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I'm glad Sarah brought up Kill Bill. I saw it last weekend KB. I am generally not a fan of Tarantino's work. I've found always an absence of emotion in favor of clever cinematic, structural etc. choices. The magic others see in certain moments usually doesn't happen for me. I found KB worked very differently. The over the top violence and fight scenes and were I think coupled with sympathy for the characters. I'm not sure sympathy is the right word. But it is a "humanization" of figures who essentially are like comic book figures. I think the audience's rapport with the characters is cemented by Tarantino's manipulation of genre. You respond to "the hero" figure that resonates and recognize her quickly in the separate narrative segments. Anime and graphic novels allow for a huge amount of violence that is coupled with a great sympathy for the lead, and certainly the Lucy Liu character gained some affection by the end of that sequence. Given the bloody nature of the story, I'm not certain a live-action rendition would have resonated in the same way. The Godard comparison is very interesting and one that hadn't occurred to me. I can't say the toes made me think of the JLG coffee cup. But overall, T's ability to introduce elements of lyricism (an example would be the visual lyricism of the snowy garden where the last fight takes place) would bear comparison to Godard and his abrupt poetic insertions. This also "humanizes" (here I'm not sure this is the perfect term) the characters. At least it touches the audience with relation to the story on a different level than the comic book/violence antics that are enjoyable but from which we can remain detached. As you mention there is a continual association/dissociation with the characters that occurs. (This in a very intangible reminded me of Lynch's treatment of the character in Mulholland Drive). At times you are so in cahoots with him as you watch this absurd tale about absurd characters and at other moments you become a traditional viewer going with the genre fight sequence or what have you. I think the most striking thing about the film is the very seamless way in which Tarantino shifts tone throughout, moving from the absurd, violent or comical to draw on elements of genre and to achieve moments of real drama. --------------- From: Sarah Nichols <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 08:15:12 -0700 Subject: Kill Bill I recently saw Tarantino's Kill Bill and was interested in discussing it. I am especially interested in the way that he seems to alternate between the objectification of his subjects and his humanization of them. Is he humanizing them at all? ( Or is Uma Thurman just a body hurling through space, killing everything in her path [well, almost everything]. Is the anime "backstory" for Lucy Liu's character a way to humanize her?) Also, for some reason, the close-ups of Thurman's toes reminded me of the coffee cup in Two or Three Things I Know About Her. Anyone's thoughts would be welcome. Sarah Nichols