Quentin Tarantino
-
1994
Pulp Fiction is my Citizen Kane. I hesitate to make the forthcoming bold claim, but I also believe it is my generation's Kane. By this I mean simply that it is the landmark film of the 1990's. There were films before Pulp Fiction and films after Pulp Fiction. It is a rare film that creates such a distinction and whatever one thinks of it as a piece of art or just as a piece of work, the distinction is clear with this film and especially so for me.
The film came at a particularly opportune time for me as a moviegoer. It arrived on the summer of my high school graduation. All through my youth and during high school, I often saw films with my parents. We'd generally go to see the standard mulitplex fare. We were in the process of driving to the east coast from Colorado when we saw Pulp Fiction. None of us were prepared for this powerhouse of a film. My parents were particularly shocked at the violence, but I saw something more profound in its labyrinthine story structure. I immediately realized the implications of the effect the violence had on me as a member of the audience. It dawned on me how many people I had seen die on-screen in countless action films, but none would be as memorable as Zed, Vincent or even Butch's dad who dies of dysentery completely off-screen in a story told by Christopher Walken. This was not simply violence, but violence raised to the highest form of storytelling.
Upon further viewings I realized that the violence existed mostly offscreen in this film. Tarantino knows that the most effective horror exists in our minds and showing too much to the audience only cheapens the effect. The needle plunging into Uma Thurman's chest to revive her from her drug overdose exists only in your mind. You see the buildup and the aftermath, but not the act itself. The same is true with the kid shot in the back of the car. In this case, there is no suspense, but only the shock of the gun discharging and then the horrifying consequences. The mind fills in the details. There are a few exceptions where the violence exists onscreen, but it is rarely gruesome, never gratuitous and always at service to the story.
Roger Ebert covered the film in his Cinema Interruptus while I was a freshman in college. This was my first experience in the shot by shot analysis and was key in forming the way I look at film. While watching the film, Tarantino's obsession with detail became increasingly obvious. This film was not thrown together, but meticulously labored over. Watching closely only reveals the hidden treasures and makes the mysteries more compelling.
I saw the film again this time just after seeing Kill Bill, Vol. 2 and it reinforced my knowledge of the effect that Tarantino has had on my love of film. This film showed me that there is more to a picture than what you can find on the surface. A violent film can itself be a diatribe against mindless violence in film. Films may be stylish and have the fingerprint of the artist on every frame. Many films can teach you to be a more active audience member. Pulp Fiction was the first picture to teach me this and has the distinction of being the film that changed my moviegoing life.