[Versions] -Reviews- Volume 1 Asian/Japanese Cut

Here is a review of Asian Version of KILL BILL.

http://www.japattack.com/japattack/film/killbill.html

No spoiler.

A lot about connections to Japanese movies.

One one hand, this review is worrying me about what i’m fearing about Kill Bill being only a “greatest hits” of Asian cinema. On the other hand, what reassures me is the reviewer comparing Jackie Brown with Douglas Sirk. Because if there’s a thing that Jackie Brown is DEFINITELY NOT it’s a Douglas Sirk movie: this is not emphatic and this is not a tear-jerking melodrama. It’s moving but not the melodramatic way. The thing is, this review might be how european critics who loved Jackie Brown for its more mature tone will react to the movie.

That review isnt that great. Its not telling the readers anything new. Just pointing out the obvious references to the films and directors QT was influenced by.



QT is not hiding the fact Kill Bill is an amalgam of 60s and 70s Exploitation films. He said at the very beginning it was going to be “30 years of Grindhouse films in a duckpress”. Uma wears Bruce Lee’s Game of Death tracksuit, I mean that shows right there hes not covering anything up. This movie is for film geeks who love MOVIES. Not just Kung fu films, but CINEMA from all over the world. If people just realize that, it would save them alot of breath.



As for Jackie Brown, the reviewer doesnt know much about film if hes comparing a Douglas Sirk melodrama to a Tarantino/Elmore Leonard crime caper film. It has emotion in it, but its nothing like a Sirk film.

I don’t agree with Mr.Toothpick because there are some new information and not-obvious references in the review.

I don’t think you would realize about the Yagyuu stuff by just watching KILL BILL.

There is no audio commentary in theaters. :wink:

The japanese release will be on the 25th of October.



I hope somebody can view BOTH, and post some kind of comparison…

you know any release dates for european countries? like holland and what not?

"Even though Miramax has gone through the trouble of digitally tinting all the blood from red to black to appease the MPAA, the studio still seems worried that such violence could upset US critics."



Is he talking about the black and white or is the blood just black in the asian version?



And the Kinji Fukasaku dedication isn’t in the american version.



I’m interested in hearing what the differences are in the two versions. I might have to buy the Region 3 DVD when it comes out.

There is a tribute to Charles Bronson, Kinji Fukasaku, Chang Cheh, and Lo Lieh at the end of the credits. Seems like that was it though there might have been one or two other names there.



Also note in the film prints of Kill Bill that studios are now putting these (see this weeks Ebert answer man column) digital stamps in movie, that are these 5-6 roundish red circles that appear for less than a second… some prints have several of these appearing, others only one… I’m not happy at all about this… as in the film prints I’ve seen, these digital stamps have all been in the House of Blue Leaves sequence and are very visible and momentarily take me out of the movie.

Those little red circles might be for the projectionist. They will code the film in that way so it will let the projectionist know when it is time to switch reels. They can usually do it so cleanly that people in the audience are not aware that it’s even happening. You’re not supposed to notice it. It’s amazing that you did.



(@



AJCrane

Actually the red dots I’m referring to are mentioned here:

<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man … ert05.html”>http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert05.html</LINK_TEXT>



Question: Have you been seeing spots when you go to the movies? It may not be your eyes! More than 20 years ago Kodak devised a system called “Cap Code” designed to uniquely mark film prints so that pirated copies could be traced to the source. Cap Code uses very tiny dots that flash occasionally but are so small that the average viewer almost never notices them.



Well, something new and horrible has been introduced on some studios’ prints. Sort of a giant picture-marring version of Cap Code dots: Very large reddish brown spots that flash in the middle of the picture, usually placed in a light area. They flash in various patterns throughout a given reel while other reels of the same film may have none at all.



A Kodak spokesman who helped devise the original Cap Code says this is not the work of his company but theorizes that it may be intended to be more visible on the murky compressed copies that get posted to the Internet where the original, very subtle Cap Code may be difficult to discern.



On one movie technical forum they are referring to this new system as “Crap Code” or “Cap Code on Steroids.” There are reports coming in of viewers complaining of the spots on the pictures. While theaters strive to keep prints free of dirt and scratches, Hollywood starts sending out prints with built-in marring. Among the films known to be afflicted are “Ali,” “Behind Enemy Lines,” “28 Days Later” “Freddy vs. Jason” and “Underworld,” probably many others as well.



Steve Kraus, Chicago





Answer: You’re the expert projectionist at our Chicago critics’ screening room, with a fierce love of high-quality film, so I can imagine how upset you are. What’s amusing about Crap Code and the other efforts to catch pirates is that most of the thieves are apparently industry insiders. A recent news story says studios may even be discouraged from distributing advance DVDs of their Oscar contenders to academy members, because some of these movies quickly find their way to the Web.

Has anyone found any proper Asian reviews yet? I for one would like to know of any mention of the apparent differences, especially the House of Blue Leaves fight.

I found this on the imdb message board :



From what I’ve gathered, there are also some editing differences between the U.S. and Asian versions too, e.g. in the Asian version of the trunk interrogation scene, we can see the Bride cutting Sofie’s second arm off and throwing it over her shoulders. (And I love it as Uma does it in such a nonchalant manner.)





We see Sofies arm getting cut off - cool !

[quote]I found this on the imdb message board :



From what I’ve gathered, there are also some editing differences between the U.S. and Asian versions too, e.g. in the Asian version of the trunk interrogation scene, we can see the Bride cutting Sofie’s second arm off and throwing it over her shoulders. (And I love it as Uma does it in such a nonchalant manner.) We see Sofies arm getting cut off - cool ![/quote]

I hope when the DVDs come out, we can see the Asian version as well as the US version on one DVD.

[quote]


I hope when the DVDs come out, we can see the Asian version as well as the US version on one DVD.
[/quote]
He better release a Japanease one in america. Holy shit. If that had special featres too it would be four kill bill dvd’s

Gotta love directors cuts but knowing how marketing goes, they won’t release that one until 6 months after the crap one is out on dvd… Thanks MPAA ::slight_smile:

[quote]Gotta love directors cuts but knowing how marketing goes, they won’t release that one until 6 months after the crap one is out on dvd… Thanks MPAA  ::slight_smile:[/quote]

What crap one? That’s stupid.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031023woa9.htm

[quote]http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031023woa9.htm[/quote]

Thanks for that. Well “The Americans just can’t take as much as the Japanese” I guess. But what about the rest of the world? I hope that version comes on DVD. Full colour Blue Leaves Fight? Longer anime sequence?? arggghh

another look at the asian version (please keep discussion about differences in the other topic, this is for reviews and people who’ve seen it)



Chiba Hakujin & White Guy in Kobe lets us in on KILL BILL VOL 1 Japanese Style!

[quote]another look at the asian version (please keep discussion about differences in the other topic, this is for reviews and people who’ve seen it)



Chiba Hakujin & White Guy in Kobe lets us in on KILL BILL VOL 1 Japanese Style![/quote]

Thanks again. BTW, reviewing the Asian version incorporates talking about the differences.