samedi 29 novembre 2003

'Kill Bill, Vol. 1': appallingly good fun The Kid and I have just immensely enjoyed 'Kill Bill, vol. 1', released in France this week. If enjoyed is the word for the Kid, who half-buried her face in my shoulder for bloody chunks of the film, systematically turned back to the screen at the "wrong" moments -- "wah, yuk!" -- and wanted to walk out slightly less than she was exquisitely scared enough to stay. This was our first Tarantino and I had little idea what to expect, apart from being told it was very violent, gory and remarkably well shot. So it was: quite appallingly funny and brilliantly derivative, a flamboyant exercise in spaghetti Kung Fu. We hear but scarcely see Bill (David Carradine) in "vol. 1", though he's the ultimate "Death List" target for exterminating angel Uma Thurman, perfect in the role. Four years after fellow members of Bill's Deadly Viper Assassination Squad gave her carnage for a wedding present, Thurman as The Bride and sole survivor snaps out of a coma bent on vengeance. That's enough for the storyline of a movie which benefits from fragmented, surrealist plot-twisting -- shock start through to the closing samurai showdown between Thurman and Lucy Liu in a wintry Japanese tea-garden. Reading one or two other reviews afterwards, I liked and learned from a knowledgeable one at Blogcritics by Alan Dale, who generally lives at 'The Kitchen Cabinet'. Going by the queues, this Tarantino fellow I've previously missed out on (even 'Pulp Fiction') is name enough to pull the French crowds away from the shops even on a Saturday afternoon. Somewhere I read that he excels in what Molière recommended and did, summed up as "Don't copy -- steal!" This proved true, to the director's credit, in some stunning camera work, a clever DJ's soundtrack, and a handful of the best bad script lines I've relished in a good while. Italy is the only country where the Kid would be "allowed" to see it at 14 (says the IMDb); she had to pass for 16 even in tolerant France and doesn't regret it, describing it as "petrifying and excellent. "But I'm not sure I want to see 'Vol. 2'." 11:30:39 PM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.