There is something to admire. But...

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2005)

"Either you'll love him or you'll hate him", has everybody told me about Quentin Tarantino. No other alternatives. His style is an extreme, unrealistic, grotesque one, and you can't help but adoring it or hating it. (In my circle of friends, actually, there are much more people feeling the first way.)
Well, I have to say that I disagree. My feelings were actually disappointment, some boredom and a touch of admiration for some aspects of this over-discussed movie, aspects that I will point out later. Let me tell first what I found disappointing.
After having watched "Pulp Fiction", I kept wondering about what people was so enthusiast about in that mess of violence, if it wasn't for one thing: that the gore was coupled with a witty script that, as regards dialog, was reached by very few films I ever saw in my entire life. As a lover of words, I found a lot to enjoy on this side. But what about "Kill Bill", at least about Volume One we are talking about here? If you take a look at the "Memorable Quotes" section here on IMDb, there is the totality of the dialog in the film. The strength of the movie doesn't lie in the use of words.
But there is violence. So much that, in half an hour, you find yourself laughing out loud at the screen as heads and limbs are cut off, leaving only rivers of cartoonish blood coming out from everywhere. Well, as I was laughing, I told myself - Is this really a healthy thing? Is it good that so much people enjoy that much watching a hour and a half of tomato juice - because the director's style wants to remind us every single moment that this is what we're dealing with, tomato juice? Is it good that a supposed masterpiece is made up of a pregnant woman beaten up to a near-death, then shot, then raped throughout her 4-years-long coma; a mother killed in front of her daughter; a pre-teen girl seducing the pedophile killer of her family and having her revenge in bed with him; and so many, so many, SO many limbs cut off? I don't think that this is a healthy thing, and this is why I'm angry every time that I find a Tarantinophile telling me that there is no greatest director in the world. Because all these people will watch the movie with their 6-year-old children and think "oh, no, my God, there's no problem! Even a kid could easily tell that this is fake!"
And so? What is the positive point then? We can turn around this as much as we want, but in the end, what we have here is a non-existing story filled with pointlessly over-acted acts of violence from the beginning to the end. And we find excitement and pleasure in watching them, because they are well-presented, skilfully told and nicely directed, with every right camera angle you need. I'm not sure that this is enough to make "Kill Bill" a masterpiece.
I promised that I would later have pointed out what the interesting elements of the film are, in my opinion. Of course, there are some. The last thing you can say about Tarantino is that he suffers from lack of originality! And this originality lies precisely in his ability of "putting the puzzle together", adding to the mix of citations and past cinematic references the quality of vision he undoubtedly owes at the highest level - and that you can't help but admire, whether you approve him or not.
For example, and this is to be found not only in "Kill Bill" but in all his production, he's the man of the soundtracks. You can sense it since the opening sequence when you're hit by the voice of Nancy Sinatra with "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" - in this movie, he makes perhaps his best soundtrack achievement to date. The best evidence of it is that it is totally unsuitable to be turned into a Cd compilation, and in this form it is very hard to listen to, but if "married" to the images, it perfectly suits every movement, every glance, every breath. Music provides also the only few moments of pause in the entire movie, like the simply adorable "Lonely Shepherd" by Zamfir which accompanies the already-classical words by Michael Madsen "That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die." Brief but wonderful musical gems are to be found throughout the film and add a lot to the visual experience.
Another good thing is what I couldn't describe in any other way than a "touch of magic" that you can feel, here and there, in some moments of the movie, despite all the gore and all the violence. The moment in which The Bride, after the furious and oh-my-God-how-long fight with the Crazy 88, goes to the final battle with O-Ren, is one of them. The scene changes abruptly and all the blood is cancelled by the snow, in a white Japanese garden surrounded by a dark blue sky. For a brief moment, you experience peace, and this sensation is without a doubt provided by the director's talent. And this is not the only noteworthy moment - even in the overlong fighting scenes, which I am not a fan of, there is something "more" than an immediate level to find.
The man definitely has a thing for imagination, and he knows he has. He also knows how to let the public be part of his imagination. I can only warn this public that he also knows - more than any other director I've watched in my life - how to manipulate the audience. When you watch a Tarantino film, "Kill Bill" in primis, admire his talent, but try to be aware of this.