Kill Bill (5 Stars)

Today I watched "Kill Bill" with my friend Alex and his girlfriend Anna. It's always a pleasure to watch films in a group of like-minded film fans.

There's nothing I want to add to my previous reviews, apart from a few words about the film's two four-year-old girls.

Nikki, the daughter of Vernita Green aka Copperhead, is played by Ambrosia Kelley, who was seven years old at the time. She appeared in a few television programmes after "Kill Bill", but her acting career fizzled out in 2012. I haven't been able to find out what she's doing now.

B.B., the Bride's daughter, is played by Perla Haney-Jardine. She was five years old at the time. She's had a more successful acting career, including films like "Spider-Man 3" and "Steve Jobs". I hope to see a lot more of her in the future.

As you can see, some child actors have success that continues into adulthood, others don't. An early start in acting isn't an automatic guarantee for a long career. There's no replacement for talent and hard work.

Success Rate:  + 3.6

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Kill Bill (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #15

Even though it was released in two parts, I consider "Kill Bill" to be one film. I've heard discussions whether "Kill Bill Volume One" is better than "Kill Bill Volume Two", but I refuse to compare them. It's just one film. It's perfect as it is.

The story's chronology jumps backwards and forwards, but it's never difficult to understand. The Bride's numbered Kill List tells us what order things are happening, even when a scene isn't explicitly marked as a flashback. I once asked myself the question whether the film would be better if everything were shown in chronological order, and I eventually came to the answer No. Things are ordered just as they should be to tell the best possible story. I'd prefer a single four and a half hour cut as a single film, omitting the recap at the beginning of the second part, where the Bride speaks directly to the camera. That's the only change I'd make. Quentin Tarantino promised a complete cut 15 years ago, and I'm still waiting. I'm sure the film studio has blocked it as financially unviable. I'm hoping that the 4K remastered release will have a single cut, when it's finally released.

I mean a single cut of the official films. I'm not talking about the Japanese version, which has several differences to the international version. It would be interesting to see the two versions side by side, but they'll never be released in a single box set, because a different studio holds the rights to the Japanese version.

Beatrix Kiddo, usually called the Bride, was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. It's never stated what their aims were. Mercenaries for hire? Probably. Their leader is a man known only as Bill. When she found out she was pregnant, she spontaneously decided to quit, even though Bill was her child's father. She didn't tell him she was leaving, she just went into hiding. She changed her name and fell in love with a record shop owner in El Paso, Texas. Bill located her and took revenge by executing her and everyone else invited to her wedding rehearsal.

From left to right.....

Elle Driver (code name California Mountain Snake).

 Vernita Green (code name Copperhead).

Budd, Bill's brother (code name Sidewinder).

O-Ren Ishii (code name Cottonmouth).

Sofie Fatale wasn't a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, but she was trained by Bill, and she was present at the El Paso massacre as a witness.

The Bride (code name Black Mamba) survived the massacre and lay in a coma for four years. When she woke up the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad had broken up, so she had to search for the former members. She set out to take revenge on the four assassins and Bill himself. She spared Sofie's life, merely cutting off her arms.

The Bride was also carrying out revenge for the death of her child, but she discovers that the baby was born while she was in a coma. The girl called B.B. is living with her father.

The Bride becomes the Mother. And they all lived happily ever after.

Success Rate:  + 3.6

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Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #50

This is Quentin Tarantino's second film, made in 1994, two years after "Reservoir Dogs". Many of the scenes look like a reunion of the Reservoir Dogs actors. Of the six dogs, four of the actors appear in "Pulp Fiction": Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Tim Roth. Their characters were all killed in "Reservoir Dogs", so some people have come to the conclusion that "Pulp Fiction" is a prequel that takes place in the same universe as "Reservoir Dogs". This is reinforced by the fact that a fifth Reservoir Dog (Vic Vega) has the same family name as one of the gangsters in "Pulp Fiction" (Vincent Vega). This is impossible, because the Reservoir Dogs were men who didn't know one another's names. It's not a shared universe, it's just Quentin Tarantino using good actors that he's worked with before.

