An enduring classic

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2006)

Pulp Fiction is one of the great films of all time, one that will endure from generation to generation, each finding new things to admire. When it was first released twelve years ago, it was liked mostly for its "post-modernism," its exhibition of the superficiality and meaningless or life, and its own obvious fictionality. There's a word in post-modern vocabulary that describes this vision of the world -- "simulacra." Life is made up merely of fleeting and empty images. And Tarantino finds innumerable ingenious ways of pointing out that this is just a film -- but that life is like a film too.
This all remains true, but repeated viewings have shown me how richly Tarantino develops this theme. The film is littered with little puzzles that are *meant* not to make sense, deliberately destroying our "suspension of disbelief." To cite just two examples, why is the wealthy and powerful Marcellus walking through a bad part of Los Angeles with a bag of groceries? Why does even Marcellus bend over backwards to appease the modestly-incomed Jimmy, Tarantino's character, just because his wife -- a nurse -- will find a dead body in the garage and ask for a divorce? (I have a possible solution: it's because Tarantino remains the director of the film, even within the film. He's in charge.) One could go on and on. This film is hilariously funny, superbly edited, brilliantly acted, richly knowledgeable about the history of film -- just end to end brilliant. There was a time when I thought I was being quite a "purest" by saying that I preferred Reservoir Dogs, which is great in its more limited way. But Pulp Fiction, in its breadth and ambition, is Tarantino's masterpiece, and up there with the very greatest films of all time.