Question: During Beatrix's fight scene with Pai Mei, she reaches for his throat. He shows something silver from his mouth. What is in his mouth and what is it an homage to?
Answer: It's a piece of white lotus blossom. The wuxia film "Fist of the White Lotus" is the one where Pai Mei acquires his skills and power.
Answer: Anyone? The last 4 times I've seen this movie it's bugged the hell out of me. I can't find a good answer anywhere online.
Question: Why did Elle kill Budd? Was it really just to get her hands on Kiddo's sword? or was it more to it? As poor as he was seems like she could have just offered him a small amount of money for it. Why kill him?
Chosen answer: The way she talks to Budd as he lies dying, seems to indicate that she has disliked and hated him for years, plus the fact that she feels that he was not "worthy" of killing Kiddo (seeing how Kiddo was a fantastic warrior, while Budd is an alcoholic hick). However, it would be difficult for her to get close enough to kill him earlier, as he would not buy any excuse why she just came visiting. But when Budd actually invites her over, she gets a chance to get back at him, and in the same while take the credit for killing the Bride and retrieving her Hanzo sword for Bill. Vengeance and personal gain in one swoop.
Question: Is there a reason that Bill didn't mention anything to The Bride at their final meeting about her killing his brother? I would think he would be a little upset when Elle told him his brother died at the hands of the Black Mamba.
Chosen answer: Considering the condition his brother's life was in, he may have considered it a mercy killing. In any event, there was no reason to ask her as he already knew why she killed him, and as his brother said she deserved her revenge. Bill most likely accepted that his brother got what he deserved, like the rest of her victims.
Answer: Considering Elle told him she killed Beatrix and then the latter shows up, proving Elle lied, he probably figured the rest was a lie too. Plus some time passed. Elle could have tried to contact Bill and he realised what happened.
Question: Does Bill know that Elle poisoned Pei Mai? Pei Mai was Bill's master, and I highly doubt he would have approved of him being murdered in such a disrespectful way, but Elle was still on good terms with Bill which is evident from their phone conversation.
Answer: Since the film itself does not answer this question, any answer would be speculation at best. It is highly unlikely that Elle would tell Bill about it-she also murdered his brother, and lied about that, too-and since she was the only witness, he couldn't have heard it from anyone else.
Question: Specifically HOW would Pai Mei have taught the "five point palm exploding heart technique" to the Bride? We all know she trained with him for months. Bill (and the film generally) makes that very clear. Could someone simplify this for me?
Answer: It is obvious they practiced this on anything but a live person. See the look in her eyes when she completes the move on Bill? She's like, "yes, OK, it works" even though I'm sure she implicitly trusted Pei Mei, she had never seen the technique on a real person. So likely they would have used anything from a piece a wood to a dummy. Also she trained with Pei Mei for years not months. Remember Bill telling her not to sass back at least for the "first year or so till he warms up to her" - they had lots of time together.
Answer: The same way he would have taught her any other dangerous or esoteric techniques. Most likely, he would show her the precise way to position the fingers, precisely when and where to strike and then have her practice until she could do it correctly in an instant. In addition, a training aid such as a dummy would also help her know exactly how much force to use, as well as letting Pai Mei judge whether or not she did everything correctly and correct any flaws. But it really is impossible to do anything but speculate on this, as techniques like this and the teachings thereof are deliberately not shown to the general public (if they even exist, that is), and so the only ones who know how to teach this will not give away any hints or reveal any special training methods they use.
Question: Is there any way of finding out how far the Bride had to walk to get back to Budd's trailer after she got out of the coffin?
Answer: She was buried in Barstow and Budd's trailer looks to be nestled in the Cady Mountains, about 30 miles east.
Answer: Sadly, it seems that this information is unknown, as there is no mention of it in the film, nor any interviews with Quentin Tarantino, as I presume it wasn't deemed important enough to mention.
Question: There is a humorous scene in which we cut to a classroom and Beatrix's name is called, to which she responds she is present. I thought it was funny, but what was it's significance? Where was it from? Was it an homage shot, or just a joke?
Answer: It is just to show that Beatrix Kiddo really is the name of "The Bride". It would not have the same effect if the teacher had called the name and you would see an unknown little girl answer.
Answer: It's homage to the Woody Allen movie, Annie Hall. He plays a comedy writer who reminiscences about his childhood classmates. In the flashback, he is his adult self in a classroom of children.
Question: Why would Kiddo sneak up, ninja-style, on Budd when she had confronted all the other opponents face-to-face? He seemed the least formidable and it didn't seem to match with her other warrior battles.
Answer: She approached each foe in a manner appropriate to the situation. Budd was in a trailer surrounded by open land and total visibility, and he also knew she was coming, so sneaking up, quietly and unobtrusively, made sense. The real question is why, after taking so many precautions and being so quiet, she flung the door open and charged in as noisily and vulnerably as possible.
Question: Does anyone have any idea in what country Pai Mei's home and training facility are supposed to be?
Answer: Pai Mei's home and training facility are located in China, which is likely why he shows so much disdain for the Bride's talents in the Japanses art of the samurai.
Question: What's having with the DVD releases of this film and the original? I've heard numerous reports that there are going to be special editions of both DVD's released soon, so I'm loathe to buy the feature-light ones that are out at the moment, but so far nothing has been announced. Also, is there going to be a box set released? Lastly, is the version that Tarantino screened at a recent film festival (both volumes edited together into one movie) ever going to be released?
Answer: I recently heard talk on a reliable website that a Kill Bill Special edition was going to be released later this year and that an announcement should be made soon but nothing more definite than that. The main reason for the long delay was that Tarantino wanted to re-edit the two films together to make the one film (as you mentioned) and then have it re-released. As for what the special edition will contain or even if it will be released as one film is anyone's guess at this point.
Question: When Beatrix punches out of the coffin and goes up to the surface, how was she able to get out so quickly?
Answer: As she punched out of the coffin the dirt on top of the coffin was not completely settled and there were pockets of air that allowed the ground to stay loose. When she completely broke free of the coffin the dirt around her caved in on the coffin which allowed her a faster escape to the surface since most of the dirt was moving in the opposite direction.
Question: I really don't get the whole five point exploding heart thing. How does that work? I know it's not supposed to be realistic. But if your heart really explodes after five steps, could you not just stand still? Or get a wheelchair? Can anyone explain what it's supposed to do, its origins (or just Tarantino's reason behind it) and if it is logical in any way?
Answer: There are an infinite stories about ancient martial artists who can kill in unique ways, particularly with light touches or pressure points - Tarantino is just playing off these legends. As Bill proves, it is possible to survive for a while by not taking steps (he doesn't die until he stands up and walks away) but the strain of rolling a wheelchair under one's own power would probably serve the same result, so one would be forced to rely on others for any kind of movement. The strain of maintaining such minimal action for a any period of time would also be telling on a person, and it would still perform the function that the attacker wanted: to stop the person from fighting. Tarantino is using it to show that the Bride knows some things that Bill does not, probably because she was a better/more respectful student, and this strike represents the ultimate in Pai Mei's knowledge. As to the logical aspect, there is a window of a fraction of a second in every heartbeat: if one strikes in that window, one can stop the heart. So, theoretically, it's possible, and who can say?
Answer: It looks like a bottle of Tres Generaciones Añejo, a Mexican tequila.
Sierra1 ★