A classic of black and bloody humour

Rating: 9/10 (11 October 2002)

In modern day LA a set of barely-connected gangsters, corrupt failures and their hangers-on go about their daily business.
A film with a lot to answer for. Certainly it took director Quentin Tarantino from cult director to magazine cover star and created a raft of imitators. It put a few noughts on the pay cheque of Samuel L Jackson and brought John Travolta back from B movie hell.
Like Star Wars it is difficult to know if you are reviewing the movie or the hype. This movie lived on word-of-mouth. They didn't need to hype it - it grew from a modest budget black comedy to being the movie that everyone was talking about.
The title says it all "Pulp Fiction." That means those cheap novels that you read on airplanes or on the beach: full of characters that you know by heart, stories that you have heard before. This movie makes fun of a few of these characters.
While this is a black comedy, the film world has been blacker, but it has never been funnier. I'd have never have thought that bringing a drug overdose back from the dead would make me laugh, but it does. A failed attempt at homicide make me laugh, but it does. I could on a while longer.
And just when you are getting clever-clever and think you have it all figured out off the film shoots of in another direction. Amazing. This is a must see twice movie - there is so much little detail you miss first time around - things that make what happens later clearer.
I am always worried about morals. Few movie viewers are. They are more worried about being entertained. Just look at bullying you see on the playground, not at the act, but the bystanders (male and female) laughing , joking and enjoying.
Whether I like it or not Tarantino forces me to be one of these people - and there are times I don't like it. He is more restrained than in Reservoir Dogs (another great movie) but people are brought on to be carried out - if you see what I mean.
There is only one scene that is totally without justification. The scene where Travolta drives while high on drugs - he should have been shown have at least had a near-accident. But he just cruises along without a problem.
The thing I notice is that the film is slipping in the IMDb ratings. I know why. The film has become overblown and over discussed. This isn't To Kill A Mockingbird or Shindler's List with social history to support it past its initial afterglow.
We have even seen a TV series - The Sopranos - that is just as good and which borrows a few of its tricks.
I learned nothing new about my life (or how to live it) from watching Pulp - not even from repeat viewings - but it is a brilliant piece of cinema that cannot be ignored, just as long as you take it as simple entertainment and remember the title at all times.