Pulp Fiction

So now we continue our belated excursion into the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino, a director I've either avoided or just not gotten around to watching. Reservoir Dogs was a solid if unremarkable genre pic, but Pulp Fiction is something else entirely. Although flawed in certain areas, on the whole it's deserving of all the praise it gets, for its well-constructed narrative, ensemble of (mostly) interesting characters, memorable set-pieces - and of course, it's razor-sharp dialogue.

To try and explain the plot of the movie is a bit of a burden, but we can try anyway. Vincent and Jules (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) are two semi-competent hitmen sent by crime boss Marcellus (Ving Rhaimes) to recover a mysterious suitcase from a gang of low-rent crooks. During the course of this Jules experiences an event which he interperets as a miracle, and a sign from God to change his life. Vincent meanwhile is assigned to take Marcellus's sexy wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out on a date, but gets into major trouble when she overdoses on cocaine. Marcellus also has to deal with Butch (Bruce Willis), a washed-up boxer who refuses to throw a fight for his boss, kills his opponent in the ring, and risks his life trying to recover a valuable gold watch. And then there's the framing device, where a would-be Bonnie and Clyde (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) attempt to rob a diner where Jules and Vince just happen to be chowing down. And that's barely half the cast list, which also involves a drug pusher and his piercing-obsessed wife (Eric Stoltz and Rosanna Arquette), a duo of rednecks (Peter Greene and Duane Whitaker) who go Deliverance on Marcellus and Butch ("Bring on the Gimp!"), an obnoxious semi-friend of Vince's with good taste in coffee (played by who else but QT himself), and a "clean-up" expert (Harvey Keitel) sent to fix one of Vince and Jules' more egregious errors.

So there's a lot going on in this film, that much is obvious. There is undoubtedly a lot of clutter going on, and the movie goes off on tangents which don't contribute a great deal to the story. Still, the narrative manages to work itself out, and Tarantino clearly establishes himself as a talent, both behind the camera and as a writer (although how much he wrote versus collaborator Roger Avery remains in dispute).

The film's non-linear plot isn't in and of itself particularly novel, but the way it's handled certainly is. Tarantino proves again that he's an exceptional writer, providing not only well-written dialogue but a clever narrative construction. Although not all of the threads tie directly together, all of these characters clearly exist in the same Universe, their temporal and physical relations aside. In particular, Butch's sequence is a marvel, a seemingly trivial incident - Butch's ditzy girlfriend leaving a prized watch behind in their apartment - building from its seeming triviality to a major set piece, Butch accidentally meeting with other characters and then leading to a gruesome denouement in Maynard's pawn shop. This is brilliant screenwriting and story construction, and if the movie had nothing else going for it, this scene would alone be worth watching it for.

That's not to say the film is perfect. On a few occasions, as with Christopher Walken's cameo (which exists solely to provide backstory) and arguably Harvey Keitel's lengthy appearance, does he get carried away, but these sequences are compelling and enjoyable in and of themselves, despite their seeming lack of function in the story. Tarantino does occasionally indulge his need for homage and movie references, but except for the dinner sequence (where they're excusable given the context) they're mostly subtle and fit into the story rather than standing out as blatant movie buff moments. The movie does stumble a bit with its ending, which for me strikes a false note, but up until that point it's a near-flawless work of narrative art, for which QT deserves the highest praise.

The cast is top-down excellent. John Travolta makes Vince a fairly likeable guy in an odd series of situations, although he doesn't have the tough edge the character probably needs. More intense is Samuel L. Jackson, who sinks his teeth into the part of the menacing and contemplative Jules. Bruce Willis gives one of his best performances as Butch, carrying the middle third of the film perfectly. Ving Rhaimes' Marcellus ("I'm gonna go medeval on your ass!") is a wonderfully menacing bad guy. Uma Thurman is sexy and extraordinarily charming as Mia, and one almost wishes she had more to do. Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel give scene-stealing cameo appearances which makes their seeming superfluity easy to overlook. Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer are rather wasted and Tarantino is rather annoying in his little part, but they're the minority.

Pulp Fiction is simply a marvel, a wonderful piece of pop art that has stood the test of time. I'm leery about diving further into Tarantino's body of work, and the upcoming Inglorious Basterds looks like shit (judging from the trailer, previews and the screenplay), but even if I never enjoy another QT film I'll at least have this one to come back to.

Rating: 8/10 - Highly Recommended