Auteurs (The Great Directors of Cinema History): Part 3 – Movies Spotlight – April 2015

List is in alphabetical order.

Part I and Part II

Part III – The Modern Director (A.K.A. Blockbusters or Small Indies)

Paul Thomas Anderson

Style/system: American; works in American independent film; flawed characters, stylized moving camera, memorable use of music, an overall aesthetic flare

Active: 1988-Present

Key films to see: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and The Master

Wes Anderson

Style/system: American; works in American independent film; highly stylized aesthetics (down to the smallest detail), wonderful and ambitious camera moves, stylized blocking, youths with potential and adults not reaching their potential, memorable use of music

Active: 1994-Presnet

Key films to see: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, and The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jacques Audiard

Style/system: French; works in France; an aesthetic flare, but also an actor’s director, flawed characters looking for redemption, gritty settings, dramatically specific/effective use of violence

Active: 1994-Present

Key films to see: Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, A Prophet, and Rust and Bone

Kathryn Bigelow

Style/system: American; works in Hollywood; a terrific use of dramatic tension and suspense, gritty action, strong performances despite films being plot driven

Active: 1978-Present

Key films to see: Point Break, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty

Danny Boyle

Style/system: English; works in England, American independent film and Hollywood; frenetic/up-beat editing, digital photography pioneer; leaves room for comedy in his dramas

Active: 1987-Present

Key films to see: Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later…, Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionaire

James Cameron

Style/system: American; works in Hollywood; big action movies and grand epics, pushing technology forward (basically, singlehandedly resurrected 3D, for better or worse), an explorer at heart (especially in documentary work)

Active: 1978-Present

Key films to see: The Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, and Avatar

Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan)

Style/system: American; work in American independent film; highly stylized dialog and aesthetics, masters of composition and camera movement, as well as narrative storytelling that deviates from the norm (regardless of genre), oddball characters, leaders of America’s resurgence of independent cinema in the 1980s/1990s

Active: 1984-Present

Key films to see: Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit

Sofia Coppola

Style/system: American; works in American independent cinema; highly stylized aesthetics, wandering/free form narratives that feel far more about character than plot, great use of music

Active: 1996-Present

Key films to see: The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Somewhere

Alfonso Cuaron

Style/system: Mexican; works in Mexico, England and Hollywood; brilliant long-take tracking shots, naturalistic feel to his work despite often making sci-fi, fantasy and actions films

Active: 1983-Present

Key films to see: Solo con tu pareja, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men, and Gravity

David Fincher

Style/system: American; works in Hollywood; prolific music video director, a master of the mystery thriller, bleached out color schemes often on the cool side of the palate, brilliant, specific and expertly used camera moves

Active: 1985-Presnet

Key films to see: Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Miyazaki Hayao

Style/system: Japanese; works in Japan; the master of Japanese animation, highly influential for today’s leading animation storytellers, an expert in narrative storytelling and use of drama/comedy

Active: 1972-Present

Key films to see: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle

Todd Haynes

Style/system: American; works in American independent film; subversive narrative structure, provocative storytelling, complex eroticism, wonderful performances

Active: 1978-Present

Key films to see: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven, and Mildred Pierce (HBO Miniseries)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Style/system: French; works in France; surreal narratives, exaggerated color palates, an aesthetic flare, odd characters and locations yet also charming

Active: 1978-Present

Key films to see: Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Amelie, A Very Long Engagement, and Micmacs

Spike Jonze

Style/system: American; works in Hollywood; a prolific music video director, narratives that push the boundaries – feeling as they might exist in our world but also strange and foreign, things are always just a bit off, elicits phenomenal performances

Active: 1991-Present

Key films to see: Being John Malkovich, Adaptation. and Her

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Style/system: Polish; worked in Poland and France; a magnificent use of color and sound (music), deeply emotional narratives and performances, striking aesthetic, powerfully moving storytelling

Active: 1966-1994

Key films to see: A Short Film About Love, A Short Film About Killing, The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors: Blue, and Three Colors: Red

