Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Bambi B (A) on August 26, 2005 at 07:21:51

In Reply to: Re: Kill Bill Vol. 2.... lost opportunity posted by patrickU on August 25, 2005 at 10:12:50:

Patrick,

I thought "Memento" was absolutely brilliant. It was amazing as the movie was constructed to resemble the fragmented chaos of Shelby, the main character's life. Because Shelby can't remember more than a few seconds, his life is a string of seemingly unrelated vignettes. The genius of Nolan- who I think shot this in less than one month- was the way he makes the audience assemble the pieces for Nolan- even though we're not sure at first what he's on about. We're intrigued by the events of a person for whom the World is almost entirely new every moment and want to finish the puzzle. By the time Shelby reveals his method of providing continuity to his life and this quest to find his wife' killer- that of tattoing clues on his body, I couldn't turn away!

I relate "Memento" to "Kill Bill" in the unconventionality of teh exposition, the sequencing of the scenes that alternately explain the history of each person Uma is after and also her own history. "KB" is extremely episodic, like "Mem" and I thought both are using a similar technique of sculpting the history out of the pieces so the "Current" action is clear. In both movies, important details are concealed to heighten the tension and make more dramatic revelations, but the skill of Nolan and Tarantino (and editing in both cases that should have important awards) is such we are completely drawn in and are willing to make the effort to figure it out.

Overall, I thought "Mem" was a bit more cohesive than both parts of "KB" considered together, as "Mem" was in one movie rather than two, did not use Chapter Titles, nor switching to a completely differnt form- Japanese-style animation- for a couple of chapters.

I'm sorry that tinear thinks I don't appreciate "KB" enough, when I do think these two (well, three) movies are really refreshing, bordering on genius and as tinear says, worth seeing again.

So effective, I lie awake at night worrying about evil Japanese schoolgirl killers and what I'd do if I met one and my memory was suddenly 5 seconds!

Cheers,

Bambi B