Pulp Fiction

For sure that we all have heard about Pulp fiction, possibly the most famous Taratino's film. It was released in 1994 and made a great impression on the audience. Consequently the film won some awards, but...do we all know what the film is about? Why is so famous and different? And why is going to be one of the most remembered films in the history?

 At the beginning of the film, Tarantino offers us a definition of what could be the film about:

      In Spain the title wasn't translated, on the one hand because Pulp Fiction is a very eye-catching title and it would have been a pity to lose it, and on the other hand because of the translation difficulties given that it reflects a cultural English aspect. Something like "literatura barata", that shouldn't be taken too much seriously, but like an entertainment. This fact conflicts with the extremely deep and important topics that the film deals with: drugs, strong feelings, death, bloody scenes, etc. 

      The storyline consists of 4 different short-stories related to each other, in which the leads cross their paths in a dramatic way. It is a circular storyline. What does it mean? The film starts and ends in the same narrative moment, the same scene, same place, same time, but told from the point of view of different characters. That’s important, because until you don’t watch the last scene you can’t imagine how the film is going to end. 

      The plot is divided in 4 chapters, let’s say, and we have 4 groups of characters. The main characters of the first and last scene are "Pumpkin" and "Honey Buney", an in-love couple of third rate thieves, with obvious mental problems, planning how to rob in the restaurant where they are. Then, the film focuses on Vincent and Jules, a pair of professional killers which give the impression of being cold and insensitive, but that afterwards demonstrate they also have feelings. The next part is about the relationship between Vincent and Mia, his gangster’s wife, a weird and heroin addict young woman looking for some fun with Vincent. They stage one of the most famous dance scenes in the story of cinema:  

      While he is with Mia, Vincent reveals his insecurity in human relationships and his sense of responsibility when Mia suffers a heart attack caused by the heroin. As the films advances, Tarantino makes the lead characters evolve, develop feeling and change their minds, fact that gives the film a credible plot. Shows the innermost thought of Jules and Vincent: their doubts, feelings, inner reactions, etc.  He doesn’t focus only on the killers side, but also on the human one.

      After a part where Bruce Willis (in the role of a boxer searched by Marsellus Wallace for having broken a promise) escaped with her young lady after saving the life  of Marsellus as a payment of the debt, the plot returns to Jules and Vincent, eating breakfast in a coffee shop and discussing about Jules's decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, we see "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the movie's first scene. And here’s when the film goes back to the beginning in order to end.

      As the films goes by, it is difficult for the spectator to know what is the next movement of the film going to be. The story-line “begins” and “ends” because Jules and Vincent have to take back a valuable briefcase to Marcellus, but the containing of this briefcase is never revealed. It means, this briefcase is an excuse to start the film, a “Macguffin”, an expression created by Hitchcock and very common in his films.

      Talking about the main characteristics of the film, Pulp fiction is not en exception, and shares with all the films of Tarantino typical features such us, the great quantity of blood, hard-to-swallow scenes, deaths, guns and katanas, and a contempt for life also seen in Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2. All these elements make the difference between a Tarantino’s film and the rest. 

      To sum up, this is not the typical gangsters films, it doesn’t have a normal plot or storyline, it will disconcert you, you will finish watching it and you won’t be sure of what has happened nor what is the story about, but it will also blow your mind with a different point of view of society, human feelings and gangsters topics while you get totally engrossed in the script that revolutionized Hollywood. Highly recommended if you look for something different and unexpected.

     Next stop: Big Fish