout the film.



ROB AGER:


We fought against the day and we won... WE WON.

Cinema is something you do for a billion years... or not at all.

socketlevel

SPOILERS

I really liked it, though I will talk about the problems I had with it mainly. What I did like is short. When I saw the trailer I was like oh-shit, it's another one of these tarantino shit shows. The best part for me is how the trailer is actually quite different than the final product. It looks glossier, the film was treated in a very studio style of perfect contrast and little grain. The film itself didn't look anything like what we were led to think it was. Also, a lot of the takes used in the trailer were close ups, with over the top performances. Again, the final film had much of the same dialog delivered from afar, and with understated performances of the very same lines. Almost always a better way of handling it.

I actually think the film is much more gentle with the tarantinoisms in regard to character and dialog, partially due to the time and place it's set; which was refreshing.

My problem is twofold. The early draft of the script was vastly different than the final product. Sadly he made changes that I don't think he needed, and actually worked against the narrative. First and foremost, I really miss the Broomhilda backstory sequence. The performance for the character was strong enough that it wasn't needed to put the audience on the side of Django, as I'm sure was the major reason for it existing at one time, but it was such an interesting little subplot to how Broomhilda got to Candyland. These deviations from the script left me wanting more. It feels like instead of including Broomhilda's backstory Tarantino opted to include the penultimate shootout scene (the one right after Kristof Waltz dies). So instead of getting a cool subplot we got a pretty cool shootout. However, the entire story was building up to the point of the final scene, so in essence, we got our release before it was warranted. In the initial script, Waltz turns to Fox, apologizes because he "couldn't help himself" and they knock Django out. By having the shootout, we're given the catharsis of Django kicking ass too early and we care less at the end of the film. Tarantino just made us cum too soon...

The final shootout... beyond what I just mentioned (the fact that we cared less by the time it got there), in the original screenplay the final shootout consists of Django meeting the six people as they come up the road to their plantation house and all the men pull out their guns, Django only has one gun himself. Then the film cuts back to what we now saw in the final moment; Waltz saying the world will remember him as the fastest gun. After the flashback it cuts back to the standoff and Django kills all six guys before they can shoot him. Six bullets, six dead racist mother fuckers. I understand by including the previous shootout (another crazy 88 scene no less) we already know he's super talented with a gun, so logically Tarantino had to change the ending. I do like the ending as it is, especially when he asks the maid to say goodbye to her madam... too good, but the whole build up of the script was showing how Django became a legend. In the last moment he delivers a flurry of unmatched marksmenship. So again, the penultimate gunfight ruined the film in another way.

The second issue is a strange one, because it's not an issue of story it's one of great acting. When I initially read the screenplay, and Waltz's character dies, it felt like a cool as shit way of offing the protagonist, so in turn another one could step up to the plate. I love how tarantino plays with the expectations of protagonists, much like he did with Death Proof; we follow the villain instead of the heroes. In this case we're following a great man, who is so great it's almost to a fault, and he ultimately pays the price for his great sense of honor and character (which is nice to see the same actor in back to back QT films stand for polar opposite values). But only then can Django rise up to fight for what's good. Looks great on paper... Doesn't work when you got Kristof fucking Waltz killing a performance. Strangely it reminds me of when I was younger and watched Scream 3 in the theatre, as soon as Parker Pose's character died, I just didn't give a shit anymore about anyone else. She just stole the film from everyone. Now it's not as bad with Django Unchained, but I gotta admit, with Waltz (not to mention Dicaprio) dead, I gave a little less of a shit.

I still think it's amazing that Tarantino, in about 5 seconds of screen time, killed the protagonist and antagonist off with 1/3 of the film left to go. He is one of very few film makers who can make it still work. However, it did change the film. I was still with it till the end, but a little less than I would have hoped.

Has anyone else read the early draft?

anyway, that's my 2ps.
the one last hit that spent you...

