Whether you love Quentin Tarantino’s movies or hate them, there’s no denying that the director has a distinct sense of style that separates him from other filmmakers in Hollywood. One of the bigger and more notable movies in his filmography is the Kill Bill saga starring Uma Thurman and the late and great David Carradine; The feature is about a former assassin seeking bloody revenge against every person who tried to murder her including The Bride’s ex-lover, Bill. What makes the 2003 feature so memorable isn’t just the incredibly bonkers story with over-the-top fight sequences and a colorful cast of characters, but the oddly placed animated sequence in Vol. 1. What makes it stand out is that this portion is never established in the beginning nor is the manga inspired segment used following the focus on O-Ren Ishii aka Cottonmouth.
Now, one can assume that Tarantino opted to venture into animation for this portion because he knew that the budget would be astronomical, as the animation producer of the segment stated that it would’ve been extremely difficult to make in live-action and quite pricey too: “Quentin himself came to our studios to meet with us in person. He already had the image and style in mind and wanted us to make the animation based on his script. He actually acted out the performances of the characters to be animated in front of us. There were 4 sequences in all, and the production was 1 year. Those 4 sequences would’ve been extremely difficult to make in live-action. Even if it had been possible, it would’ve taken a tremendous amount of budget and work.”
Inspired by a Kamal Haasan movie, Aalavandhan, this intimate story of the life of O-Ren Ishii documents from the moment the young warrior witnesses the death of her parents, until she becomes an elite assassin by the ripe old age of 20. It’s a stunning look at Cottonmouth’s tragic backstory that’s doused with buckets of blood. Coming in at less than 10 minutes, it effectively stops the movie because the momentum has briefly shifted the focus away from the protagonist. Sure, The Bride is the one telling the story, but this is about the lovely half-Japanese, half-Chinese, American brat who has a thirst for collecting heads. It’s a jarring moment and on paper, this shouldn’t work. Yet, it does. The segment never feels out of place with the rest of the film. What helps is that the Kill Bill saga feels like a manga itself. The Tarantino vehicle could’ve easily been a live-action adaptation of a graphic novel. The very adult story of an assassin looking for bloody revenge is right up the alley of the typical content manga’s tend to focus on.
There’s an infamous massacre at a wedding chapel and there’s oddly no police presence despite the detectives being involved at the crime scene. Two perverts are raping hospital patients. People are shot, stabbed, or attacked by murderous snakes. The Bride comes back alive like a zombie! The point is that everything presented in the Kill Bill saga is cartoonish and outlandish. A good majority of these moments would never happen in real life, but they would fit perfectly in a manga. But it’s not just the fact that the animation sequence fits the theme of Kill Bill, but it’s also the smooth and sly transition into the scene itself. We’re shown a couple of stills of O-Ren that help us move into the lengthy sequence detailing the early life of the The Bride’s next victim. Another key element of this moment is that the protagonist herself is telling the story. Sure, the focus shifts away from The Bride for a brief moment, but we never forget that this is her story thanks to the narration. In retrospect, this seems like such a simple concept, but this had to be an extremely tricky thing to pull off. Had Tarantino simply jumped into the animation without getting us slowly accustomed to it with the stills or narration, the moment would’ve felt disjointed and jarring. Again, this was not something established from the beginning, so the fact that this is pulled off in such a slick manner is impressive. Even if someone walked out of the room for a brief second and came back during the animation, you’ll still be able to understand that it’s Kill Bill because of the narration. It’s a mega feat that Tarantino was able to pull this off so effortlessly but given the fact that he changed the way films were made thanks to Pulp Fiction, it’s not a surprise that he pulled this off with such skill.
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