Dragaera

Kill BIll V1 (was Re: Uma Thurman's House)

Mon Oct 27 14:07:09 PST 2003

Roger Ebert gave it four of four stars.  His reasoning is more interesting 
than his verdict:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-killbill10f.html

""Kill Bill: Volume 1" shows Quentin Tarantino so effortlessly and 
brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso 
violinist racing through "Flight of the Bumble Bee" -- or maybe an accordion 
prodigy setting a speed record for "Lady of Spain." I mean that as a sincere 
compliment. The movie is not about anything at all except the skill and 
humor of its making. It's kind of brilliant.

The movie is all storytelling and no story. The motivations have no 
psychological depth or resonance, but are simply plot markers. The 
characters consist of their characteristics. Lurking beneath everything, as 
it did with "Pulp Fiction," is the suggestion of a parallel universe in 
which all of this makes sense in the same way that a superhero's origin 
story makes sense."

For me, I'm glad that I went to see it, with one caveat - I took my kids to 
see it (15 and 10), and that was A Big Mistake.  We went to see _Bulletproof 
Monk_ and it was your basic cheesy chopsocky martial arts action flick.  I 
guess I was thinking this would be the same kind of thing.  If the usual 
martial arts picture features comicbook violence, the violence in Kill Bill, 
V1 is that of a graphic novel, making it a truly adult film in that regard.  
The only thing that made me more uncomfortable were the two little old 
ladies in their Sunday finest behind me and to the left.  Their unconscious 
shock during the scene with Go Go was alternately embarrassing and amusing.  
Just having them there made seeing the film even that much more surreal.

Ebert describes that scene thusly:
"Later the sword must face the skill of Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), 
O-Ren's teenage bodyguard and perhaps a major in medieval studies, since her 
weapon of choice is the mace and chain. This is in the comic book tradition 
by which characters are defined by their weapons."

I totally enjoyed the film and will definitely see the second half in 
February.  I will also, likewise, see it without my kids.

johne (phy) cook
wisconsin, usa

personal blog: http://breezeway.blogspot.com
aerie blog: http://aeriepress.blogspot.com/
stormfort list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stormfort/

"Almost any act of (creative) expression is an act of courage.  Whenever you 
write (something) and you show it to someone else, it's an act of courage 
because it's your life, it's who you are and you're laying it out on the 
table and you're either going to be rejected or accepted."

Terry Scott Taylor

>For evidence, see Kill Bill, Vol. 1.  Or don't - it's nowhere near Pulp
>Fiction in quality.  Anyway, there's a Tazendra-style fight scene and a
>declamation from overhead which I think T would have been proud of.

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