HeywoodRFloyd

Nice writeup man, I read the first half of the early draft (didn't want to spoil the film entirely) and I too really did miss the Broomhilda backstory subplot, I really wanted to see that segment.

socketlevel

SPOILERS

Quote from: HeywoodRFloyd on January 07, 2013, 04:54:38 PM
Nice writeup man, I read the first half of the early draft (didn't want to spoil the film entirely) and I too really did miss the Broomhilda backstory subplot, I really wanted to see that segment.

thanks man. you never know that might be one of the scenes on the cutting room floor and they actually shot it. it does cut back to some of it, the part where she is whipped.

the best part of that missing segment is that other character, the one who buys her and falls in love with her (but she is also his pony) and then loses her in a card game. It's so dark and in some ways the most racist part because it plays it off as somewhat sweet, in an almost Shakespearian way. First off he bets her, showing that she's only a commodity of his (but also maybe that he's full of pride and is egged into it/has a massive gambling problem). Then the scene ends so well. too bad it's gone.

Like I get that the film is not really her story and that's another reason to not include it, but damn it's so well written.

It'd be a nice internet kinda thing, like a short film about her past. they shoulda released it that way, much like the short film for darjeling.
the one last hit that spent you...

Reel

I didn't realize the script was so different from the final product, though I imagined it would be. Maybe it's because I read it like a year and a half ago, but I thought that most of what was in there ended up on screen. I'm gonna have to flip through it again anyways. I was picturing Will Smith in the leading role the whole time, after all.


Anyways, Tarantino did this hour and a half 'commentary' on the soundtrack that was up on sound cloud and everyone was promoting it last week, but now it's been taken down. I never got a chance to listen and it's not on iTunes or Youtube or anything. Can any of you fuckwads find that for me?

RegularKarate

This is why I don't read screenplays before seeing movies I know are getting made.
You can't call the differences in the screenplay a problem with the film. It's a problem with your expectations.
It's the same thing with your issue with Waltz. It's not what you wanted... to me, that's part of what makes it so good.

socketlevel

Quote from: RegularKarate on January 08, 2013, 10:58:09 AM
This is why I don't read screenplays before seeing movies I know are getting made.
You can't call the differences in the screenplay a problem with the film. It's a problem with your expectations.
It's the same thing with your issue with Waltz. It's not what you wanted... to me, that's part of what makes it so good.

naw it's not a problem with my expectations, i think i was descriptive enough in how it didn't work.

I decided to read the master and django about a year ago. I've never done it that way, and it was a learning experience. I got to cut the movie before they did, so I learned a lot about writing and directing in the process. reading it first also gave me the ability to put (or not put) emotion into scenes. when you see the final product you're wowed by how little you have to write. most people overwrite because they think emotions come from words and descriptions, when most often they come from reactions/motivation and actors. the master is so bare bones that way. I learned a huge lesson in the process.

If you want to write and make films it's hard to learn from screenplays if you always read them after watching the film. You always end up seeing the scene in your head with the same delivery each time. I got my version of the films, and then I got theirs. I can see how they differed.

but ultimately the point is, Tarantino made changes and in my opinion some were for the better and some hamstrung the film from the original concept. Paul Thomas Anderson on the other hand made 100% of his changes for the betterment of the story. It's not as simple as I wanted something, because I loved the master in script form too, one improved upon the source material and the other (slightly) worsened.

feels like you didn't read my post, it's exactly what i wanted from the waltz character, i just wanted django to be as good so when he passes the torch I'm still totally on board. I was on board, but had my eye on the safety boats. waltz was so what i wanted, so great in his performance, foxx couldn't hold a candle.

oh and btw, if it wasn't clear, I really liked the movie!  :yabbse-grin: I'd give it a 7.5/10, and if it didn't do what i was saying it woulda been higher.
the one last hit that spent you...

RegularKarate

I read your post. I still think that you set your own expectations when you read a screenplay before the movie. You have a good point about learning from reading screenplays before seeing the movie (though I don't fully agree that knowing what sets and actors look like affects what you learn about words on paper)...