Ang Lee

Style/system: Taiwanese; works in American independent film, Hollywood, England, and China; conflict between tradition and modernity, repressed emotions, powerful dramatic storytelling, superb performances

Active: 1982-Present

Key films to see: Eat Drink Man Woman, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, and Life of Pi

David Lynch

Style/system: American; works in American independent film; bizarre narratives, creepy characters, often surreal, violent, highly stylized aesthetics

Active: 1966-Present

Key films to see: Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive

Michael Mann

Style/system: American; works in Hollywood; a master of the crime drama, violent, stark, authentic, highly stylized aesthetics (often featuring wonderful photography)

Active: 1968-Present

Key films to see: Thief, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, and Collateral

Steve McQueen

Style/system: English; works in England and Hollywood; powerful, emotional dramas, wonderful long-take shots (often employing a static camera), garners sensational performances, a true artist

Active: 1993-Present

Key films to see: Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave

Christopher Nolan

Style/system: English; works in England, American independent cinema and Hollywood; the master of the modern blockbuster/epic, psychological narratives, disjunctive narrative structures, grand action sequences, practical effects (in a world of cgi), a champion of film over digital

Active: 1997-Present

Key films to see: Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar

Park Chan-wook

Style/system: Korean; works in Korea and American independent film; brutal, precise aesthetics, black humor

Active: 1992-Present

Key films to see: J.S.A.: Joint Security Area, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Thirst

Quentin Tarantino

Style/system: American; works in American independent film; violent, great dialog, highly stylized and referential aesthetics, a film fan first, a leader of the revitalization of America’s independent cinema, a champion of film over digital

Active: 1983-Present

Key films to see: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained

Thomas Vinterberg

Style/system: Danish; works in Denmark, England and American independent film; co-founder of Dogme 95 (a movement to simplify film production), champion and pioneer of digital photography, deeply dramatic narratives, character-driven films, an actor’s director

Active: 1990-Present

Key films to see: The Celebration, Submarino and The Hunt

Lars von Trier

Style/system: Danish; works in Denmark, England and American independent film; co-founder of Dogme 95 (a movement to simplify film production), a minimalist, often makes provocative narratives, pushes social boundaries, highly stylized aesthetics

Active: 1967-Present

Key films to see: Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Melancholia

Wong Kar Wai

Style/system: Chinese; works in China, France and American independent film; a director’s director, emotionally dramatic narratives, solemn tones, tragic romance, a wondrous use of color, highly stylized aesthetics

Active: 1988-Present

Key films to see: Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, In the Mood for Love, and 2046

Part I and Part II

Top 100 Films of the 20th Century – Part 9: 65-61

70-66

Rank: 65

Title: Don’t Look Now

Release Year: 1973

Genre: Horror

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Cast: Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland

Plot Summary: Laura and John Baxter are still grieving the recent and unexpected loss of their young daughter. They are in Venice attending a conference, trying to move on when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is a psychic. The sisters give them a warning form beyond that begins to consume both Laura and John in different ways.

What Makes It Special: Leave it to British filmmaker Nicolas Roeg to make a horror film that plays much more like a character drama. Don’t Look Now is unlike almost any other film in the genre. It does not really go out of its way to scare or be suspenseful; rather it takes its time delving into its characters and slowly building tension, bubbling just beneath the surface. The narrative takes on the structure of a mystery needing to be uncovered. And yet, despite its slow pacing and lack of classic scary moments, the film ends up being one of the creepiest in film history (with a brilliant ending).

Trailer: Here

Available on: DVD and Video On-Demand

Rank: 64

Title: Annie Hall

Release Year: 1977

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Woody Allen

Cast: Woody Allen and Diane Keaton

Plot Summary: The film chronicles neurotic New Yorker Alvy Singer’s relationship with the carefree Annie Hall.

