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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2003)
Tarantino’s latest film well worth the wait The ‘Pulp Fiction’ director took five years to bring his new film, ‘Kill Bill: Volume 1’ to the big screen By Steven Neuman Freelance Writer Up until last Sunday, it had been five years since a Quentin Tarantino film was in the the aters. If 1 had to wait another five, 10, or 20 years for the next Tarantino release, 1 would gladly oblige because "Kill Bill: Volume 1" de livers. This movie is just damn fun. The plot is purpose MOVIE REVIEW ly simple, lima Thur man's character, "The Bride," is part of the Deadly Viper Assassi nation Squad (DiVAS) headed by the faceless Bill. The DiVAS are paid killers of the highest caliber, vaguely reminis cent of "Charlie's Angels" and the fictional "Fox Force Five" mentioned in "Pulp Fiction." The pregnant Bride decides to leave the squad but is gunned down by fellow assassins on her wed ding day when Bill puts a bullet in her head. I lowever, The Bride not only survives, she awak ens from a coma to find her unborn child miss ing. Bent on revenge, she sets out to kill Bill and the fellow assassins who betrayed her. This movie isn't about plot (like "Pulp Fic tion") or character (like "Jackie Brown"); it's about balls-to-the wall action. It's a pure, unadulterated homage to action, cheap samu rai flicks, revenge thrillers, and spaghetti west erns; however, it still distinguishes itself from most American action films. Despite the buck ets of fake blood gushing on screen, "Kill Bill" leaves none of the bitter aftertaste that comes with most gratuitous movie violence. In fact, because this film makes no pretense of reality, the gore and dismemberment comes across as strangely beautiful and comical, and the movie achieves a form of fantasy that the only fight scenes of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Drag on" possessed (incidentally, Tarantino used the same stunt director). Like most directors, Tarantino constructs a fantasy world, but he doesn't pretend his world is governed by, or relates to, the real world that his audience inhabits. This makes "Kill Bill" palatable. The film is completely stylized: Bright colors pop off the screen, characters dress like cartoon characters and when The Bride flies into Tokyo, we are shown slightly cheesy scale models left over from a "Godzilla" film. The final result is something that resem bles the bastard child of the 1960s "Batman" television show and a Bruce Lee film. Other quirks constantly break the audi ence's sense of illusion — like when The Bride's name is censored with a bleep or a flashback is rendered in anime. These distrac tions make it possible for the audience not only to suspend their sense of reality but to in dulge in fantasy in a way that directors like the Wachowski brothers, or even Jerry Bruck heimer, can't capture. For example, in the climactic "Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves" scene, The Bride battles a seemingly endless army of Kato-masked hench men strewing limbs around a Japanese nightclub. The segment is remarkably simi lar to Neo's battle with the .Agent Smiths in "The Matrix Re loaded," however, "Kill Bill" somehow comes across as more realistic and human. "Kill Bill" personally invests the audience in The Bride's revenge in a way that makes each slice through an anonymous henchman seem like a victory. The performances by the mainly female cast are superb. Thurman's Bride character pos sesses such an incredible inten sity that her emotions practically bleed from the screen, while Lucy Liu's portrayal of "O-Ren Ishii" (a.k.a. Cottonmouth) is richly rendered with few words. 1 ler performance verges on a minimalist masterpiece, Ine usually verbose Tarantino gives his characters little dialogue, but "Kill Bill" miraculously leaves the audience ful filled. The cumulative effect is that when any character actually does speak, the audience hangs on every last syllable. Unfortunately, we don't really get to see Vivica A. Fox — who plays the fourth assassin, Vernita Green (aka Copperhead), — show off her talent for very long before getting axed by The Bride — one of the few problems with the film. Bill is played by David Carradine and perhaps gives the best, creepiest performance of the movie using only his disturbing touchy-feely hands and gravely voice. Tarantino builds an immense Courtesy “The Bride” (Uma Thurman) faces off against Bill’s henchmen. amount of suspense by limiting his performance to these parts of the character. Daryl 1 Iannah plays the one-eyed assassin Elle Driver (a.k.a. California Viper Snake) and appears only briefly. There's something intensely satisfying about her characters cool killer exterior. 1 ler smol dering performance walks the line between come dy and drama and characterizes the schizophrenic nature of this movie. 1 ler character's brief appear ance is just a taste of her larger role in "Volume 2" (to be released in February). But ultimately, the first volume is fusion cinema at its best, where the sum of the whole is greater than its parts. Steven Neuman is a freelance writer for the Emerald. MUSIC continued from page 1 room, depending on the quality of sound. "It's kind of a 'gee whiz' thing," he said. "It sounds pretty cool and the price seems reasonable but if it doesn't have bass, it's not for me." However, for some, the novelty of new technology takes precedence over product quality. "I am all for the fetish," visiting mul timedia and design professor Joey Bargsten said. "A lot of our current mu sic electronics come from the spirit of toying with technology." Although he hasn't ever "toyed" with the portable Soundbug or inflat able speakers, he has worked with wearable speakers, which can be at tached to various parts of the body like the shoulders. Bargsten said he uses the speakers and other devices to compose musical pieces and direct musicians by using musical notes, pitches and time relationships. "It's interesting to work with small er or more subversive devices because it's activating space through a new technology," he said. Wayne Leeds, manager of the Fabulous Tweeter Brothers stereo store, said he always encounters people with special requests for new speaker technology. "We've had requests for boat speak ers and for underwater speakers, which are just beyond me," he said. Although the Soundbug and inflat able speakers have yet to hit the shelves In Partnership with UO Bookstore! 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Satisfied with his "slightly above budget" speakers for now, Boehm said he can't wait for tire price of the new speakers to go down. "I am excited for technology to get cheaper, especially in stereo speakers," he said. Contact the business/ science/technology reporter at caronalarab@daiiyemerald.com. CAMPUS Friday “Lawyers in Society” library exhibit, East and West entryway corridors at the Knight Li brary. Exhibit questions society’s view of lawyers as "either deities or demons.” For li brary hours, visit http://libweb.uoregon.edu/acs_svc/hours. htrrtl. Display will run until Dec. 31. 2003 Emerald City (-s^all Q^Jedding C^Shon) Oct. 18th & 19th Performing Arts Hall Lane County Fairgrounds • Largest Fall Wedding show in the area • 70 local businesses Admission $5.00. Sixteen & under FREE. FREE Parking. | HHI § \ - - - < ft 8§k v- $ Fashion Hours Show Hours Saturday 10am-5pm 11 am & 2:30pm Sunday 11 am-5pm 12:30pm & 3pm Sponsored by Springfie ld News www.oregonweddingshows.com □ b a d m n d m a m a Find fun stuff in the ODE Classifieds: Comics, your daily horoscope, and, of course, the crossword.
