キル・ビルの野生的な映画の影響の融合へのガイド

Quentin Tarantino’s filmography is filled with a lifetime of influences. From the Ocean’s 11-style walking sequence in Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction’s Fellini-inspired dance scene, cinema’s greatest devotee wears his references on his sleeve. While some critics dismiss him as an imitator, that label ignores the nature of his artistry. Tarantino uses cinema’s past as a language that is either understood by fellow enthusiasts or discovered later by those keen to know more. 

Such an opportunity arrives with Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, a supercut of Kill Bill Volumes One and Two. With never-before-seen footage, it’s a new vision of the films that first took him from his beloved crime thrillers, proving his 90s breakthrough was no fluke after a lukewarm reaction to 1997’s Jackie Brown.

As we return to The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) “roaring rampage of revenge”, now is the perfect time to brush up on some of the influences that make this cinematic fusion come to life.

We begin with a very pointed reference to an icon of martial arts cinema. Game of Death, the revenge thriller that Bruce Lee was working on at the time of his passing, features the star in a yellow jumpsuit with a black stripe down the side. The Bride wears the same jumpsuit during Volume One’s fight in The House of Blue Leaves.

Appearing only in Volume One, which leans more toward kung fu cinema compared to Volume Two’s western tones, the choice is a visual passing of the torch. Tarantino has had a complicated relationship with Lee’s legacy, which includes a controversial portrayal of the man in 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, he has never hidden his affection for the actor’s work, something underlined in this style choice. Taking a trademark from the king of martial arts cinema and bestowing it upon The Bride establishes her as a force to be reckoned with.

Written by Tarantino and directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, the haunting animated sequence that depicts O-Ren Ishii’s (Lucy Liu) rise to the top of the criminal underworld is a standout moment in the early parts of Kill Bill. The inspiration to put animation into the mix came from 2001 Tamil thriller Aalavandhan, about a mentally ill man who is driven to kill his brother’s fiancée. In the film, animation is used to portray the darker corners of the protagonist’s mind, taking them a step away from reality in order to avoid being too disturbing. Tarantino uses this same device to convey one of the uglier elements of the film. Taking the story of a child witnessing her father’s brutal death and her path to underage criminality is made more palatable through the stylised violence of anime, and shows the broad map of the director’s influences. 

It could be argued that Kill Bill is a reframing of this 1973 drama, starring Meiko Kaji as a woman out for revenge against the men who raped her mother and killed her half-brother. The fight between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) in the snow mirrors a famous sequence from the film, while elements such as chaptered storytelling, balletic swordplay and a shared song also appear (The Flower Of Carnage, a key theme from Lady Snowblood, plays when The Bride defeats O-Ren Ishii). 

However, beyond these stylistic homages is the emotional truth of Kaji’s character, Yuki, that is most present in The Bride. A woman on a long quest to right the wrongs of the past, driven by a purpose so great that her means become measured, patient and unforgiving. The Bride’s sense that retribution will be carried out, even at the cost of her own life, is something Yuki would have approved of.

There are both stylistic and literal references to this hyper-violent classic, which became a cult favourite on the grindhouse circuit in the US when producer Roger Corman brought it over from its native Japan. It tells the story of a samurai known as Lone Wolf who searches the countryside with his son in pursuit of the men who killed his wife. 

Banned from home video for several years in the UK, the exaggerated blood spatter and fight choreography in Kill Bill owe much to the 1980 film, as well as its general theme of a parent-child vengeance arc. Tarantino references it directly in Volume Two, when The Bride discovers her daughter BB (Perla Haney-Jardine) is alive and living with Bill (David Carradine). When asked to choose a bedtime movie, the youngster picks this to watch. There is also a rather pleasing symmetry with The Whole Bloody Affair, as Shogun Assassin was in fact the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series edited together and repackaged for a new audience. 

We end by moving from martial arts cinema to Westerns, which have a strong but often unheralded presence in the two films. After all, what is The Bride’s journey if not a series of High Noon-style standoffs where one must die? Thurman’s lead waited four years for retribution due to being in a coma, but that’s nothing compared to Death Rides a Horse protagonist Bill’s (John Phillip Law) 15-year-long journey towards becoming the deadly marksman who hunts down the men that killed his family.

Again, there are thematic and overt nods to the story. The Bride’s red-filtered flashbacks, which centre around close-ups on the eyes, are similar to the film, while the sometimes volatile student-master relationship between Bill and older gunslinger Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) provided the blueprint for The Bride’s tutelage under the ruthless Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). 

It also provides an early chapter in the bond between Tarantino and Ennio Morricone, who wrote the music for the spaghetti western and would later compose a score for The Hateful Eight. His theme from Death Rides a Horse is used in Kill Bill during The Bride’s showdown with Vernita Green, underlining the fact that, while the fight features samurai swords and kung fu, the story owes just as much to the wild west.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is in UK cinemas from 5 December.

