There's nothing like the bittersweet anticipation of the second installment of a film that blew you away the first time around. We all saw it happen with The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, and some of you may even be excited to see Spiderman take to the sky again in July.
Today, the much anticipated Kill Bill: Vol. 2 comes out. In order to bring everyone in on the excitement, the Bowdoin Film Society will be showing the first installment of the film, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), in hopes that all interested will be able to see the new film next week.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is the unmistakable work of the praised eccentric auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Responsible for directing the Oscar-nominated Pulp Fiction (1994) and Reservoir Dogs (1992) and writer of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and Natural Born Killers (1994), Tarantino has, without a doubt, a very distinct style and creativity that sets him apart from other filmmakers.
Tarantino is a master of choreographing violence and flaunts his talents in his films, making them feel like a showcase of formalism. His films are marked by their niche in the R-rated category of films with lots of violence, drugs, language, and occasional sexuality. Aside from his affinity for violence and gore, Tarantino makes many interesting stylistic choices that allow him to effectively manipulate aspects of storytelling.
His feature last year, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, is a movie that is told in chapters like a book. This film tells the story of The Bride, a woman who used to be a part of a dangerous group of female assassins called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, headed by the mysterious Bill. The gang turns against her and shoots her in the head the day of her wedding. The Bride awakens after a five-year coma and decides to seek her revenge and take back her life. She begins targeting each member of the squad, leaving Bill for last.
The film has a great cast including Uma Thurman (the object of Tarantino's cinematic obsession in this film) as The Bride, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, and Daryl Hannah as four principal members of D.V.A.S. David Carradine, best known for his Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976), plays the infamous Bill.
The film is quite violent but extremely entertaining with a truly innovative approach. It is apparent through watching Tarantino's bloody battle film that he is not excessive or irreverent. Rather, he is a very conscious cinephile who skillfully references and draws upon past influences, as well as invents new ways to explore new boundaries in filmmaking. Most notably, Tarantino used classic American western and Asian kung-fu and samurai films to sculpt his vision for Kill Bill.
Kill Bill: Vol.1 will be showing this weekend at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evening in Smith Auditorium of Sills Hall.