Kill Bill !!!

The past week I have rediscovered the magic of Kill Bill. The film is a masterpiece which could only be achieved by the virtuoso Mr. Tarantino. The visual components of the film were amazing. When the director chose to shoot certain scenes in black and white it took the film into another artistic dimension. For example, the wedding chapel in El Paso, Texas, and a section of the House of Leaves in Tokyo, Japan are shot flawlessly in both volumes in black and white. The use of black and white turns the film into a saga and an epic. When Beatrix Kido is learning from Pai Mei the art of kung-fu and fighting the Crazy 88's at the House of Leaves, Tarantino in both scenes shoots Uma as a black silhouette as she fights and studies the art of kung-fu. The shadow scenes create a mysterious quality and make the film seem more international. A great use of the shadow samurai was achieved recently by the Hughes brothers. Under a concrete bridge in The Book of Eli, Denzel Washington slices roadside gangsters with his sword and only his shadow appears to achieve this goal. Creating shadow scenes and utilizing black and white film are vital contributions to create Tarantino's visual cinematic arsenal. The split screen during the hospital sequence with Elle Driver as the naughty nurse was a great technique at creating tension. When Elle and Beatrix meet in Bud's trailer the split screen returns during the fight sequence.

Having just watched both volumes in the last couple of days it all seems so clear. I watched Volume 2 first. Watching the second film first was a conscious decision. Kill Bill Volume 2 is markedly superior to Volume 1. Both films are great, but as a cinefile and lover of Tarantino dialouge I have to go for Vol 2. Michael Madsen is the greatest actor of all time. In Vol 2 as Bill's brother Bud he is a tour de force. From his trailer in El Paso, Texas he speaks with Bill about Beatrix's right for revenge. Bud is the bouncer at a strip bar and one tough customer. Out of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad he is by far the most difficult to scratch off the list. He shoots Uma with rock salt and buries her. The burial scene is like a classic Western. The burial scene reminds me of when Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood at the graveyard in The Good The Bad and the Ugly. In Kill Bill Volume 2 the burial scene is a cinematic triumph. The use of creating a cube screen with four black bars around it was fascinating. Black and white is again utilized during the burial. I remember being in the theater during this scene and it is very rare at the cinema for the screen to go completely black for a long period of time and hearing only the sound of Madsen's truck departing the cemetery was stellar. The dialouge between Bill and Beatrix at the end of Vol 2 is fantastic, in the final sequence Bill discusses super heroes and say's how Superman is always Superman and to blend in with society he becomes Clark Kent. Bill say's that Beatrix is like Superman because she can never blend into society and become an employee at her husband's record store in El Paso, Texas.
Volume 2 sets up and creates the world and the characters of both films through the use of dialogue. Vol 1 is a great movie, but there is not a great deal of dialogue. There is dialogue from Uma like wiggle your big toe and Lucy Liu states to the Crazy 88's Tear the Bitch Apart! One of my favorite parts of Vol 1 is when Sonny Chiba creates a Haturi Hanzo sword for Beatrix. This scene in Okinowa has the most dialouge of any scene in Vol 1 and that is why the creation of the sword becomes the primary reason for Vol 1.