Quentin Tarantino’s filmography is filled with a lifetime of influences. From the Ocean’s 11-style walking sequence in Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction’s Fellini-inspired dance scene, cinema’s greatest devotee wears his references on his sleeve. While some critics dismiss him as an imitator, that label ignores the nature of his artistry. Tarantino uses cinema’s past as a language that is either understood by fellow enthusiasts or discovered later by those keen to know more. 

Such an opportunity arrives with Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, a supercut of Kill Bill Volumes One and Two. With never-before-seen footage, it’s a new vision of the films that first took him from his beloved crime thrillers, proving his 90s breakthrough was no fluke after a lukewarm reaction to 1997’s Jackie Brown.

As we return to The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) “roaring rampage of revenge”, now is the perfect time to brush up on some of the influences that make this cinematic fusion come to life.

We begin with a very pointed reference to an icon of martial arts cinema. Game of Death, the revenge thriller that Bruce Lee was working on at the time of his passing, features the star in a yellow jumpsuit with a black stripe down the side. The Bride wears the same jumpsuit during Volume One’s fight in The House of Blue Leaves.

Appearing only in Volume One, which leans more toward kung fu cinema compared to Volume Two’s western tones, the choice is a visual passing of the torch. Tarantino has had a complicated relationship with Lee’s legacy, which includes a controversial portrayal of the man in 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, he has never hidden his affection for the actor’s work, something underlined in this style choice. Taking a trademark from the king of martial arts cinema and bestowing it upon The Bride establishes her as a force to be reckoned with.

Written by Tarantino and directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, the haunting animated sequence that depicts O-Ren Ishii’s (Lucy Liu) rise to the top of the criminal underworld is a standout moment in the early parts of Kill Bill. The inspiration to put animation into the mix came from 2001 Tamil thriller Aalavandhan, about a mentally ill man who is driven to kill his brother’s fiancée. In the film, animation is used to portray the darker corners of the protagonist’s mind, taking them a step away from reality in order to avoid being too disturbing. Tarantino uses this same device to convey one of the uglier elements of the film. Taking the story of a child witnessing her father’s brutal death and her path to underage criminality is made more palatable through the stylised violence of anime, and shows the broad map of the director’s influences. 

It could be argued that Kill Bill is a reframing of this 1973 drama, starring Meiko Kaji as a woman out for revenge against the men who raped her mother and killed her half-brother. The fight between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) in the snow mirrors a famous sequence from the film, while elements such as chaptered storytelling, balletic swordplay and a shared song also appear (The Flower Of Carnage, a key theme from Lady Snowblood, plays when The Bride defeats O-Ren Ishii). 

However, beyond these stylistic homages is the emotional truth of Kaji’s character, Yuki, that is most present in The Bride. A woman on a long quest to right the wrongs of the past, driven by a purpose so great that her means become measured, patient and unforgiving. The Bride’s sense that retribution will be carried out, even at the cost of her own life, is something Yuki would have approved of.

There are both stylistic and literal references to this hyper-violent classic, which became a cult favourite on the grindhouse circuit in the US when producer Roger Corman brought it over from its native Japan. It tells the story of a samurai known as Lone Wolf who searches the countryside with his son in pursuit of the men who killed his wife. 

Banned from home video for several years in the UK, the exaggerated blood spatter and fight choreography in Kill Bill owe much to the 1980 film, as well as its general theme of a parent-child vengeance arc. Tarantino references it directly in Volume Two, when The Bride discovers her daughter BB (Perla Haney-Jardine) is alive and living with Bill (David Carradine). When asked to choose a bedtime movie, the youngster picks this to watch. There is also a rather pleasing symmetry with The Whole Bloody Affair, as Shogun Assassin was in fact the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series edited together and repackaged for a new audience. 

We end by moving from martial arts cinema to Westerns, which have a strong but often unheralded presence in the two films. After all, what is The Bride’s journey if not a series of High Noon-style standoffs where one must die? Thurman’s lead waited four years for retribution due to being in a coma, but that’s nothing compared to Death Rides a Horse protagonist Bill’s (John Phillip Law) 15-year-long journey towards becoming the deadly marksman who hunts down the men that killed his family.

Again, there are thematic and overt nods to the story. The Bride’s red-filtered flashbacks, which centre around close-ups on the eyes, are similar to the film, while the sometimes volatile student-master relationship between Bill and older gunslinger Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) provided the blueprint for The Bride’s tutelage under the ruthless Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). 

It also provides an early chapter in the bond between Tarantino and Ennio Morricone, who wrote the music for the spaghetti western and would later compose a score for The Hateful Eight. His theme from Death Rides a Horse is used in Kill Bill during The Bride’s showdown with Vernita Green, underlining the fact that, while the fight features samurai swords and kung fu, the story owes just as much to the wild west.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is in UK cinemas from 5 December.