I'm aware that it's not just these two films. There have been attempts to tie all of Quentin Tarantino's films together, including "From Dusk Till Dawn". That's just ridiculous. Is Mia Wallace the same person as Beatrix Kiddo in "Kill Bill"? Impossible! I've read the arguments in favour of a single universe, the Tarantinoverse, but I shan't quote them here because I don't believe they hold up. The only thing I like about the theories is that the word Tarantinoverse sounds so cool.

Most films tell a story with a single consistent narrative, unless they're true stories. A typical film goes from A to B with only minor deviations. "Pulp Fiction" is full of random incidents which have an influence on the main narrative. This gives "Pulp Fiction" the feeling of a true story, without it actually being true. Important characters are introduced late in the film. If someone who had never seen the film read a summary of the plot he'd say it's bad screenwriting. It breaks all the rules. And yet the end result is a work of pure brilliance.

The gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) are professional killers. They're friends who work together for their boss, Marcellus Wallace, but there's one big difference between them: Jules believes in miracles, Vincent doesn't. Only Jules survives to the end of the film. Is it his faith that saves him? I'll let you decide for yourself.

This is a trademark Quentin Tarantino scene of people looking into a car trunk, although Vincent is distracted. Maybe a girl dressed in a mini-skirt is walking by.

Here's another Quentin Tarantino trademark, a foot close up. Do you recognise the actress? I'll give the answer at the bottom of this post, so don't read on until you know.

I shan't keep you in suspense with the second actress with naked feet. It's Angela Jones, playing a barefoot taxi driver called Esmarelda. I don't get it. Isn't it too difficult to drive a car without shoes?

Never mind the feet, I'm more interested in Angela's beautiful face. There's an aura of evil about her. Is it just the way she looks in the film? I'll never know.

The film is well known for its non-linear narrative. Today I watched it while asking myself if it would be better if the scenes had been re-ordered to make the film chronological (with slight rewriting, of course). For the first half of the film I wasn't sure, but by the end of the film I was convinced that the non-linear narrative is advantageous to the plot. The first half tells Vincent's story, and the second half tells Jules' story, even though they appear together in some of the scenes.

Did you recognise the feet in my little test? They belong to Uma Thurman. We'll see a lot more of them in "Kill Bill".

Success Rate:  + 24.7

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Despite the recently added daisy-chaining of my top 100 posts, here's a summary of my films so far as an assistance to my new readers.

51. Evita (1996)
52. Assaunt on Precinct 13 (1976)
53. Death Proof (2007)
54. Falling Down (1993)
55. Adaptation (2002)
56. The Raid 2 (2014)
57. Summer in Orange (2011)
58. Flowers of War (2011)
59. Scream (1996)
60. Scream 2 (1997)
61. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
62. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
63. The Gift (2000)
64. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
65. Ip Man (2008)
66. Ip Man 2 (2010)
67. Snatch (2000)
68. Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998)
69. Tragedy Girls (2017)
70. Gladiator (2000)
71. Enter the Dragon (1973)
72. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
73. The Legend of 1900 (1998)
74. Young Frankenstein (1974)
75. The Virgin Psychics (2015)
76. The Man who would be King (1975)
77. John Rabe (2009)
78. The Paperboy (1994)
79. The Walk (2015)
80. Perfume (2006)
81. The Green Mile (1999)
82. Little Nicky (2000)
83. Monster (2003)
84. Gloomy Sunday (1999)
85. We are the night (2010)
86. Dark Water (2002)
87. What to do in case of fire (2001)
88. The Shining (1980)
89. Azumi (2003/2005)
90. The Mummy (1999)
91. Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)
92. Attack of the 50 Foot Centerfold (1995)
94. Titanic (1997)
95. Mad City (1997)
96. Leon (1994)
97. Iron Rose (1973)
98. Kick-Ass (2010)
99. Rush Hour (1998)
100. Bella Martha (2001)

The House that Jack Built (4 Stars)

When I was a child my father worked as a night watchman at Little Aston Hall. He often took me with him to work. I can't remember when I started going with him, but he worked there until I was seven. When I was going to school it was probably only at the weekend, but before I started school it was more often.

My father had a small office in the cellar, on the left side of the building in the photo. There was a long corridor that ran the whole length of the building, and his room was the last room. He had a table, a chair and a sofa. I used to sleep on the sofa. He did his rounds about once an hour, and I didn't mind being left alone if I was still awake.

