D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…
Pulp Fiction, 1994.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Stoltz, Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis.
Pulp Fiction is the dazzling, highly-stylised and dialogue-heavy crime film that follows a bunch of men all connected in some way shape or form as their lives and stories intercross and weave together. Using a non-linear technique, Quentin Tarantino manages to kill off his main character half way through the film, but still have him walk off into the sun at the end.
The film follows Vincent (Travolta), Jules (Jackson), Mia (Thurman), Butch (Willis), Marsellus (Rhames) and a host of other side characters as their intersecting stories collide in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Attempting to convey the story in a few sentences just would not do the film justice as so many twists and turns take place in an unconventional structure and out of chronological order. Due to the unusual approach to film structure and such great dialogue, the film won Tarantino and his co-writer Roger Avary an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Unlike most other crime films Pulp Fiction has elements of dark comedy, long scenes of heavy dialogue during which the audience gets a sense of the characters’ perception of the world, and a collection of homage and pastiches that have led many to hail the film as the perfect example of postmodern film.
Pulp Fiction is a film you must see before you die as it revived the career of John Travolta; soon after his performance in Pulp Fiction he was cast in films such as Get Shorty and Face/Off, moving him back onto the Hollywood A-list.
D.J. Haza
Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza
Originally published March 15, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
