The Face of the Tiger Sunday, October 19, 2003

"Spoilers" here, so read at your own risk.

On the plus side of "Kill Bill," the movie coaxes a fabulous performance out of Lucy Liu, a native of my hometown. But even that gets dragged through the shit. Her big scene is a funny/terrifying speech to a roomful of mob bosses, and she pulls it off perfectly, starting off demure and going apeshit on a dime.

The spark for the scene, though, is La Luce getting pissed at one of the mob bosses for slandering her background and chopping off his head. Blood sprays out of his neck, comically, like a lawn sprinkler, and Lucy caps her harangue by holding up the guy's head--again, to comic effect. See how over-the-top it all is?

But I kept thinking of another over-the-top movie, one that's been a blockbuster in bazaars in Pakistan, among others, one that even got a unique distribution deal online; it also featured rage over somebody's background (only this time the victim) and used a severed head to great effect. Only there's not going to be a "Volume 2" in five months. Not unless the producers find themselves another star.

I don't mind violence in movies. I don't even mind slick, aestheticized violence that makes you forget the horrible things being done to human bodies--for Chrissakes, a month ago I stood on a half-hour line to see Bruce Campbell at a movie premiere. But there's a line between soaking yourself and your audience in blood (Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson) and drinking it (Tarantino).

Damned if I know where to draw that line. But part of it runs through 9/11.

@ 8:45:00 AM,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home