What Makes It Special: Annie Hall is maybe the quintessential romantic comedy. It perfectly balances its humor and entertainment value with its pop-culture relevance and the wonderful chemistry between its two leads. It not only showcases Woody Allen (one of cinema’s most prolific filmmakers) at his best as a writer, but also as a director, as it is maybe his most interesting film aesthetically. Allen essentially throws everything he can think of at the film stylistically, and yet it all works wonderfully, creating something that is kooky, poignant, and really funny (it also won Best Picture over Star Wars).

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray and Video On-Demand

Rank: 63

Title: Three Colours: Blue

Release Year: 1993

Genre: Drama

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoit Regent, and Emmanuelle Riva

Plot Summary: Julie Vignon de Courcy tries to move on in the face of grave grief and emptiness after her husband (a famous French composer) and young daughter are killed in a car accident.

What Makes It Special: Blue takes full advantage of all film has to offer as a window into deeper human emotion. It is a masterwork of visceral filmmaking. Krzysztof Kieslowski explores the depths of emotional resonance that color and sound can reach. Blue is devastating and liberating. It is an explosion of sapphire tones and grand operatic music pulling the viewer into a turbulent world of loss and rebirth, in which Juliette Binoche is truly astounding as Julie. It is a cinematic experience that stays with you.

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray

Rank: 62

Title: Pulp Fiction

Release Year: 1994

Genre: Crime Drama

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, and Harvey Keitel

Plot Summary: The ensemble film tells four intertwining tales of violence and redemption featuring two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and pair of two small-time bandits.

What Makes It Special: Quentin Tarantino more or less changed American cinema with Pulp Fiction. His use of language, violence, and irony felt edgy, vital, and honest when American films had seemingly become generic and anemic (save for a few). Tarantino, in addition to a few other fresh young talented filmmakers, completely revitalized independent cinema in the late 1980s and 1990s. Pulp Fiction finally treated its audience as intelligent. It does not waste a moment or line of dialog. Everything has a purpose and point, all driving the narrative and characters forward. It reminded everyone that yes writing is important, be it a violent action movie, comedy or drama.

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray and Video On-Demand

Rank: 61

Title: A Canterbury Tale

Release Year: 1944

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

Cast: Sheila Sim, John Sweet, Dennis Price, and Eric Portman

Plot Summary: Three unlikely friends (a Land Girl, American GI, and British soldier) find themselves together in a small Kent town on the road to Canterbury where they discover a mystery involving a man pouring glue in young girls’ hair. The three set out to solve the case.

What Makes It Special: A Canterbury Tale is not so much a narrative film, though it does start off that way with an old-time detective plot, as it is a spiritual journey. The film is highly ambitious in its aspirations for its emotional impact on its viewers. If anything, the Archers create a revelatory experience, asking viewers to find what is truly important in their lives, stripping away all the nonsense that seemingly drowns us all. The film (a product of WWII era England, under constant aerial attack by German planes) also strives to be a rallying cry expressing the sentiment and way of life that was being threatened by the Nazis. It is a remarkable cinematic experience, one that is genuinely ethereal.

Trailer: Here

Available on: DVD

60-56

LeapBackBlog 2012 Film Awards – Part 3: Directors

Film in 2012 may not have been quite as strong overall as 2011, but right at the top there were a lot of good and very entertaining films. 2012 also featured many wonderful performances, particularly among men (many great performances that would have made my lists in past years were sadly left off). The LeapBackBlog Film Awards are comprised of what I think were the best and most interesting films, the strongest performances (taking into consideration who the actor is and what else they have done), the narrative style that drew me in (best directing), and exquisite craftsmanship (best technical achievements). But really, these are lists of my favorites from the year.

Part 1: Technical Achievements

Part 2: Supporting Performances

Part 4: Leading Performances

Part 5: Films

Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master

As far as American auteur filmmakers go, Paul Thomas Anderson might just be the greatest in contemporary cinema right now. With The Master, he has made another film that creates a purely visceral experience. It is not easily pinned down, as it is not just about its story or characters but more so about the tumultuous times of post WWII America (soldiers finding it hard to return to life, clashing with the myth of clean and wholesome living propagated by corporate ad agencies – this is also very well done in William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives). Anderson is a master filmmaker, garnering stunning performances (all three of the film’s main actors have made this year’s acting film awards lists) and creating a layered visual story that shines with aesthetic brilliance.

Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom

For all his quirkiness as a filmmaker, there is maybe no other director who takes as much care with the details of every single frame of their movie as Wes Anderson. His films are instantly recognizable, and Moonrise Kingdom is no different. Anderson does not shy away from showing his hand in the making of this film, from the camera moves (that sometimes feel like an expansion on Yasujiro Ozu’s style) to the specific blocking of characters in a frame (and everything this else he does) the audience can feel Anderson behind the camera orchestrating it all. However, even given his indulgent style, Moonrise Kingdom’s characters are so rich and their drama so grounded in pathos that even with all the stylistic elements the audience cannot help but be lost in the world of film completely engrossed in the story, characters, and drama.

Ang Lee – Life of Pi

3D exists in today’s cinema seemingly solely for commercial gains. Studios often insist upon it to pump up their bottom lines, much to the begrudging of directors as it usually adds nothing positive to the film going experience (usually detracting from it). All that said, Ang Lee takes 3D and uses it wonderfully and beautifully in Life of Pi, making probably the second film to use the medium to its advantage since the fad gained momentum (following the other film to use 3D well – Avatar). Lee also rises to the challenge of making a film with essentially only one human character for large portions of its narrative. Called an un-filmable story, Lee has made something exquisite and incredibly moving and cinematic with Life of Pi.

Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises was maybe the most anticipated film of 2012, with unattainably high expectations – and yet writer-director Christopher Nolan delivered a brilliantly grand finale to his Dark Knight Trilogy (meeting and exceeding those expectations). The film perfectly blends the spectacle aspects of summer blockbusters with the exceptional character drama of prestige cinema. Nolan has taken blockbuster filmmaking to a different level, and his films are the standard by which all other blockbusters are judged. He has transcended the trappings of event filmmaking, which prizes the extravaganza above all else, by making his films (as big, dynamic, and entertaining as they are) about his characters and story first. Nolan is the best director working within the studio system right now.

Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino’s venture into genre filmmaking has yielded brilliant and extremely fun and entertaining work. With Django Unchained, he continues his Revenge Trilogy this time targeting slavery. Tarantino’s ability to effectively use his camera as well as shot composition and mise en scene set him apart from most directors working in Hollywood today, but more so in Django Unchained it is his dialogue and the performances that he garners from his actors (particularly Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio) that makes it a special film. 

Movie of the Week – Inglourious Basterds

This week’s movie: Inglourious Basterds (2009).

What if the Allies had killed Hitler and ended WWII early? Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds plays a bit like a revenge fantasy. It is split into five vignettes taking place in Nazi Occupied France that all tie together by the end.

Tarantino is one of independent film’s most celebrated directors. His films are mostly considered classics. With Inglourious Basterds, however, he made his most expensive (costing around seventy million) and subsequently most successful film to date (in terms of gross box office). He has said that it is the first part of a new trilogy, with Django Unchained being the second in the series.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson and production designer David Wasco produce brilliant work on the film, which overall is aesthetically fantastic (and maybe Tarantino’s best in that regard). The visuals (and especially the score, taken from classic westerns, war films and David Bowie) reference genre films that Tarantino grew up with.

As good as Tarantino’s writing is (and it is very good), the performances are maybe even better. The cast is universally wonderful, making stars out of a few European actors who before did not have that much exposure in the states. The ensemble includes: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz (who won an Oscar for his work), Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Gedeon Burkhard, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Denis Menochet, and Mike Myers, with voice work from Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel.

Inglourious Basterds was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, but only won one. It is my favorite of Tarantino’s films (and among my 25 favorite films from the last decade), and a must-see for fans of Tarantino’s work and war films. It is brilliant.

