Quentin Tarantino has never been a slave to convention. Rather, he has been notoriously audacious when it comes to pushing the envelope in both reinterpretation and in the crassness of his writing. Hateful 8 has hit many of the same notes we have come to expect from this director; humor, gore, and situational drama abound in the isolated mountain landscape that is fraught with both snow and perfect imagery.
One of the perfect elements of any Tarantino story is the character development. The mystery of this particular tale centers around the enigmatic Daisy Domergue, the captive of the bounty hunter John ‘the Hangman’ Ruth. She is immediately enthralling–a whirlwind combination of slyness, vivaciousness, and absolute bat-shit crazy behavior (laughing while spitting your front teeth in the face of the person who knocked them out in the first place earns you that title). In classic Tarantino fashion, this entire culmination of bold details are foiled by a rare moment of softness in her beautiful rendition of “Jim Jones at Botany Bay”.
Tarantino has also built his career around stylistic and musical mastery. The film is so absolutely resplendent in its cinematography that some shots are more reminiscent of paintings than real life. In this respect, Tarantino has never held back. His decision to shoot this feature in 70mm is yet another demonstration of his desire to nerd-out over film and take us along for the ride.
When Inglourious Basterds came out in 2009, Tarantino did an NPR interview regarding the film. In it he revealed that his writing process is most influenced by music. He spoke of the fact that certain pieces are so inspirational, he will build entire scenes around a particular song. Given the perfect synchronicity of some of his most lauded scenes, and the accompanying soundtracks (“Stuck in the Middle With You”, anyone?) this is hardly a surprise. Hateful 8 honors this–so much so that it finally resulted in the well-earned grammy that Ennio Morricone has been denied since before Leonardo DiCaprio was even a set of lines on a late-night pregnancy test.
Praise aside, some might wonder whether the jig is up. The 187 minute film, while entertaining, is hardly ground-breaking in its ambitions. For those of us that are decidedly eternal fans, the entire feature is seemingly as perfectly crafted as a tried-and-true formula for a roaring hangover.
Tarantino films have never been designed to be background noise. That being said, this one is driven entirely by dialogue. The cabin is where most of the action occurs, and the script is well-written and fascinating. However, considering that it is the backbone of the movie, is it enough? Many found it to be lengthy, while still less quotable than his most famed and loved features. With that in mind, no one else delivers a monologue quite like him any more. The most notable of these belong to Samuel L Jackson, whose storytelling climax (pun intended) contains what may be the gold standard in grand jokes of Tarantino’s entire career.
Ultimately, Hateful 8 was designed to be an experience. I personally went out, saw the 70 mm format showing–program and all–and centered my evening around the act of seeing a Tarantino film. Perhaps this is where the issue lies: in the awareness of the context that even the actors seem to have. They know they are making a Tarantino film and we know we are watching one. He has a trademark that is as visible as a tramp stamp at Sunday service, and perhaps as distracting. What the film lacks is something more, some worthy homage of a longstanding career that is daring in an unexpected way.
When we watch a Tarantino film, we know we will laugh; we are expecting to be dazzled by the rough, yet apparent beauty of his style; and we are prepared for a hard look at race relations and instances of terrible humanity. What did Hateful 8 bring to the table that we have yet to see before? Perhaps nothing entirely new.
Defects aside, the universe is as immersive as always, the wit as sharp, and the pleasure as guilty as this addict needs for it to be to return time and time again.