I was fine in the room itself, but I was scared in the corridor. The pipes that ran along the ceiling made banging noises. I never went to the other end of the corridor, neither with my father nor by myself. I only went as far as the stairs up to the ground floor. I had no idea what was at the other end of the corridor.

That's the situation that Jack (played by Matt Dillon) finds himself in. He's bought a small building in a deserted street in the centre of the town. He likes the isolation, because nobody notices when he drags dead bodies out of his truck at night. Over a period of 12 years he's killed more than 60 people, and he keeps the bodies in a walk-in freezer. It's art. He likes to set the bodies up in poses and take photos. But at the back of the building there's a locked door. He doesn't have a key, and he's left the door closed for 12 years.

Finally he breaks the door open. What does he find? There's a passage descending into Hell. He should have left the door shut. But wasn't that where he would be going anyway?

Like Lars Van Trier's last film, "Nymphomaniac", "The House that Jack Built" is a story about addiction. People can be addicted to killing, just as they can be addicted to sex. In the narrative we're led into the details of Jack's psyche. We can understand him, and we can almost sympathise with him.

But his final resting place is Hell. Unlike other people who die before they go to Hell, Jack has the privilege of entering Hell alive. Privilege or curse, the destination is the same.

Success Rate:  - 1.8

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The House that Jack Built (4 Stars)

When the film starts and you hear the voice of a psychopath calmly talking about his crimes you might think that it's a character like Dexter Morgan from the television series "Dexter". Yes, there might be some similarities that we glimpse here and there in scenes scattered throughout the film, but this is a very different character. Dexter Morgan is a fantasy psychopath, a man who has learnt to curb his urges by only killing those who deserve to die. Jack is a real psychopath, a man who kills purely because it gives him pleasure. He tries to excuse himself by saying that he wants to create art, but he's never satisfied with what he creates. In truth, it's an addiction. He feels a rush of pleasure after killing someone, but the longer he goes without a new kill the more emptiness he feels.

Jack's voice isn't as a narrator. He's having a conversation with an unseen character called Verge, who eventually identifies himself as Virgil, the author of the Aeneid. Verge doesn't condemn Jack for what he's done, but he does question the honesty of Jack's motives.

Jack is a killer. He's killed more than 60 people. He recounts five "incidents" to Verge. Each incident is the killing of one or several people. In the first incident he kills a woman he meets by chance. In the second incident he kills a woman he has selected. In the third incident he kills a woman and her children. In the fourth incident he kills his lover. In the fifth incident... I'll let you find that out for yourself when you watch the film!

The anonymity of the victims is shown by the fact that the women aren't named in the film. There's only one exception. Jack's lover is called Jacqueline. Does this signify that he's only able to love himself? Even if that's the case, he doesn't call her by her name. He calls her Simple.

At the same time Jack, who considers himself an architect, has been building a house. He's never been satisfied with the result, so he's knocked it down three times in the last 12 years. Is it possible that Lars Von Trier is talking about himself? I'm not saying that he's confessing to being a serial killer – as far as I know – but he's made three films in the last 12 years, "Antichrist", "Melancholia" and "Nymphomaniac". Are these the three pieces of art that he created and was unhappy with? If that's the case, he's getting progressively closer to his ultimate masterpiece, because "Nymphomaniac" shows great resemblance to "The House that Jack Built". Both films distil extreme experiences, sex and murder, into abstract entities by stripping them of their emotions. Both films have two characters discussing incidents in the past. Both films have unnamed characters. A murderer kills anonymous women, whereas a nymphomaniac has sex with anonymous men.

My opinion that Jack represents Lars Von Trier is strengthened by by the parallels with Dante's Inferno. Virgil accompanies Dante the poet into Hell. This is emphasised in a scene that recreates the famous painting by Eugene Delacroix, "Dante's Boat".

"Dante's Boat", Eugene Delacroix, 1822

"The House that Jack Built", Lars von Trier, 2018

Lars Von Trier could hardly be any less subtle. It's like he's screaming at the audience, "Look! This is what my film's about!"

Is this Lars Von Trier's final masterpiece? I mean in his own eyes, because he's his own harshest critic. We'll have to wait to see what he does next.

