Masterpiece of Non-Linear Filmmaking Centering on Darker Subculture

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2010)

Toward the beginning of the film, Bruce Willis' face appears inside the sleaziest of bars in the San Fernando Valley. But instead of the self-confident and wise-cracking characters he played in "Moonlighting" and "Die Hard", he dons a very different mask. We notice Willis is not speaking but listening. Listening to a voice of authority, played by a lesser-known actor, Ving Rhames as some kind of underworld kingpin. And then we understand. Willis is listening to a superior. Willis nods and speaks very little; he is subservient to this voice, and the Willis we have come to know is no longer Willis but a pawn in a much larger game in which he does not wield much power. This is one of my favorite scenes with Willis, showing his range as an actor and being able to descend from higher stardom into the lower depths of humility. We learn that Willis is being paid off for some kind of act. The envelope containing the payoff money is presented by the kingpin, whose face is yet unseen. Just as he is about to hand the goods over, he immediately jerks it back. Willis does not try to grab the payment but sits patiently waiting for the superior to hand him the goods. Willis knows he cannot have the payment until the superior is ready and willing to give it to him. The gesture is a symbolic reminder of who is really in power, and it's not Willis.
Willis' humble scene captures well the flavor of the entire film called "Pulp Fiction", a masterpiece of sub-culture drama but definitely not for all tastes. Characters and story are all spontaneous. These people live on the edge on the darker periphery of American reality. Instead of going to football matches, they kill people in sporting events. Instead of having drinks at the Hilton, they overdose on intense psychedelics. And if they aren't careful, they may end up either on the business end of some hit man's .45 or in a remote dungeon where people are into S & M. This is certainly not for those whose favorite movie is "the Sound of Music" and their favorite music is sung by Doris Day.
Samuel Jackson and John Travolta play two hit men in service to the kingpin underworld lord. But they never discuss their missions. Instead they banter about all kinds of irrelevant subjects, like the names for American burgers on the menu in Paris. This chit-chat is a breath of fresh air, and probably a lot more realistic, than other films in which characters are discussing "the plot" ad infinitum. The hit men's stories intersect with another plot line involving Bruce Willis, a boxer who is on the take from the same underworld lord to throw a fight. But these are just the bare bones. Throughout the film, the hit men, the boxer and the kingpin weave an intricate tapestry of plots and subplots told in a non-linear style.
Part of the beauty of Pulp Fiction that ranks it one of the most innovative of films is that it collates as a movie puzzle. Events occur out of sequence rather than told in a straight linear fashion. Scenes happen in the middle of the film that are the end of the story. The first and last scenes of the whole film, which are in my opinion the best, are the middle of the story, not the end. And yet the events of the last half of the first scene are not shown until the very end which turns out to be the last scene of the movie, but not the last scene of the story.
Prior to Pulp Fiction, I don't know if there existed any American movies daring enough to pull such cinematic misdirection and make it work. Some European filmmakers may have done this, but rarely such an innovative structure has occurred in American feature films. And yet, Tarantino makes it work, and you understand by film's end how all the pieces fit together. The collation is similar to Tarantino's first production, Reservoir Dogs, but he takes those innovations to the next degree.
Because of the subject matter, not everyone will be able to enjoy Pulp Fiction. But I think that's a mark of a great film, which is ironically what Hollywood studio executives try to avoid. Hollywood wants everyone to like a film, not just some people. But the price paid for this curtailing to everyone's tastes is a marked lack of visionary works. Luckily, someone saw the value of "Pulp Fiction" and gave it the funding to allow it to happen. The result is one of the most tantalizing of cinematic experiences but not the kind of movie you'll give your grandmother.