I think when I started to articulate my thoughts on Kill Bill I
was struggling to find the right words; "humanize" was probably the wrong one,
but I couldn't think of a better one to replace it!
Mr. Martin is right when he says that the lens of humanization is
often not the best way to get to a film. Think of Scorsese's films. If I
tried to identify, or "get involved in the characters", I would be completely
turned off by what he is trying to show. Casino is another film that
goes beyond humanization, one that took me a long time to appreciate, and
perhaps that is what will happen in my experience with Kill Bill.
(And perhaps this is why Gangs of New York is not entirely
successful: he wants to have us sympathize with Leonardo and Cameron, while
Daniel Day Lewis makes no apologies for himself, just as no one in
Casino or Goodfellas does).
For the moment, though, I am still digesting it. My feelings about it
recall what I felt when I saw Weekend for the first time:
exhilaration, revulsion, a certain amount of awe (because of the fact that he
is leaving the need to humanize behind, just as Godard did). Is it another
"film floating in the universe?" another film "found in a dump"? I don't
know.
(and completely OT, the Nancy Sinatra song at the beginning is
extraordinary).
Sarah Nichols