Kill Bill (5 Stars)

This is doubtlessly one of the best films ever made. Whenever I watch it it stuns me. I just watched the two parts back to back in a four hour session, which is the best way to enjoy it. In Japan a slightly different cut was released as a single film. I don't know why this version still isn't available in the rest of the world.

I watched the first part in the cinema in October 2003. Like all fans, I couldn't wait to see the second part. The UK release date was 23rd April 2004. About a week before this date my friend Pete told me he had bought it on DVD for £2 (approximately $2.75) from a nearby video store which was well known for its under-the-counter offers. He invited us to his apartment to watch it.

We watched it with Pete and his friend Bob. It was nasty. It was a DVD that had been recorded in a cinema. The picture was dark, and the the voices of the people in the audience frequently drowned out the film. The volume was so low that it was difficult to hear even when the television set was cranked up to maximum. Added to this, Pete and Bob were talking all the way through the film. At the end I still didn't understand everything that had happened.

Never again!

Lucy Liu will cut off the head of anyone who watches pirate DVDs.

Chiaki Kuriyama agrees.

So does Julie Dreyfus.

This is probably Quentin Tarantino's best film, but it's difficult for me to decide. I always prefer whichever film of his I watched last.

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Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

30 films to watch before you die, #15

When someone quotes the Bible at you it's worth checking to see if they're right. In "Pulp Fiction" Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) says:

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee".

So I checked my Bible, and what did I find?

"Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and sought to destroy Judah, this is what the Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them".

Even allowing for variations between different translations Jules' quote is way off. On the other hand, would you discuss theology with someone who's pointing a gun at your head?

Having said that, let me say something about the difficulty I had with picking "Pulp Fiction" for my 30 films list. I restricted myself to a maximum of one film per director. In the case of Quentin Tarantino, what should I pick? All his films are good, and I can't even decide what my favourite is. If someone asks me I usually name the film of his that I watched last. At first I put "Reservoir Dogs" in the list, because it was his first film as director. Then I replaced it with "Django Unchained", because I thought that my list doesn't have enough recent films. Finally I picked "Pulp Fiction" because most people say it's his best. It certainly is very good, but is it his best? I don't know.

One thing struck me today while watching the film is that all the characters, even those in smaller roles, were familiar to me. I'm not saying it because I've watched the film before. What I mean is that the dialogue introduces the characters, and within a minute of them appearing on screen I feel that I know them. Does any other director have such skill at character development?

When reviewing other films in my 30 films list I gave three suggestions for further viewing. I shan't limit myself today. These are the other films made by Quentin Tarantion, all brilliant and deserving to be watched if you haven't seen them already.

• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Kill Bill (2003-2004)
• Death Proof (2007)
• Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• Django Unchained (2012)

Burnt (4 Stars)

This is a film that's difficult to recommend. If you describe the plot to someone it sounds utterly boring. It's about the struggle of a two-star rated cook to achieve a three-star rating (the highest) in the Michelin food guide. This is a rare honour. According to the Wikipedia page, only three restaurants in England (and 14 in the USA) currently have the top rating.

Bradley Cooper stars as Adam Jones, a two-star cook recovering from drug addiction, who has moved from Paris to London to begin a new life. Nobody trusts him in London because he's well known as a wash out, although many people have respect for him as a great cook. Adam persuades his friend Tony (Daniel Brühl), a hotel owner, to let him take over as head chef in his restaurant. Adam is a tough person to work for. He creates new recipes, the cooks in his kitchen make them for him, and he runs round tasting the results, throwing plates of food at the wall if he doesn't consider them to be perfect. Yes, perfect. Anything less than perfect isn't good enough for him.

If that sounds like "Whiplash", yes, it is. Adam Jones is like a man directing an orchestra in the kitchen. He's brilliant but obsessive. But I walked out of the cinema today comparing it with "Rocky" (the first film) more than anything else. They're both films about someone who was at the top of his game, then fell flat on his face because of his own faults and had to work hard to get back to the top.

