DJANGO UNCHAINED

[Winds of Thor]

Quentin Tarantino again adds his brand of humor to the landscape of American movies in taking the serious issue of slavery and, in his genius somehow finds humor in the theme.

The Story (from the film's website):
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, DJANGO UNCHAINED stars Academy Award®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.
Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South's most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.
Django and Schultz's search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of "Candyland," an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie's trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival...

What is your reaction to the trailer? (The movie debuts Christmas Day). IMO the trailer looks like he does make this movie funny.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm just impressed he might have successfully cast DiCaprio as a bad guy with teeth. despite his typically boyish exterior.

But it's definitely a must-see for me.

 

[Winds of Thor]

Here's one of the trailers.

 

[Winds of Thor]

I'm just impressed he might have successfully cast DiCaprio as a bad guy with teeth. despite his typically boyish exterior.

But it's definitely a must-see for me.

Yeah

 

[Totenkindly]

I've read a little bit about the movie. I don't much remember Roots, although I remember it airing (I was young -- maybe 8-9 years old?); and they were commenting on the scene near the end where the protagonist is offered a chance to whip his white master and "takes the high road." And how this movie, everyone's like, "that's just total bullshit," and Django doesn't indulge such scruples. After the way that blacks were abused by their masters to the point of losing loved ones including spouses and children, could any black person choose to let such evil go as if it were inconsequential?

One thing I like about Tarantino is that he's pretty honest about how people work, even to the point of some crazy stuff happening in his movies. he's not going to preach or use the movie to instill behavior, he lets characters follow their impulses but he's also honest about the ramifications of their behavior. Kill Bill's another obvious example of that, where Bill's gang pays for its crime against The Bride... but in the process of meting out punishment, the Bride sets her own chain of events in motion (for example, when she disfigures Sophie and worse when she kills Niki's mom). There's a horrible but starkly true scene where she's honest with Niki about why she did what she did and says if she still feels raw about it when she's grown up, she can come find her and settle things. I've heard rumors of a KB3, and it's supposedly going to involve that subplot.

Anyway, I like that he offers his characters freedom, they respond pretty realistically to situations, and then they are forced to face the ramifications of those decisions; they are not morality plays, aside from being honest about the typical outcomes of people's choices.

 

[Orangey]

Went to an advanced screening. It was all I could have hoped for in a Tarantino film (read: it was awesome.)

 

[Totenkindly]

Went to an advanced screening. It was all I could have hoped for in a Tarantino film (read: it was awesome.)

WOO HOO!

okay, that's cool. I love Tarantino flicks, he makes me smile.

 

[The Ü™]

Do the characters talk about movie trivia in this one?

 

[swordpath]

Can't wait to see this.

 

[Ism]

I'm just impressed he might have successfully cast DiCaprio as a bad guy with teeth. despite his typically boyish exterior.

Basically why I want to see the movie.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Probably going to see this today sometime.

 

[Pseudo]

Saw it. Thought it was really great.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Just got out from a sold out showing.
Django is a return to form for Tarantino and easily his best since Kill Bill Vol. 1.

 

[Winds of Thor]

Just got out from a sold out showing.Django is a return to form for Tarantino and easily his best since Kill Bill Vol. 1.

I'm so excited to see this!!!

 

[The Ü™]

As offensive as some critics consider Tarantino's films to be, the modest director is still not edgy enough to bring blackface back to the cinema.

 

[Stanton Moore]

Spike Lee says he won't see this film because of the racial content. comments?

 

[The Ü™]

Spike Lee says he won't see this film because of the racial content. comments?

Imagine if a white actor played Jamie Foxx's character!

 

[Ism]

Spike Lee says he won't see this film because of the racial content. comments?

Racial content? It's a movie about pre-civil ware America, of course there's racial content.

I haven't seen it, though. Is there anything really controversial?

 

[Pseudo]

Spike Lee says he won't see this film because of the racial content. comments?

Spike lee has always struck me as more of a "divider than a uniter". I think movies like "do the right thing" he displays a very us/them mentality. I think taro tions films present characters as individuals who have their own responses the race. Spike lee accused tarintino of making a mockery of slavery but I thought it was a very insightful movie. I think it presented a variety of ways in which black people and white people interacted and particularly the character of Steven seemed really interesting. On the one hand his the stereotypical "yes man" slave but he also has certain amount of sway and control.

I thought the movie did a good job of displaying the brutality without it becoming overly moralizing or sentimental. One scene I remember is django in Mississippi being passed by slaves in various forms of torture devices. It's a trasitonal scene and I think the fact that the characters don't really focus in on it makes it more powerful because we see how people just accepted that kind of brutality.

For some reason the scene where django is fighting in the candor mansion and the rap music is playing struck me as an important choice of music. I don't know if it was intentional but it made me think of media perception of black men as Dangerous criminals or gang mbers and how black people have sort of entered into the country through violence and been on the receiving end of a lot of violence since then. But that was just an association I made.

As for all the n-word usage. I don't know why that's so shocking from a film set in the era it is set it.

I watched this in a majority white audience. I felt self conscious of the audience occasionally. Seemed like people were unsure when it was okay to laugh sometimes. I felt like Steven got more laughs than he should. Especially when he is playing the echo of candor. I feel like that's a very tragic character but others seemed to find it funny?

Anyways I thought it was a great movie

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Racial content? It's a movie about pre-civil ware America, of course there's racial content.

I haven't seen it, though. Is there anything really controversial?

He can't resist an opportunity to make anything ALL ABOUT HIM.
And controversial, my ass.

If you take spaghetti westerns seriously you need to have your head examined.
My audience was prominently black (as am I). I enjoyed this movie immensely. The audience loved it, too.

Slavery was a very brutal and dark period in American history. It wasn't pleasant.
Neither is Django Unchained. I'll be damned if it isn't a lot of fun, though.

Spike Lee can go sit on some eggs.