Pulp Fiction (1994)

directed by Quentin Tarantino

starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman

I'm a bit behind, due to a pair of tornado threats. Oh well - as I warned before, life happens. I'll catch up this weekend.

In the spirit of not-getting-more-behind, I started Pulp Fiction just before midnight last night. That was an interesting decision.

Quentin Tarantino had always been built up as a master of violence and gore, and this was supposedly nowhere more apparent than in Pulp Fiction. I had seen Inglorious Basterds in theaters without suffering any damage, so I shouldn't have been as anxious as I was going into this movie. Nevertheless, I could feel myself winding up with the tension in each scene, expecting this to be the one with the exploding head, or something, or whatever everyone was getting so worked up about. Chalk it up to sleep deprivation.

I was pleasantly surprised when I finally realized that this movie was not the ridiculous gore-fest the moral guardians had made it out to be. That, or Hollywood has thoroughly desensitized me. I guess I don't really mind, either way.

Anyway: it's not that this movie isn't violent. It clearly is. Yet its violence is part of a continuing balance between tension and humor, one that is all the more absurd and riveting for the vast quantities of blood shed. The title itself reveals its irreverence; the movie is quite aware of its sensational plot. This film is less about reality or society, and more about fiction itself. So no, the language and the violence aren't Solemn Indicators of Our Time or Something. They're tools turned up to eleven.

The nonlinear timeline is fun, the characters are developed, memorable and brilliantly acted, and the writing is just good. Roger Ebert pointed out that the dialogue has its own agenda, establishing characters and asking questions and enjoying language - not the slave to plot it usually is. "The characters in 'Pulp Fiction' are always talking, and always interesting, funny, scary, or audacious," he writes. "This movie would work as an audio book."(As it almost did for me, nervous and looking away at 1 in the morning.)

Now that I've faced the prospect of exploding heads and have come up empty, I long to watch this movie again. The more I read reviews and analysis - as I usually do after seeing a new movie - the more I think of specific scenes and specific dialogue that I already miss.

Oh, and before we go, did anyone else notice that in this massive ensemble cast, the only significant female roles were wives or girlfriends of main characters? Anyone? No? I should just shut up about this already?

Sigh.

Coming Up: Vertigo, Dial M for Murder, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Hamlet