KILL BILL VOLUME 1
(18) 110mm om.
It’s Quentin‘s world — we just live in it. Tarantino. the great lover. a filmmaker capable of reinventing his own wheel to the point at which he can have his audiences squealing at the irreverent pleasures of the obscure and arcane. Like most of us. his sense of identity is both iconic and ironic. it‘s just that this film geek has the ability to translate his passion onto a canvas as broad as it is appealing.
Unlike most of his US contemporaries. the giddy manchild from Knoxville, Tennessee vests each of his cinematic projects with boiled affection and forensic detail. Influenced by an untold amount of filth budget grindhouse movie. he is blessed with the gift to redefine any genre he turns his hand to. He has done it before and. with Kill Bill Vol 1. he does it again. The film is a masterpiece.
The Bride, aka Black Mamba (Uma Thurman). is the lone survivor of a wedding party massacre at the hands of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. a gifted group of murderers led by the mysterious Bill (the hands and voice of David Carradine). After four years in a coma, Black Mamba awakes with an unquenchable thirst for revenge. and first on her list is O‘ren lshi. aka Cottonmouth (Lucy Lui). an Oriental crime boss and expert swordsmith. Second up is Vernita Green aka Copperhead (Vivica A Fox). After her, there are two more and then Bill. but the secrets of that story are locked in the second film.
For all intents and purposes this is a Shaw Brothers film. the Hong Kong film production company that came into their own in the 19705 by trying to compete with stablemates Golden Harvest (which held Bruce Lee's contract at the time). It is, in fact. a warm homage to one of Shaw‘s in-house
directors in particular - Zheng Changhe (The Five Fingers of Death). Zheng was one of the first to take the classic studio swordplay genre and adapt it to sate the needs of the new Kung Fu flick audiences. By studying the often ignored works of filmmakers like Zheng, Chang Cheh (particularly the One Armed Swordsman). Liu Jia-liang. and Seijun Suzuki. Tarantino has managed to create something
Film
Triumph of the Bill
the great Italian gialo (slasher movie) and western directors along with Fukasaku, Peckinpah and a million discarded comics. to haunt every frame. It is a work of diverted genius - a letter to the god of Bs from the king of the new 85. A letter embroidered by the finest studio talent out there. It‘s a beast. a fierce and wonderful hybrid. Roll on Volume 2. (Paul Dale)
quite unique. On top of this, he allows the ghosts of I fiww-us z. I- I"
36" L‘vwc‘sob QUEEN (PG) 89min 0.
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