Bill Of Wrongs

Is it just me or are there other people who don’t get this whole cult of Quentin Tarantino?

BBC2 broadcast the first part of Kill Bill tonight. Having managed to avoid it all this time, I began to watch out of curiosity’s sake. Not a wise move.

I’d seen Reservoir Dogs when it was screened at the London Film Festival back in the early 1990s, before all the hoopla started. Tarantino was present and got up to speak before the film ran. Obviously the City on Fire connection hadn’t been made yet.

Watching Pulp Fiction was only enlivened when a guy in the audience called a friend on his mobile to tell him about the film. Spending a Christmas in LA, I saw Jackie Brown at the Burbank mall and fell asleep twice.

By then I realised I was watching films about films. Tarantino wasn’t making movies based on any life experiences but what he had watched when he worked in a video rental store.

What I saw of Kill Bill was a film made of films. It was QT’s favourite clips from his favourites. It was like a mix tape. Actually, it was worse. It was the film equivalent of a freaking Jive Bunny single.

I suppose it ended bloodily. I went back to watching Kingdom of Heaven.