Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kill Bill Vol. 1 by Amber S. Palmer -Third Post


Kill Bill Vol. 1

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino

Quentin is the director that everybody loves too hate by I love him because he breaks the rules and tells stories in an unorthodox style that most directors wouldn’t be able to do. Tarantino is obviously an avid lover of mise en scene. He uses this filmmaking technique in most of his films like his first big hit Reservoir Dogs, the groundbreaking Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, From Dusk Till’ Dawn, and the sexy thriller Jackie Brown. Mise en scene has a variation of different meanings when it comes to most critics of theater. The French term means “putting on stage”. In cinema, everything happens in one shot and everything happens with little camera movement, if not none at all.
In Kill Bill Volume 1, Tarantino takes us on the journey of Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a. Black Mamba played by Uma Thurman. Beatrix is a bitter assassin murdered by her boss, killed after seconds before being shot in the head, revealing she was having Bill’s baby. The first scene Tarantino entails the scene with a close up of Beatrix beaten and battered to a bloody pulp as her voice trembles, a baritone voice creeps in while clicking a gun. The mystery man is Bill, even though his face is never seen. Bill tells her he’s being his most “masochistic”. Beatrix’s eyes are filled with terror and betrayal as she says, “Bill it’s your baby.” Boom! Blood spatters out of her head. The credits appear and Tarantino has caught the audience is his web. The entire shot focuses on her in black and white. In this moment, the audience wants to know more about Beatrix Kiddo and we also sympathize with her knowing she was shot in the head while with child.
Beatrix has a list of those she wants bloody revenge on and her second victim is Vernita Green a.k.a Copperhead (Played by Vivica A. Fox). Beatrix and Vernita engage in a bloody and entertaining fight in her living room. The place turns into shambles as the two women fight. Before the women tear each other into shreds, the camera focuses on a school bus pulling in front of the house. A little girl steps out and Vernita opens the door for her daughter. Vernita introduces Beatrix and tells her that the dog tore up the living room. She sternly tells her daughter to go to her room. This whole entire scene took place in the living room and not once was I bored or lost. Tarantino uses the technique in an incredibly powerful way.
Tarantino moves the story into the kitchen where he gives the audience backstory of the two women’s business relationship. They both worked for Bill and Vernita was one of the women that beat the crap out of Beatrix. Vernita tries to be sneaky and shoot Beatrix but she pulls out a knife and stabs Vernita right in the heart. The daughter comes into the kitchen and Beatrix advises her she’ll be ready if the little girl ever wants to avenge her mother’s death. One scene: the kitchen and it’s engaging to the very end.
Tarantino takes the audience back to when she was in the hospital coming out of a four year coma. During this entire time in the hospital, the audience knows: A male nurse had sex with her (during the coma) and Elle Driver (one of the women who brutally beat her) tried to kill her while Beatrix was sleeping but the mission was aborted after Bill felt like that was a “sneaky” way to kill someone. Beatrix gets out of the hospital after the male nurse (Buck) hooks up a disgusting truck driver to have sex with her. She bites the man’s bottom lip off and Buck steps in. Beatrix cuts Buck’s ankle and slams the door into his head killing him.
The scene moves into Beatrix getting into Buck’s truck after taking his keys and trying to make her paralyzed legs move. The voiceover of Beatrix tells the story of Oren-Ishii (played by Lucy Liu), a woman who took part of beating her up too. At the end of Oren’s story, Beatrix’s legs restore back to normality. Tarantino brings a sense of unrealism to this part of the film but is only overlooked because it’s the story of a modern day “warrior”.
Tarantino takes one scene to show how brutal and coldhearted Oren-Ishii, her council, and her gang The Crazy 88’s truly is. Boss Tanaka sits impatiently and obviously upset that a Chinese-Japanese woman could lead a criminal organization. Oren immediately jumps on the table in her kimono, whips out her sword and cuts off Boss Tanaka’s head. She tells her council that if anyone has a problem with her that now was the time, while holding Boss Tanaka’s head, of course.
Tarantino makes a grand introduction with background music and slow motion editing as Oren Ishii and the Crazy 88’s make their way into a club. The camera follows into the club while it also focuses on the band playing. While in the club, we see Beatrix following Oren-Ishii and her crew as a shot that’s following her very move, almost documentary like. Oren-Ishii hears something outside of their room and throws a dagger. She orders her bodyguard (a 17 year old girl) to see whose outside. Beatrix is on top of the wall looking down on the bodyguard. While in the club, Beatrix calls Oren Ishii out. Basically, Beatrix kills Oren Ishii’s entire crew. Her lieutenants, bodyguard, and the Crazy 88’s. The most spectacular thing about this scene is that it’s long and the music changes according to the actions going on the scene. Tarantino did an extremely well job of constructing this scene.
Tarantino takes the audience to the next scene where Beatrix faces Oren-Ishii in the snow. The music changes once again and it’s actually a dance song but the mood shifts into a grand finale of an ongoing battle that’ll finally end. Tarantino does a masterful job of putting together a film that completely throws out the three act structure and instead tells the story the way he feels it needs to be told. All the scenes happened in one location and focused on the main character for the entirety of the film. This technique allowed the audience to feel like they were actually following the journey of a scorned woman and this is what makes Tarantino’s films accentuate a new spin on filmmaking through mise en scene.

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