Tarantino's brilliant script both imitates and digs into pulp, uncovering meaning and richness

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2017)

When Quentin Tarantino turned pulp fiction into cinematic art, everything changed. The auteur's second feature film marked the beginning of the rise of independent film in the '90s, but more importantly, it proved that the gratuitous sex, drugs, cursing and violence associated with "low brow" fiction could in fact be utilized intelligently for a higher artistic purpose. Essentially, "Pulp Fiction" proved that gratuitous genre films can be provocative and have something to say.
"Pulp Fiction" is three connected short stories sandwiched between a fourth story cut in half and used as a prologue and epilogue. The brilliance of Tarantino's screenplay (with story help from Roger Avary) comes not merely from this structure, but the way these three distinct acts tie together in unexpected, poignant ways.
Act I, "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife," is the film's most memorable. The stylization, the quotable dialogue and Uma Thurman's tantalizing presence as Mia Wallace stand out as the film's hallmarks, even though when weighed on the whole, this act has the least to do with the weightier, more meaningful components of the film.
It begins by introducing us to Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), two black tie hit men working for Wallace (Ving Rhames) who are on their way to interrogate some young men who appear to have stolen a valuable briefcase of Wallace's. En route, they discuss such asinine things as the level of intimacy in a foot massage and what a McDonald's quarter-pounder is called in Paris, firmly routing the story in what appears to be meaningless drivel. The feel echoes Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" in a lot of ways. We then follow Vega in a classic "take out the boss's wife but don't lay a finger on her" story filled with romantic tension that goes majorly awry.
Act II, "The Gold Watch," introduces us to aging boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) as Wallace asks him to throw an upcoming match. We also learn about Butch's father's lucky gold watch, a family heirloom with a crazy history. There's a noir aspect to this part of the story, as Butch of course decides not to throw the fight and run away with his girl (Maria de Madeiros), but the reckoning we expect takes a series of unbelievable turns. As we make sense of the chaos, notions of good vs. bad luck and good vs. evil — or bad vs. ****ing evil — start to appear, even as it plays for pulp entertainment.
Act III, "The Bonnie Situation," takes Jules and Vincent down a peg as they too get "lucky" but then must deal with a mistake that requires the help of a fixer named Wolf (Harvey Keitel). The whole ordeal has Jules contemplating the notion of divine intervention, and we begin to see all the events in the film as being either about luck, coincidence, divine intervention, or any other number of ways you can look at twists of fortune.
By digging into the story and uncovering these deeper themes, Tarantino transforms everything else about the film from hollow pulp fiction to rich pulp fiction. He proves that meaning can come even from the perverted, salacious material. A notion of social responsibility even sneaks its way in by the end.
As a director, Tarantino impressively wields suspense in the form of anticipated violence. It has remained his calling card ever since. Nobody can craft a modern day Mexican standoff like he seems to effortlessly do in every film. He also delivers on that anticipation of violence in a satisfying way. He goes big, but he never goes so far as to completely rip us out of this story.
The greatest of great films always have unforgettable scenes that are somewhat inessential if not tangential to the story. Vincent and Mia twisting in the '50s-themed restaurant to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell;" Christopher Walken's cameo relaying the story of the gold watch to a young Butch —Tarantino's creative choices really pop out, which happens when you've crafted an excellent story.
Yet the literary quality that Tarantino brings to this curse-filled and violent film is it's crowning achievement. Even just the Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) scenes that bookend the film have so much to say about fate and free will, and the things that happen to Vincent whenever he takes a bathroom break with a pulp magazine seem to offer a meta-commentary on the entertaining distraction typically associated with these kinds of genre films.
"Pulp Fiction" really tore down walls for filmmakers exposed to and inspired by pulp and other "lesser" forms of entertainment who wanted to grow up and make art. It certainly gave Tarantino an audience to keep telling these kinds of stories. From spaghetti westerns to kung fu movies, he finds a depth and richness to them and channels that into his own storytelling. "Pulp Fiction" happens to be his finest example as well as one of his first.
~Steven C
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