I've decided to review the latest movie from Quentin Tarantino as I've always liked his aesthethic in cinema, and introducing obscure non linear themes, and whilst I personally don't plan on entering the film industry I've found alot of his work has informed the way I compose shots as a photographer, and style directing when collaborating with clients on a mass level. Using inspiration from Tarantino makes me explore sectors of photography I wouldn't have thought of without the initial thoughts of his ideas. My shots using UV and led cable actually came from Quentin Tarantinos Kill Bill and has had a profound effect on my current ideas of cinema, photography and composing themes within my own work.
SUMMARY
The Hateful Eight was released earlier this year as a huge comeback to his rarity of film making, as this was his eighth film. The Hateful Eight introduces the plot of 8 characters coming together through a series of events in the movie leading up to what can seem a slow start of ongoing events and outside character building scenes which evolve to a series of tense scenes ending up in blood splattering and violent plot twists involving a bounty hunter, his prisioner, a hangman, a cowboy, another bounty hunter, a war veteran, a sheriff and the prisioners sister which all take place throughout post-Civil War Wyoming.
CHARACTERS
There's no single focus on one specific character as the movie chops through scenes from one persons perspective to another, the main change of events showcased in a none linear format after the interval in the middle of the film.
Tarantino uses familiar faces from his old movies such as the re-occuring Samuel L. Jackson who has appeared in his previous Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Jackie Brown. Tarantino has remarked that one particular character (without naming anyone) has relevance to a previous movie of his, within the Tarantino universe, and how all can be interlinked he tells Dazed Digital that
‘So From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill, they all take place in this special movie universe. So when all the characters of Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, when they go to the movies, Kill Bill is what they go to see. From Dusk Till Dawn is what they see.’
So we see a developing relationship between characters and how Tarantino can perceive them to the viewing audience that they may incorporate previous traits of characters within the 'Tarantino universe'
CINEMATOGRAPHY
His use of composing scenes is alike to Spaghetti Western movies such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966), Django (1966), The Mercenary (1968) and Once Upon A Time in the West (1968). Which have been contrastive to his collection of work as he previous movies can be set not too far from the modern day except for Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.
The Hateful Eight has been shot entirely on 70mm making it exclusive to only certain cinema releases, which brings the sense of uniqueness as true fans have to trek to specialist cinemas to view his latest works. He personally calls this a limited "roadshow" engagement with both an overture and intermission as mentioned. All these specialist qualities epitomise the lack of Spaghetti Westerns in modern day cinema providing a unique approach to cinema as a very niche movie for both Tarantinos standards and modern day minds.
The use of camera has provided a set of ideas not only to the reader but also the actors, as he intended the situation within the Haberdashery store in which the entire movie is orientated around to seem claustrophobic and very intimate. The other decision in filming in his wide angle format was that actors would be positioned around the set in various ways to portray story telling, which explains the lack of changing frequent reaction shots of each character. By leaving characters in the background it epitomised his vision of story telling and showing the importance of each character in the environment in which sequences happened to reflect on in later scenes where controversial events occur.
There are noticeable similarities through filming such as the wide screen format, which has meant both characters and settings are in shot and storytelling through less dialogue and provides an insight into the isolation the characters face throughout the film.
The Hateful Eight (2016) - opening sequence
NARRATIVE
The overall narrative is split into two with the intermission in the middle, the first hour shows the journey through the stagecoach to the Haberdashery, whilst the other two hours are all within the confines of the building in which all the plot twists happen. It definitely is a slow burning movie that races the movie along with the individual vivid character analysis as we slowly discover more about each of the eight main characters. Although it's very noticeable throughout the entirety of the movie there's a focus on the two bounty hunters and the supposed 'sheriff'.
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