Reviews

In my mind, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the quintessential bad-ass movie. It borrows so much from so many, not unlike previous Tarantino films, but this time... this time it's different, more polished, more... seamless. Everything just clicks in place. Kung fu movies, spaghetti western, grindhouse, surf rock, violent Japanese anime, plus a million other obscure references lost on 99% of the audience. Everything is thrown in, and boiled down to the simplest, most basic plot ever: revenge.

I am amazed at the results. I think of Tarantino as a master "recycler", picking up "film trash" from the past (OK, no hate mail on this. Be honest. Bruce Lee, exploitation flicks etc. were hardly the peak of artistic expression, were they?), and weaving it into a beautiful work of art.

Yes, this movie is gory. Disturbingly so, at times. However, violence is so graphic that the end result is ultimately cartoonish, not realistic.

My only complaint (insert tongue into cheek). I wish there were more "naked chicks" (no hate mail on this, either, ok? I'm being *ironic*, for crying out loud!) running around. I believe a sprinkle of Russ Meyer (you know, just for seasoning) would have imparted a special flavor to the movie.

This movie *could* have been much more than it was. We have two historical figures, psychiatrist Karl Gustav Jung, and a gifted patient, Sabina Spielrein, who first becomes Jung's lover, and then a child psychiatrist in her own right. I had been hoping for deep psychological insight, instead I got a cartoonish loony (Sabina) and a starchy doctor (K.G. Jung). The characters are over-simplified, and their complex relationship is dumbed down to Harlequin Romance level. Furthermore, Sabina's life in Russia and her accomplishments are barely even mentioned in the movie. The subplot with Marie and Frazer (the present-day researchers) is 100% unnecessary, too. So, in the end you are left with a pleasant, if sleepy, non-controversial movie, suitable for airing on national tv at prime time. Come to think of it, maybe this is what they had in mind all along...

When I think about this movie, all the adjectives that come to mind somehow relate to the physical appreciation of the world. Texture, smell, color, that's how I think this movie should be judged in terms of. See the rich golden tones surrounding the young concubine asleep by the fireplace, or the sweltering turkish bath, and let it flood your senses with impressions of spice, coarse cloth, smooth skin, scented oils, flickering flames, satin rustle. Don't just watch and listen, be absorbed, let the droning voice of the storyteller mesmerize you.

I loved the way it was filmed, almost all the shots are masterfully composed. However, the plot was a little too simplistic for my tastes, and the characters, with the exception of the boy's mother, lack depth. Sissy Spacek is great, Marisa Tomei is very good, the male actors are only so-so.