Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Let's get back to posts for my Five Star Month after yesterday's sentimental off-topic post. And let's get back to Quentin Tarantino, who is probably my favorite director.

The film is supposedly an homage to the literature genre called pulp fiction, short novels published on cheap paper in the 20th Century. Wikipedia dates these novels from 1896 to the 1950's. This must refer to America, because I know from memory that they were published longer in other countries. My father purchased booklets referred to as "pulp fiction" until the late 1970's. In Germany similar booklets were sold until the 1990's. The most common stories in American pulp fiction novels were detective stories. The more recent stories were American old west stories (in England) and vampire stories (in Germany).

Nevertheless, I can't imagine a story like the one in Tarantino's film being contained in any pulp fiction novel. It seems too complex to be presented to the mass market of the early 20th Century. In fact, the film tells several stories which are (seemingly?) unrelated, apart from featuring the same characters. Of all of Tarantino's films, none has left such a mark. Even though it only won one Oscar (best screenplay) after being nominated in seven categories, it's now considered one of the best and most influential films of all time.

The story that begins and ends the film is the tale of a robbery in a restaurant carried out by two small-time crooks, Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer). They are overpowered by the professional gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta), who have stopped off for a meal.

Jules and Vincent are sent to pick up a (presumably stolen) briefcase belonging to gang leader Marsellus Wallace. After surviving a shoot out Jules experiences a spiritual enlightenment that turns his life around.

Butch (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer hired by Marsellus to take a fall in the fifth round. Butch betrays his boss and makes a fortune by betting on himself to win. Wallace first sends Vincent to kill him, then attempts to take revenge personally.

Marsellus asks Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) to a restaurant. After going out Mia overdoses on cocaine and almost dies.

Click here to view the trailer. As with all of Tarantino's films it's a poor quality trailer, in this case too long and it fails to give any impression of what the film is about. All it does is show off the big stars.