The film is impressive, but I find it extremely hard to relate to. In the case of "Rocky" I understand what boxing is about, but cooking? Is it really such a cut-throat industry where competitors either respect or despise one another? It's like another world. Unless someone appears on a daytime TV show, nobody could name the top cook in his town, but the characters in this film all know the names of rival cooks throughout Europe. I've never eaten in a restaurant remotely like the ones shown.

My home town, Birmingham, doesn't have any three-star restaurants or even two-star restaurants, but it does have five one-star restaurants. I checked out one of the restaurants -- online, of course -- and discovered that it only has three dishes on the menu. That seems to be typical for the top restaurants. Rather than having a large menu that remains the same for months, maybe years, they only offer a few dishes, changing the menu every time the head chef has a new creation he wants to show off.

Interestingly, the film has a scene where Adam Jones is eating in Burger King. The junior cook accompanying him refuses to eat anything out of principle because it's junk food, but Adam defends it. He says it's the food of the working class, for the people who don't want to pay 50 times as much in a top restaurant. He praises Burger King for making consistently good food, but he says that consistency is also Burger King's greatest weakness. Discerning diners don't want to eat the same food all the time, they want new food every time they eat.

I'm working class. It's Burger King for me. But I don't want ice in my Coke.

Nymphomaniac (4 Stars)

Killing is the most natural thing in the world. We're created for it.

I bought "Nymphomaniac" on Blu-ray at the beginning of December. Now, after three months, I've finally got round to watching it. Why did I wait so long? The reason is that it's a long film, five and a half hours, and I wanted to wait until I had time to watch it in one sitting. As it was, I was interrupted today after three and a half hours by the verdict in the Jodi Arias murder trial. Maybe I should say non-verdict, since the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision, rendering the result a mistrial. The problem was that one of the jurors, Claudia Suchta, came into court in October 2014 with a pre-conceived notion about what she would decide, and was at no time willing to listen to the evidence or the opinions of the other jurors. Last week the other 11 jurors asked for her to be excluded from the deliberations, but the judge refused. The final result was the 11-1 hung jury that resulted today. After listening to the interviews and briefly taking part in the forums where trial watchers were venting their anger at Mrs. Suchta I returned to watch the last two hours of the film.

"Nymphomaniac" is divided into two parts, but the division is artificial, just as Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" is only one film, artificially divided because it was thought too long for a single cinema visit. When I saw "Nymphomaniac" in the cinema last year both parts were shown back to back as part of a special event, but it was shortened to four hours. The official reason was that the film's sex scenes were too explicit to be shown legally, but I believe that the running time was also a factor. Of course, I refused to buy the theatrical version when it was released on Blu-ray, I waited for the full version, incorrectly called the "director's cut". However, watching it again today I couldn't spot the extra 90 minutes that were missing in the version I saw last year. It's possible that the do-it-yourself kitchen abortion scene was missing from the short version, but I'm not sure, and even if it were it would only make a time difference of about 10-15 minutes.

The film begins and ends with darkness, two minutes at the beginning and one minute at the end. Within the film Seligman finds a woman injured in the alleyway outside his house and takes her home to clean her up. His name is symbolic. It means "holy man", and he does indeed live in a very bare room like a monk, even though he emphasises that he isn't religious. He doesn't have a television or a telephone in his house. The only evidence of modern technology is a cassette recorder, which he uses to listen to classical music, in particular Bach. The woman, who introduces herself as Joe, confesses to being a nymphomaniac, and she attempts to persuade Seligman that she is an evil person by telling him her life story in eight chapters.

1. The Complete Angler
2. Jerome
3. Mrs. H
4. Delirium
5. The Little Organ School
6. The Eastern and the Western Church
7. The Mirror
8. The Gun

Joe's whole life, ever since she was 12, has revolved around sex, and the film is appropriately explicit in the depiction of her life. It's difficult to think of her as evil, and Seligman too does all he can to defend her against her own accusations. The only thing I would really criticise her for is leaving her young child alone for hours when she went out to be beaten and whipped (chapter six). This was reprehensible, and she showed no remorse when her son almost died while left alone.