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming

Django Unchained (2012) – Review

Review: Django Unchained is a highly entertaining action drama with some western aspects, full of references and throwbacks. The film is about a slave Django who is freed by a bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz who needs his help identifying a bounty he is looking for. Django and Schultz become friends and partners. Schultz decides to help Django rescue his wife from a Mississippi plantation Candyland, whose owner Calvin Candie is notoriously wicked – a dangerous mission to say the least going into the belly of the beast.

Django Unchained is the second in writer-director’s Quentin Tarantino revenge fantasy trilogy, following Inglourious Basterds. And like Inglourious Basterds (as well as most of his films), it is packed with references to many of Tarantino’s favorite films in the genre. Homage is most prevalently paid to the films of the spaghetti western director Sergio Corbucci (who directed Django), a filmmaker in the genre that Tarantino loves (even more than Segio Leone who gets most of the praise in today’s cinema criticism). Corbucci’s films often tackle harder issues like racism, slavery, and class warfare (which are themes that Tarantino also addresses with Django Unchained).

Tarantino also seems interested in addressing the grandeur of the southern plantation – tearing it down as a myth and exposing the sheer inhumane cruelty and abuse slaves endured on these plantations (even with simple things like remarking that none of the whites have ever seen a black man riding a horse). This is not necessarily new ground, as media has focused on this topic many times (as historical revisionism aimed at exposing many of the horror before shaded over in history has been a popular academic pursuit since the late twentieth century), but maybe with not so much style and panache as Tarantino who does not pull his targeted punches.  One these such punches seems to be directly aimed at Gone with the Wind (when Django and Schultz travel to Mississippi they are met with a title in big bold letters tracking across the screen from right to left that is very reminiscent to Gone with the Wind’s opening title), a film that very much propagates the South and its way of life (forwarding the myth of the grandeur and elegance of the southern plantations for worldwide audiences, skipping over the brutality suffered by the slaves).

The violence in the film, for which there is a lot, is purposely overdone and almost cartoony. This was maybe done as an attempt by Tarantino to keep the film from being NC-17 or to keep the film fun, as the tone is mostly light. However, the violence suffered by the slaves in the film feels different. While the gunfights in which Django blows away whites are exaggerated, scenes in which violence is done to black characters are presented in a much more realistic and even horrific manner. This is a clear choice by Tarantino to create a deeper feeling of sympathy for the black characters by making their pain real, while white characters being blown up, shot and otherwise massacred is all in good fun.

This choice also firmly puts the audience behind Django, as they actively care about him and want to see him rescue his wife, and more so reap vengeance upon those that deserve it. The film also profoundly creates a sense of revelation in the audience at the true stakes for Django’s mission. While lots of films have created an emotion and revelation in their audience regarding the true plight of the slaves, Django Unchained does it while still playing as a mostly light action western. Thus, the revelation in the audience might be more profound, as they were not expecting to feel something about the film and the characters. However, the light nature of the film might also allow the audience to excuse the deeper emotional impact and forget it as the credits roll focusing on the comedy and exciting action.

Tarantino brings his style of brash dialog to the film as well. However, here with this topic, the juxtaposition of the way characters talk also plays into the emotional feeling the audience experiences. The physical violence in the film is extreme, but the verbal violence the slaves are subjected to is maybe even more damaging, as it is a coat of insults that just seems to lay upon them wearing them down and dehumanize them. The language of the characters is striking as it really exposes the clear disregard, even above hate, that many of the white characters have for the black characters. They are nothing to them, at least nothing human.

Overall, Tarantino gets across his message of exposing what slavery really was – not so much in the hardships suffered by slaves, as that is only briefly addressed, but in the relationship between blacks and whites in the South.

