Kill Bill: Volume 1

Kill Bill: Volume 1 is an American film by director Quentin Tarantino from 2003, shot in English and Japanese. It was made as the first half of a single story: the original whole ran to more than four hours, so it was split into two parts. The second part came out in April 2004, and the combined version is titled Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair. The main character is a woman known as The Bride, played by Uma Thurman. The film follows her revenge on the people who tried to kill her, working through the names on her list. Uma Thurman spent three months preparing for the role, learning martial arts, sword fighting and Japanese. The fight scenes were led by Yuen Woo-ping, who built them on traditional Hong Kong action film methods instead of digital effects. A Japanese sword stands at the centre of the film. Sonny Chiba, a student of Mas Oyama and a holder of the 4th dan in Kyokushin, plays the sushi restaurant owner and former sword maker Hattori Hanzo, and also taught the actress to handle a sword. Gordon Liu, who trained Hung Gar in his youth at Lau Cham's school, plays Johnny Mo, leader of the Crazy 88, the personal army of the yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii. The Bride's yellow tracksuit, helmet and motorcycle are a direct tribute to Bruce Lee and his film Game of Death. The film won an MTV Movie Award in the Best Fight category.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

Shaw Brothers Studio took part in the production, listed among the production companies alongside A Band Apart and Super Cool ManChu. The ShawScope logo in the opening titles and the sudden camera rushes (crashing zoom) refer to this studio's martial arts films. The film also acknowledges the Japanese Lady Snowblood (1973) and the violence of the anime Golgo 13: The Professional (1983). The animated passage about O-Ren Ishii's past was directed by Kazuto Nakazawa and produced by the studio Production I.G. The character Hattori Hanzo takes his name from Sonny Chiba's role in the Japanese series Shadow Warriors from the nineteen-eighties.

Fight choreography

Choreography and fight consulting were by Yuen Woo-ping, son of the martial arts film actor Yuen Siu-tien and a graduate of the China Drama Academy under master Yu Jim-yuen. The Matrix (1999) brought him to Hollywood, the Wachowskis hired him after they were impressed by Fist of Legend (1994). Sonny Chiba, also the film's kenjutsu adviser, taught the actresses sword work. The fight with the Crazy 88 was shot over eight weeks, six weeks longer than planned. The blood was done practically, using methods from Chinese films of the nineteen-seventies: splatters and bursts of blood were created with fire extinguishers and condoms, without computer effects. Tarantino shot the fight in black and white so the film would not get an NC-17 rating.

People and martial arts

• Quentin TarantinoDirector
• Yuen Woo-pingFight choreographer
• Uma ThurmanActor — as The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo)· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Gordon LiuActor — as Johnny Mo· Kung Fu (portrays the art on screen)
• Sonny ChibaTechnical advisor· Koryu Bujutsu

Awards

• Won · MTV Movie Awards, Best Fight