‘Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair’ Trailer: Quentin Tarantino’s Greatest Film Will Finally Go Wide in Its Ideal Form
Three months ago, we lamented the fact that Quentin Tarantino‘s best film — the 258-minute Cannes cut of “Kill Bill” known as “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” — was impossible to see unless you happened to be one of the lucky people living in or visiting Los Angeles on the sporadic occasions when Tarantino would screen his personal print. But our prayers have been answered: On December 5, “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” will get a nationwide theatrical release!
The release from Lionsgate will include 70mm and 35mm presentations in some markets, allowing fans to see “The Whole Bloody Affair” in celluloid purist Tarantino’s ideal form. And this “Kill Bill” will be even bloodier and more maximalist than even the Cannes cut, since Tarantino is adding a never-before-seen anime sequence that brings the running time up to 271 minutes.
The “Whole Bloody Affair” version of “Kill Bill” is a clinic in how a few editorial changes can completely alter the emotional impact of a film. [Warning: spoilers ahead.] The complete version doesn’t just slap the two “volumes” of “Kill Bill” as they were originally released together; Tarantino also makes minor changes that shift the dramatic emphasis in profound ways.
The most significant alteration is the removal of the final moment of “Kill Bill: Volume 1,” in which Bill (David Carradine) reveals that the Bride’s (Uma Thurman) daughter is still alive. By taking just this line out of the movie, Tarantino delays the revelation so that we learn of the Bride’s daughter’s fate at the same moment she does — creating a moment of immense power around four hours into the movie that benefits from the cumulative effect of everything that has built up to it.
“Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” will also be presented unrated, which means all the gore of the Cannes cut will be restored to its full color glory. Seen in this form, “Kill Bill” is the ultimate “more is more” movie, a film stacked from beginning to end with every pleasure and every emotion that the cinema has to offer — it’s violent, funny, sweet, nasty, poignant, contemplative, frenetic, pulpy, and philosophical, and as we wrote back in August, if it’s not the best movie anybody ever made it’s certainly the most movie anybody ever made.
It’s hard to think of a better early Christmas present for cinephiles than this long-awaited release. Check out the trailer below.