The film is set in England, as is obvious from the cars and the money used, but there are certain scenes that look foreign. The scenes have been called mistakes by some reviewers, but they are such obvious mistakes that I can't believe that the director Lars von Trier didn't know what he was doing. For instance, when Joe walks out of the hospital where her father is dying (chapter four) the sign over the door says "Opgang", the Dutch word for "Recovery". The word is written so large, stretching almost all the way across the screen, so it couldn't possibly be a blunder. Could it? The train in chapter one is a German train. Throughout the film the outdoor scenes seem very un-English. For instance, the house windows have external shutters (typical for Holland) and the streets seem very continental.

"Nymphomaniac" created a lot of controversy for its depictions of sex. We repeatedly see close-ups of erect penises, something usually reserved for hardcore pornography. And yet it isn't a pornographic film, far from it. It's a philosophical film, as are all films directed by Lars von Trier. If you watch it, when the film is over you won't be thinking about the sex scenes, you'll be thinking about God, the universe and the meaning of life.

I bought the Blu-ray from Germany, because it hasn't been released in England. Yet. The short version has been on sale since April last year, but the full version has been announced three times and cancelled each time. I suspect that there are classification arguments going on behind the scenes.

Nymphomaniac (4 Stars)

If there's one thing Lars Von Trier likes to do, he likes to shock his audiences and critics. He has created a heavily stylised film about the life of a nymphomaniac, complete with explicit sex scenes. The film was shown today as a one-day-only event across the United Kingdom. The film was given a live introduction from the Curzon Theatre in London, and after the film several members of the cast answered questions posed by the live audience and sent via Twitter. Amusingly, everyone in the Curzon Theatre was given a brown paper bag to wear over their head for a photoshoot, in order to mock the bad conduct of the film's star Shia LaBeouf at the film's premiere in Berlin.

Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard) finds a woman called Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) lying injured near his home. She refuses to let him call an ambulance, so he takes her home to let her clean herself up. She then proceeds to tell him about her life, divided into eight chapters based on objects she sees in his room. When she was 12 she had her first orgasm while seeing a vision of Messalina (the wife of the Emperor Claudius) and the Whore of Babylon. At 15 she lost her virginity to a boy called Jerome (Shia LaBeouf). At 17 she competed with her best friend B (Sophie Kennedy Clark) to see who could have sex with the most men during a train journey. That was the beginning of her life as a nymphomaniac.

Seligman listens to her stories with great interest. He points out that her life has been governed by Fibonacci numbers. For instance, when she lost her virginity Jerome thrust into her three times, then turned over and thrust into her a further five times before orgasming. Together they listen to Bach, a man who used Fibonacci numbers to compose music.

Note: The first 10 Fibonacci numbers are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34

I'm slightly disappointed, because I expected to see the uncut five and a half hour version of the film today. Instead of that a shortened four hour version was shown. Having said that, I can't imagine what's been cut out, because the film that I saw today was so complete. The main impression that the film has left with me is the brilliance of Stellan Skarsgard as an actor. I've been impressed by him ever since I first saw him in "Insomnia" (the original version), but in this film he's better than ever before.

Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

As much as I love watching new films, it's good to go back and rewatch my favourite films. This is definitely one of them. It's commonly regarded as Quentin Tarantino's best film. I'm not sure whether I agree with that. It's not that I disagree. I just can't pick a favourite. They're all classics, in their own way.

I made a lot of notes with things I wanted to write about this film, but since I'm certain I'll watch it again soon I'll save them till later. This time I'll just talk about John Travolta's character, Vincent Vega, going to the toilet. Or at least, that's what they call it in England. The Americans prefer to say "restroom", as if people went there to relax.

Vincent goes to the toilet three times during the film. I'll describe them in chronological order, not the order they're shown in the film. The first time is for a piss, the second time is for a shit -- I'm quoting him, he uses the P and S words, I don't -- and the third time he doesn't say, but it's obviously a shit. The last two times he's shown reading a Modesty Blaise novel on the toilet. This book is the pulp fiction after which the film is named. All three visits to the toilet have an impact on the story.

1. The first time he goes to the toilet Marsellus' wife Mia overdoses while he is out of the room.

2. The second time he goes to the toilet the restaurant robbery starts while he is away.

3. The third time he goes to the toilet Butch enters the house and is able to shoot him. Vincent is knocked back into the toilet by the blast and lies dead clutching the Modesty Blaise novel.

