LIVONIA, MI – For the last ten years I have been hearing
about how we are living in a higher age of spiritual consciousness. The new age
philosophies from Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and others have been rammed down
our throats. I would almost believe this to be true so imagine my surprise when
I walked up to the ticket window to see the new Tarantino film only to find
that it was SOLD OUT. In fact, the new Ultra Panavision 70MM Roadshow which
opened on Christmas day has been continuously selling out. I had to grab my ticket at 10:45PM and had to
order mine online.
This has to be one of the most gruesome films I have seen in
quite a while and yet…. This thing is packing the people in. This kind of
reminds me of when, “The Exorcist” first opened. I believe that opened up on
Christmas day back in 1973 if you can believe it. Human nature is something
that hasn’t changed much over the years no matter how much positive good vibes
you throw at it. People like to see something outrageous, gory and insane and
it doesn’t get much darker than the, “Hateful Eight”.
Now don’t get me wrong because I was excited to see this
film. I have been looking forward to seeing it ever since I heard about the
screenplay getting leaked or stolen a few months back. First, I want to tell you about the whole
Roadshow concept. Big Hollywood blockbusters used to offer this kind of fanfare
for the audience back in the 50’s and 60’s. Typically you would get a
soundtrack overture of the film, extra scenes, an intermission and a take home
full color promotional book to show all your friends. It was bragging rights
for the fans and it was done for films like “Ben Hur”, “It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad
World”, “Gone With The Wind”, “Lawrence Of Arabia” and so on. This was
Tarantino’s way of also saying thank you to the real fans of his work. After
all this was his eighth film so why not give the people something special –
right?
It’s tough to love Quentin Tarantino’s characters because
they are so ugly on the inside and on the outside. It is hard to imagine these
kinds of hateful people in our world but we know they do exist. Tarantino
brings us closer to this manic ugliness by shooting the film in a close up
range of 70MM. Now the scenes are in your face and you feel claustrophobic with
the characters. You really are in tight quarters in the stage coach ride which opens
up the film and feel trapped in the wooden shack out in the country. The
attention to detail is most disturbing. When I saw the red jelly bean on the
floor of the shack known as Minnie's Haberdashery I knew it was placed there intentionally
by the director and was one of the main reasons this film ratio was chosen.
The pace of
the film was not a problem for me. Yes, it was slow moving but there was plenty
to keep you entertained. The characters alone were captivating enough. You had
Kurt Russell as John Ruth who was hell bent on taking his bounty hunter prize
Daisy Domergue to Red Rock to be hung by the neck. Daisy was played by a barely
recognizable Jennifer Jason Leigh whom in the past has played loud mouthed
prostitutes and other bottom rung minor characters. This time she shines as
being a wretched creature and her true evil persona throughout the film
continues to grow in nature. Then you have Samuel L. Jackson who plays Major
Marquis Warren who is interesting as another bounty hunter. He has bounty cargo
too only his are dead and his intention is to take his corpses back to Red Rock
to get paid. Kurt Russell’s character agrees to help and protect his newfound
colleague, (Samuel L. Jackson) so they can both get their rewards.
The problem
is there are other people along the journey who have bad intentions. There are
a lot of unexpected mishaps along the way and really screw up the plans. One
character in the cast who plays a major role is a fierce Wyoming winter storm.
This complicates the agenda and leads to all of the unlikeable rough house
characters to shack up together to brave out the storm.
There was never a date mentioned on when this all took place
but we can agree that it was back in the 1800’s. Bruce Dern plays Confederate
General Sandy Smithers and Samuel L. Jackson’s character claims to have an
authentic letter from Abraham Lincoln. The other characters in the film are
affectionately known as, “The Little Man”, “The Sheriff” and “The Mexican”.
They are a bunch of roughnecks from the early days of America and their guns do
all the talking. This is a common theme with all of Tarantino flims – the man
loves guns. You will notice Tim Roth and Michael Madsen in this film who both
starred in, “Reservoir Dogs” and this film kind of feels like that at times.
There are echoes of Tarantino’s earlier films in this one.
The music is by Ennio Morricone who has written music for
some of the greatest westerns ever made. His scorecard includes The Good, the
Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Untouchables and Days of
Heaven. The mood here is tense and on the edge. At one point I busted out laughing
because I couldn’t take it anymore. The music had reached this frenzied pitch
while two of the rabble rousers would driving in iron stakes and rope into the
ground that led to the outhouse. It’s a short scene where the music just
abruptly ends and I was actually relieved. It was this kind of artful placement
of sound, music and context that led me to believe that something wicked was
definitely on the way.
After the Intermission I was convinced that I really had no
clue how this plot was going to all come together. But one thing was for
certain and that was Daisy Domergue, (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) was pure
evil. Even though she was small and
frail she carried a bravado about her that comes out as the film progresses. We
realize that we are dealing with a monster after all. The plot unfolds so that there are no loose
ends and you are trapped along with these hateful people right until the
surprise ending.
The movie is broke up into chapters. It is also arranged out
of order so you have to mentally put the pieces together before it all makes
sense. But it is not as severe as his earlier work in, “Pulp Fiction” but it is
a cinematic device that we have seen before. The titles of each chapter feel
specially chosen and are very detailed which causes the audience to pay
attention. You are hooked into the subtleness of the scenes as they are played
out. You get caught up in the articulate nature of how the characters interact
with each other.
It will be interesting to see how many of these scenes will
be included in the film’s national release. I understand that the Roadshow is a
special presentation of the film.
TARANTINO SIDE NOTE: Meeting Up With The Director’s Work For
The First Time
ANN ARBOR, MI – Before the web we heard a lot of stories on
the street about this guy named Quentin Tarantino. The tips came in from video
store clerks, radio show people, on campus film buffs and some mentions in a
magazine called, “Film Threat”. At least, that is how I remember it and the
deal was that Quentin was supposed to be this new visionary of film. The cool
thing was that we found out he was just like the rest of us. He didn’t go to
film school but worked in a video rental place and had watched a ton of movies
until he learned what kind of things worked and what didn’t. We also knew he
was incredibly violent and loved Hong Kong cinema.
This is going back a ways so I remember bits and pieces of
this. The deal was me and my buddies were going to watch, “Reservoir Dogs” at
the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor when it was first released. Nobody was going
to get in our way and that was the deal. I used to work in a campus shopping
mall as a security guard back in those days. I had the night off. One of my
buddies also worked there. He actually skipped work and met us at the theater
and we all sat up in the balcony together. We smuggled in bottles of Jack
Daniels and we watched the movie together and had a good ol’ time. I distinctly
remember looking to my co-worker on my left and seeing his security badge sewed
into his work shirt which made me laugh. It also made me wonder, “Who the hell
was watching the mall right now? What if some nitwit pulled a fire alarm over
as we watched the movie? There could be cops and fire department crawling
through the floors looking for one of us… RIGHT NOW… you know?’.
But then I also knew that we were watching a piece of
cinematic history and that we were making a significant memory. It’s funny to
think I put that thought together back then because film directors, cult flims
and sensations come and go.
But there was always something special about Quentin.
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