Synopsis:

A reconstruction of Quentin Tarantino's own cut of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair that he himself screened at Cannes in 2004, and has since been screened sporadically since 2011 at the Tarantino-owned New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles.

Intentions:

The goal of this edit is very simple: to recreate Tarantino's own personal cut of The Whole Bloody Affair as closely as possible (sans intermission) using as much HD footage as possible. By all accounts, reports, and reviews from people who were able to see the film at either Cannes or The New Beverly, Tarantino's cut of The Whole Bloody Affair is nothing more than the uncut Japanese versions of volumes 1 and 2 stitched together by an intermission, and without the big reveal ending of the first or the opening recap of the second. It sounds simple enough to recreate, but for some reason, all of the other fanedits I've come across that claim to be recreations of The Whole Bloody Affair take creative liberties in some way with the film that keep them from truly being recreations of Tarantino's own version. Since that's the way I wanted to experience it, I took it upon myself to reconstruct the film using as much HD footage available to me as possible, while taking no creative liberties whatsoever.

Change List:

Using the Japanese uncut DVDs as a base, I matched them frame-for-frame using as much HD footage as possible. The US Blu-rays were my primary source for HD footage, with the full-color House of Blue Leaves sequence largely reconstructed using taas007's brilliant re-inked footage. After HD matching the DVDs, the film was reconstructed to replicate Tarantino's cut of the film as closely as possible. However, no intermission is included because I couldn't possibly recreate that in any faithful way. Beginning credits and end credits are also left unaltered from the Japanese versions for similar reasons, though I'm sure Tarantino's cut probably included revised end credits at least. Subtitles for the non-English dialog are included in the SubStationAlpha format in an effort to replicate Tarantino's usual subtitle style, and also to retain the different scene-dependent colors that are used on the Blu-ray. They are also included in basic SRT format for those who'd like to have more control over their subtitles. HOW DOES THIS VERSION DIFFER FROM OTHER WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR RECONSTRUCTIONS? 1) It matches the Japanese versions of volumes 1 and 2, and therefore Tarantino's own cut of TWBA, probably closer than any other edit out there. 2) House of Blue Leaves fight is mostly in HD with the help of taas007's footage (I've only seen one other WBA edit that incorporates this). 3) The reveal/cliffhanger ending of volume 1 has been removed. This is how Tarantino's cut is, and is probably the biggest change to how the film plays out as a whole. Some WBA edits choose to leave this in, and in doing so, cease to be Tarantino's version of The Whole Bloody Affair. It's fine to leave it in for your own personal edit of Kill Bill, but not when you're trying to recreate The Whole Bloody Affair. 4) This edit DOES NOT include the deleted scene featuring Michael Jai White as Da Moe. This was absent from Tarantino's cut that he screened, and I will never understand why so many editors choose to include it, especially if the goal is to recreate TWBA. 5) This version does not include any extended Pai-Mei flashbacks during the campfire scene. It's a neat idea, but again, not in Tarantino's version of the film.

Additional Notes:

As previously stated, this is largely the Japanese versions of volumes 1 and 2 recreated in as much HD as possible using the US blu-rays (and then reconstructed to match Tarantino's Whole Bloody Affair cut). Anything that wasn't available in HD was sourced from the Japanese DVDs and, therefore, is of significantly lower resolution. However, I tried to make the transitions between footage as seamless as possible. And in an effort to retain as much HD as possible, when a shot was extended in the Japanese version, I only added the missing frames from the Japanese DVD rather than replacing the whole shot. The following is a general list of changes from the US versions of 1 and 2: - Klingon proverb that opens the film has been replaced by the Japanese version's Fukasaku dedication, which I recreated in HD - "Vol. 1" has been removed from title card - Replaced 'EFX Group' credit with the 'I.G., Tokyo' credit from the Japanese version, which I also recreated in HD - Used alternate shots in Vernita Green's kitchen from the Japanese version - Extended anime sequence to match Japanese version, sometimes frame matching the blu-rays to the Japanese version's closer framing of specific shots. - Gogo's gutting shot has been slightly extended (from Japanese version) - House of Blue Leaves sequence has been extended in several places to match the Japanese version - The House of Blue Leaves fight, in addition to being extended, is also now in full color. This was done using a mixture of taas007's "re-inked" HD footage, a few shots from volume 2's end credit sequence, and the Japanese DVDs for the extended bits. - Shot of Sophie's other arm getting chopped off has been added (from Japanese version) - After The Bride says "And I want them all to know they'll all soon be as dead as O-Ren," the movie cuts to black and then goes straight into chapter six. This is almost exactly how Tarantino's cut is, with the only difference being an intermission that I didn't include because I couldn't possibly recreate that in any faithful way, so I didn't bother trying. - The Bride's drive to, and arrival at, Esteban's brothel has been extended as per the Japanese version * There is a shot on the way to the brothel that is only of the hood of The Bride's car as it's driving on a gravel road. For this, I used the blu-ray's alternate shot, which is almost identical to the Japanese version's. It basically appears to be a different portion of the exact same shot, and they were similar enough that I didn't feel that it would have been worth it to replace with DVD footage. Honestly, if I hadn't just mentioned it, I doubt anyone would have ever noticed.

Other Sources:

* Japanese Uncut DVDs of volumes 1 and 2 * US Blurays of volumes 1 and 2 * taas007's HD re-inked House of Blue Leaves sequence Regarding the re-inked HOBL sequence, per taas007: "The 1080p color output is created from a mix of the uncut Japanese DVD & the retail US Blu-Ray. The high-definition B&W Blu-Ray footage is supplemented with luma information from the DVD to recover blown highlights. Then the color from the DVD is upscaled using SuperResolution, added and luma levels adjusted shot-by-shot as the retail Blu-Ray has considerable filtering ontop of the B&W pass. In essence, it means the highlights are upscaled as they were completely blown in the retail Blu-Ray. The shot at [1:26:41] has an eight frame color data gap as the DVD cuts to a wide shot (and thus does not provide any usable color data) where the retail Blu-Ray stays with the closeup. The first half of the shot has been slowed down to 93.7% and picks up at 100% from where the Blu-Ray continues. No visible difference.

Special Thanks:

* taas007, whose excellent "re-inked" HD footage was used for the majority of the fight at the House of Blue Leaves. * TMY2C, whose list of changes for their preservation of the uncut version of volume 1 proved to be an invaluable resource while reconstructing the first half of the movie. * Thanks to Nick Kemp for providing the coverart. You can check out more of his work on Instagram @_nickkemp.