Narratively, Django Unchained is much more a straightforward story than Tarantino usually employs in his films with a clear three-act structure. Though, it still has sort of an episodic feel differentiating between Django and Schultz’s work in Texas and Tennessee as opposed to their venture into Mississippi to rescue Django’s wife. The film can almost be viewed has having two parts – the prologue in which Django and Schultz become friends and partners pre-Mississippi (act one) and the main narrative in which they go to Mississippi (acts two and three). However, the prologue is really more as a lot of character work is done in that section, which later allows Tarantino to focus on other narrative areas (like creating a fantastic villain with Calvin Candie); and it also allows Django to play a different character in disguise for a large portion of the Mississippi episode because he is already established with the audience. Even though the three-act structure is apparent, pre-Mississippi and Mississippi do have a different feel, which Tarantino clearly intended. Pre-Mississippi feels like a western, while Mississippi is much more an action drama with the hero deep in enemy territory. Django cannot merely ride off and hide if he gets in trouble, like characters often do in westerns; he is either going to rescue his wife or die; he is completely committed, which is what makes the drama so compelling.

Tarantino also does a masterful job with the tone. This is a very fun and entertaining film, even given the intense nature of its subject material. It is often very funny, as well. Tarantino is able to get across the drama and have the audience experience something real, but leaves them feeling light, as they have chiefly been entertained. He does this by having most of the violence play bigger (like a cartoon) and having the film packed with intended comedy (which all works).

For the most part the film is free from major issues, but the narrative does not quite have the dramatic impact it could. This is the choice Tarantino made. The film could not be both light and fun while still also fully engaging the audience dramatically, because this would have left the tone and ultimately the film feeling very disjoined and nothing would have worked quite as well as it does. Tarantino chose to primarily entertain. Though, even with the film’s fun tone, with multiple viewings the intended impact resonating from the narrative choices (such as the juxtaposition between the violence on whiter characters versus black or the way these characters speak) will ingrain itself in the viewer, thus having the same lasting impact that a strong dramatic take on the material.

The narrative is also a little loose in the first act (and maybe overly long). It does not really get going until Django and Schultz get to Mississippi and the stakes are raised, which is again why the film feels episodic.

Another possible issue is that the graphic nature of the violence and langue will not appeal to all viewers, as in both cases it is extreme (but also in both cases completely serves the narrative).

Django Unchained is not a great western in the classic sense of the genre, as it is not really a western for most of the film. However, it is a great action drama with the purpose of again exposing the villainy of slavery and the people that subjugated others to be their slaves.

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: Auteur Quentin Tarantino started off making great crime dramas and is now making great genre films. While he brings a great nostalgic style to his films (as a massive cinephile – especially for ‘B’ films), his own ability as a filmmaker has matured. His writing is brilliant, but with Inglourious Basterds (my favorite of his films) and now Django Unchained he directing seems equal to his words. The level of performances he is garnering is phenomenal as well. I cannot wait to see the final piece of his revenge trilogy.

Robert Richardson’s cinematography accomplishes the look and feel of a western while also complimenting the style of Tarantino’s direction (as this is there fourth collaboration). J. Michael Riva’s production design is great as well, as it both fits the tone of the genre and has fun with it (especially the Cleopatra Club set).

Django Unchained is visually impressive and has a fantastic directorial flair, but the strongest aspect is its impressive performances. Kerry Washington and Walton Goggins are good in small supporting roles. Samuel L. Jackson is hilarious, biting, and dramatically interesting (a compelling combination) as Stephen. It is his best role and performance from him in a long time. Leonardo DiCaprio is an absolute riot. He is wildly insane and having a blast as Calvin Candie. Looking at him, the viewer really gets the sense that they are starring at the devil. Villains often get to be played big and they often are the juiciest character roles – this is a great one and DiCaprio takes full advantage commanding every scene he is in. Christoph Waltz is great as Dr. King Schultz, a bounty hunter with a moral conscience and abhorrence towards slavery. Waltz plays Schultz to be quite playful with his words and delivery, often bringing the most effective comedy to the film. Jamie Foxx is very good as Django. He brings a quiet strength and willful disobedience to the role, while still giving off a clear soulful humanity (which allows the audience to fully connect with his character). The performance is among his best work.

Summary & score: Django Unchained unapologetically and boldly attacks the malice and repugnance of the people that propagated slavery by owning slaves raining vengeance with merciless graphic violence and complete distain. And as a revenge fantasy should be, it is very satisfying and enjoyable. 8/10