Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Tarantino does a Western, in his inimitable dialogue-heavy style: Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), bounty hunter, partners with Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave whom he frees. The film's second half deals with their attempt to purchase Django's wife, Kerry Washington, from Francophile plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Like Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained is an odd blend of exploitation -- both subject matter and, here, explosive gore -- and serious, even taboo subject matter. Where Basterds with its all-Jewish Hitler-assassination squad trod a dangerous line around memories of the Holocaust, Django's take on American slavery makes much of the Uncle Tom figure of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) and the story of an old slave who shaved Candie's father with a straight razor three times a week for decades: why didn't he ever once cut just a little deeper?
It's a gleeful twist on Western tropes -- the white man who hunts the bandits who hurt his love interest.
Tarantino films are always gloriously verbose, and this one is no exception. The characters are marvelous; the whole thing looks beautiful.