In addition, there are three other visits to the toilet by other characters, which have less impact. It's interesting that Vincent is present on all three occasions.

1. The unnamed fourth man is in the toilet when Vincent and Jules enter the apartment. He emerges with a gun in his hand, but when he shoots he misses.

2. The robber Yolanda says she wants to go to the toilet, which would have ended the Mexican standoff, but she's persuaded to hold it.

3. Mia goes to the toilet in the restaurant, which gives Vincent time to find something to say.

Is there a significance to these repeated visits to the toilet? They're too frequent to be accidental. I can't see any internal significance, but it's been suggested that Quentin Tarantino is paying homage to the 1989 film "God of Gamblers", which was also driven by repeated visits to the toilet.

Kill Bill (5 Stars)

In the past I reviewed "Kill Bill, Vol 1" and "Kill Bill, Vol 2" separately. I shan't do that any more. Even though they appeared in the cinema separately, a year apart, it's only one film. Quentin Tarantino originally intended it to be released as a four hour film, but the film studios didn't go along with this. In 2008 Quentin promised a four-hour single film version would be released on DVD "soon", with certain changes to make it more similar to the versions released in Japan, but now it's 2013 and there's still nothing. My guess is that he's still arguing with the studios.

This is a film that I have to keep watching. Sheer genius!

Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Let's get back to posts for my Five Star Month after yesterday's sentimental off-topic post. And let's get back to Quentin Tarantino, who is probably my favorite director.

The film is supposedly an homage to the literature genre called pulp fiction, short novels published on cheap paper in the 20th Century. Wikipedia dates these novels from 1896 to the 1950's. This must refer to America, because I know from memory that they were published longer in other countries. My father purchased booklets referred to as "pulp fiction" until the late 1970's. In Germany similar booklets were sold until the 1990's. The most common stories in American pulp fiction novels were detective stories. The more recent stories were American old west stories (in England) and vampire stories (in Germany).

Nevertheless, I can't imagine a story like the one in Tarantino's film being contained in any pulp fiction novel. It seems too complex to be presented to the mass market of the early 20th Century. In fact, the film tells several stories which are (seemingly?) unrelated, apart from featuring the same characters. Of all of Tarantino's films, none has left such a mark. Even though it only won one Oscar (best screenplay) after being nominated in seven categories, it's now considered one of the best and most influential films of all time.

The story that begins and ends the film is the tale of a robbery in a restaurant carried out by two small-time crooks, Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer). They are overpowered by the professional gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta), who have stopped off for a meal.

Jules and Vincent are sent to pick up a (presumably stolen) briefcase belonging to gang leader Marsellus Wallace. After surviving a shoot out Jules experiences a spiritual enlightenment that turns his life around.

Butch (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer hired by Marsellus to take a fall in the fifth round. Butch betrays his boss and makes a fortune by betting on himself to win. Wallace first sends Vincent to kill him, then attempts to take revenge personally.

Marsellus asks Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) to a restaurant. After going out Mia overdoses on cocaine and almost dies.

Click here to view the trailer. As with all of Tarantino's films it's a poor quality trailer, in this case too long and it fails to give any impression of what the film is about. All it does is show off the big stars.

Kill Bill, Vol 2 (5 Stars)

A lot of people I've spoken to were disappointed with the second volume of the Kill Bill films after watching the first. I think I understand the reason why. "Kill Bill, Vol 1" attracted a lot of interest from martial arts fans who weren't necessarily fans of Quentin Tarantino. They were drawn to the action scenes, in particular those that took place in Japan at the end of the first film. In comparison, the second film is low key. For those expecting a big climax the final showdown between the Bride and Bill probably seems flat. Let's just say that they don't get it. Whatever action there may or may not be in Tarantino's films, the real battles are fought with words. If you doubt this, look at the conversation between Col. Landa and the farmer at the beginning of "Inglourious Basterds". The Nazi colonel's words cut and thrust sharper than any knife.

This film is more chronological than the first film, but within the chronology it relies on flashbacks. In the first film she battles with Oren-Ishii and Vernita Green. In the second she battles with Budd, Elle Driver and Bill. We also see the Bride's training with the old master Pai Mei.

Click here to view the trailer. It's another poor quality trailer that shows too much of the film.