Kill Bill (vols 1 & 2)

HI-FUCKING-YAH!
 

Even though Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction defined my Nineties, I'd somehow managed to never see Kill Bill.  Having recorded it on my tellybox I still managed to not watch it for months on end - till the other day when there was literally nothing else to watch and I simply couldn't put it off any longer.

The reason for this procrastination is not clear to me.  I love Tarantino's oeuvre, but don't particularly want to watch his films.  I am currently not particularly wanting to watch the Django one, and I've not seen Jackie Brown yet.  But every film I've seen that he's directed, written, been in or walked past in the video shop - I have loved.  Inglorious... True Romance ... etc...

Who understands the complex beast that is human motivation?  Not I, dear reader, not I.

Anyway, enough of this horsepoop - the fact is I loved Kill Bill (volumes 1 and...yada yada) so much I am actually a little bit embarrassed about it. 

The violence is balletic, beautiful, satisfying and hilarious.  Daryl Hannah whistles the theme from Twisted Nerve and it's all, like, reference-y.  The Bride works as a character - I cared about her and liked her, she was magically realistic.  David Carradine as Bill is deadly charming and seductive.  

You come away with scenes though don't you - when you watch a film?   They're like dreams.  The scene that's really sticking with me was when The Bride is buried alive.  That's it.  Surely she can't get out of that.  She's been buried alive - and Quentin made damned sure we saw the substantial nails hammered down into the lid - great big brass ones with chips of wood flying...

Then we go back to her training  (the Yoda training schtick) - masterfully done with a cruel teacher kicking her arse to an unbearably funky seventies kung-fu groove. And, oh, part of her training involves touching a piece of wood with her fingertips, then learning to punch a hole in the wood with that hand without drawing it back. 

The set up is all there.  Quent just has to wait before paying it off.  As long as he likes, we'll all be waiting.  A delicious dance of anticipation.  Of course, he's the ultimate film fan director - and everything he does he does because it's what the movie lover loves.

Yes, I loved it.  I can't wait to see which Tarantino film I won't watch next.