Best Film of 2015

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2016)

I went to see Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight last night at the 9:30 showing. With 2 hours and 47 minutes of stellar entertainment, I left the theatre after midnight, walking to my car in the dark parking lot, feeling energized despite the time and the cold of winter. And unlike Roy Orbison's song at the end credits, I wasn't among the many not coming home.
It played in auditorium 6, which has stadium seating and a larger screen. Very ideal for a film shot in the breathtaking 2.76:1 aspect ratio. I would have loved to see the Roadshow version of the film, which is only in select theatres – 50, the last I heard – which are retrofitted with 70mm film projectors. The roadshow version also includes an overture and an intermission. Although I didn't need an intermission; I was too mesmerized by The Hateful Eight's greatness.
As expected, Tarantino has not failed to disappoint. Aesthetically, The HateFul Eight is the best film of 2015. Here's an example: There's a scene at the end with Samuel L. Jackson lying on the bed in the background, and Walton Goggins resting on the floor in the foreground. There is a shallow depth of field, but both characters are in sharp focus. How is this possible? By using a diopter split-focus lens. This makes sense, since John Carpenter's The Thing – which Tarantino said was an inspiration for The Hateful Eight – uses this technique.
This film has one of the best opening credit sequences I have ever seen, and definitely the best for 2015. We see a barren, snow covered landscape, then a closeup of a large, erected Christian cross, then the camera pulls back while the credits are displayed, with a six-horse stage coach running through the frame. This is all scored by Ennio Morricone's ominous music. I agree with Tarantino's Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert comparison. The opening is so awesome, and such a great way to set the mood of the film, and I feel sorry for those who came in late.
Although very different in their techniques, I enjoyed the The Hateful Eight's cinematography more than Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant. Alejandro is also the director of 2014's Birdman, a film that was photographically superior, but with a story that didn't captivate me much. The Revenant is like Birdman with the use of fluid, steadicam shots, with a wide angle lens.
This film is similar to Tarantino's debut Reservoir Dogs, in that most of film takes place inside one room, but a haberdashery for The Hateful Eight rather than a warehouse. Two bounty hunters, a female prisoner, a stagecoach driver, and a future Sheriff make their way to Minnie's Haberdashery, where they meet four other characters. The nine are now shacked up together while they wait for the Wyoming blizzard to pass. They gradually grow more and more distrustful of each other. That's nine characters right there, and there are more to come, so who are The Hateful Eight? It is the 8th film by Quentin Tarantino, but I'm guessing the title is in reference to eight of the characters. Minus the female prisoner, there's eight for the first half of the film. Or if you were to minus the stagecoach driver, there's eight for the first of the film. Who comprises the eight hateful characters?
Filled with a plethora of story-telling and comical dialogue, and sudden bursts of extreme, yet often cartoonish violence, Tarantino's signature trademarks are in The Hateful Eight. The film forces us to multitask by listening to the lengthy talk of its characters while being stunned by the beautiful cinematography, and it's evident that Tarantino hasn't lost his touch. A masterpiece, which I'll be watching again and again.
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