Painted with blood and snow, Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' is a perfect portrait

Tarantino's 8th movie ' The Hateful Eight' is a inveigling tale of eight gunslingers trapped in a Wyoming cabin to evade blizzard in the mountains. A film which hugely relies on Tarantino's expressive story-telling as he toys with the idea of cowboys and lawmen indulging in a verbal and pistol-cocking blood-splashing duel. It is a nihilistic picture of betrayal and bloodbath with 187 minutes of promising aeonian experience.


A blizzard is chasing a carriage; a carriage with two occupants and a driver. Inside the carriage, John Ruth (Kurt Russel), the hangman is handcuffed to the prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh)  who he is taking to Red Rock to hang. The carriage is stopped in its tracks by bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel Jackson) who is looking for a lift to Red Rock. The carriage (later occupied by sherrif Chris Mannix) is taken to Minnie's Haberdashery, a lodge inhabited by four strangers; someone among who Ruth believes to be a traitor sent to free Domergue.


Tarantino has scripted the story amazingly as he helplessly crams the racial political tension into the extravagantly smooth dialogue. However he has managed to achieve some nail-biting moments without viceral music. For instance, Domergue is handcuffed to the poisoned Ruth as she helplessly tries to grab a gun far away from her reach to defend herself from her attackers.


As a director, Tarantino makes the unputdownable film etch in your mind even as you walk home from the theatre. He has managed to bring everyone into the spotlight, armed with smart dialogues and credible acting. However Samuel Jackson happens to be the show-stealer as he overshadows his costars with his gritty and piquant portrayal of Major Marquis Warren.


A quirky story post The Civil War, The Hateful Eight can be relished and digested by hardcore cinephiles. For masala movie-lovers, Kindly avoid.

7 on 10 stars

Wazir: An idea with loopholes however the performances save the day...

Bejoy Nambiar's Wazir trailer had sparked an interest about what the film really stands for. A malevolent Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is an invisible horror; a dread which the two protagonists feel is what I understood from the trailer. The questions popped deliberately in my mind after seeing the trailer were answered by the film but not to my total satisfaction. Wazir is like an incomplete meal. You are not starving but you aren't contended either .


Danish Ali (Farhan Akthar) an ATS officer, rebellious and brave, devoted so much to his duty to even care about his little daughter while going on a shooting spree with the terrorists. Ruhana Ali (Aditi Rao Hydari) holds him to responsible for their daughter's uncalled death, punishing him with solitude and depression. The void in Danish's heart is filled by Omkarnath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan) when they both realize that they share the same tragedy. They meet, talk and drink over the game of chess and this happens on a regular basis and they bond so much so that Danish absorbs himself completely in Panditji's problems. That is where Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh) jumps in; an entity who lurks in the shadows spying on the protagonists, sending them death threats; something that showcases more of masqueraded theatrics than terror.


Wazir boasts of strong and intriguing performances by Farhan Akthar and Amitabh Bachchan and you slowly realize that its the acting that has kept you gripped more than plot which is thin, loose and predictable. Scenes are linked logically but gnawed at some places with chess becoming the soul of the film for no apparent reason and excessive usage of chess metaphors adhere to the fact.


Wazir is a psychological thriller with a sprinkle of emotional flavour to nourish it. Not the best one but certainly not the worst.

6 on 10 stars