Earlier this week, I mentioned watching NATURAL BORN KILLERS when I was home sick. Even in my slightly weary condition, I noticed that the film now feels a bit dated. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but it feels like the hey-day of tabloid culture that NBK took dead aim at has now evolved, and thus the film has lost some of its relevance. However, I grabbed another DVD from 1994, and am impressed at how well it holds up…and interestingly enough, both films were written by the same person.
There isn’t a whole lot I’ll be able to say about PULP FICTION that hasn’t been said before, but I’m willing to give it a try. At the time, reaction to the film was something akin to Tarantino re-inventing the wheel. Watching it today, it feels like what was so revolutionary were in fact some very simple- but at the time, underused -devices. Specifically, a sense of timelessness, a broken narrative, some inventive photography, and a great script.
There aren’t many giveaways to the fact that it was made in the early nineties, with the exception of the fact that Vincent Vega (John Travolta) briefly uses a cell phone. Besides that, the music, look, dialogue, costumes, and settings are all created in a way that make it possible for the story to happen anywhere over the last thirty years or so. Compare that to movies of the same era that have characters wearing the latest styles, or using the latest technology. The movie would feel very different today if Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) laced up a pair of Reebok Pumps before his boxing match, or if Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) ordered a glass of Crystal Pepsi. PULP FICTION seems to deliberately try to be timeless, and it succeeds admirably.
The movie is shot in such a way, that
emphasizes hearing and seeing what’s happening from the characters point of view. Many lines are delivered with backs to the camera, putting the focus on those that are listening rather than those that are speaking. The trick works well, since it causes the audience to listen more than watch, and sets the tone that what is being said is important, and will have a direct effect on the other people in the scene. In other instances, scenes are shot with the camera standing in as a patient observer. Actors stand farther back than we are accustomed to – walls, doorways, and beams cut in and out of the shot. It feels like what’s happening isn’t specifically happening for the viewer…but we have been allowed to stand out of the way and watch.
What makes the movie work above all is the writing. The script was written without a catch line in mind (You won’t find any “Life is like a box of chocolates” here). The characters talk in a way I can imagine actual people talking…some very cool actual people, but actual people nontheless. The dialogue is fun, with a “daddy-o” this, and a “Honey bunny” that. If I have one complaint, it’s that there are a few too many “motherfucker”s and “nigger”s dropped for my taste. That said, the actual story is solid. Quite simply, it’s a collection of odd happenings that surround some bandits, crooks, and thieves. The occurrences have been re-arranged out of order into a broken narrative, and a McGuffin has been thrown in for good measure – the contents of a mysterious briefcase. In 1994, such a story was fresh and original, a throwback to movies of a bygone era…and movie makers have spent thirteen years trying to do it again.
Where NATURAL BORN KILLERS was inspired by the media, PULP FICTION was inspired by hundreds of movies that came before it. The story goes, that before he was given the chance to direct, Quentin Tarantino was a movie fan working in a video store. That’s rather evident when watching PULP FICTION. The film is a love letter to the movies that inspired him. In an odd twist of fate, Tarantino and PULP FICTION inspired many of the young directors that came after. The movie arrived with much hype and much fanfare thirteen years ago. Now that things have simmered down, what we’re left with is still an amazingly good movie.
Ryan McNeil