SPOILER

...using your example: to me, as someone who did not read the screenplay, Waltz's death made me more interested in the story. His performance was amazing and I was moved by his death, but I liked the shift, I was affected by it more because his performance was so strong.

socketlevel

SPOILERS

Quote from: RegularKarate on January 09, 2013, 12:32:20 PM
I read your post. I still think that you set your own expectations when you read a screenplay before the movie. You have a good point about learning from reading screenplays before seeing the movie (though I don't fully agree that knowing what sets and actors look like affects what you learn about words on paper)...

SPOILER

...using your example: to me, as someone who did not read the screenplay, Waltz's death made me more interested in the story. His performance was amazing and I was moved by his death, but I liked the shift, I was affected by it more because his performance was so strong.

exactly, that's why I loved it in the script, protagonist and antagonist are killed, and the two sidekicks battle it out. The problem is, I found waltz and dicaprio to be far more three dimensional than foxx and jackson. I think we both find the device that Tarantino used to be highly engaging and original (or at least uncommon), I guess I only differ in that I feel jackson and more so foxx didn't quite deliver enough early in the film to totally take control of the film at that point. I might just be splitting hairs, because they did a great job. I'm just going over in my head how I thought their performances were dwarfed by the other two.
the one last hit that spent you...

RegularKarate

It's not a spoiler to say that this was Jackson's best performance in over a decade and I completely disagree. He was incredible... far more evil than DiCaprio

MacGuffin

Quentin Tarantino Snaps at Interviewer Over Violence in Film Question
The Oscar-winning "Django Unchained" director was having no part the inquiry, telling a journalist, "I'm not your slave."
Source: THR

Quentin Tarantino is officially done talking about the violence in his films.

A master of heightened (and often comedic) carnage on celluloid, the release of the Oscar-winner's latest film, Django Unchained, coincides with a bloody streak of mass shootings in America, a calendar fluke that has put him in the crosshairs of the latest debate on the impact of violence in entertainment. This does not amuse him, as he made clear in an interview with a British journalist for Channel 4.

Tarantino said the violence in his and other films are based in fantasy, the sort of unlikely escapism that allows one man to take on twenty in a fair fight. When pressed further, he declared, "Don't ask me questions like that. I'm not biting. I refuse your question."

As the questioning continued, his protests grew. "I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not your monkey," he said, sitting up in his seat.

The director, whose film garnered Oscar nominations on Thursday for best picture, screenplay and supporting actor, is a 20-year veteran of the film junket, and made it clear he was the one in control, calling the interview simply a "commercial" for his movie. Channel 4's interviewer, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, fought that contention, saying that he worked for a serious news program, with interest in exploring relevant social debate.

Tarantino then pointed out that he has been questioned up and down about the violence in his films, and even as his interviewer cited Vice President Joe Biden's meeting with the entertainment industry over guns in its products, Tarantino said that it was not his responsibility to address the issue once again.

No stranger to controversy, Tarantino's Django has touched off more social debate than perhaps any of his previous films, with only 1997's blaxploitation Jackie Brown coming close. Earlier, the director weathered the storm of racial outcry, thanks to the western slave-revenge epic's depiction of bondage and use of epithets.

"Not one word of social criticism that's been leveled my way has ever changed one word of any script or any story I tell," he told The Hollywood Reporter late last month, referring both to discussions of both his dealings with race and gunplay. "I believe in what I'm doing wholeheartedly and passionately. It's my job to ignore that."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Frederico Fellini

We fought against the day and we won... WE WON.

Cinema is something you do for a billion years... or not at all.

diggler

It's definitely an overreaction, the reporter didn't really seem to be up to anything (his quaint British accent makes it seem even less offensive). I'm amazed at how anyone can keep their composure while answering the same question a thousand times. Luckily, there's no such thing as bad publicity (thanks for that lesson, Canyons).
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Frederico Fellini

We fought against the day and we won... WE WON.

Cinema is something you do for a billion years... or not at all.