Pulp Fiction

In May of 1994 I graduated high school. I lived with my parents that summer before heading a mere 20 miles away to Northeast Community College where my life would begin to really change. At that point I knew I wanted to be an actor, and I wanted to eventually land in California, but everyone in my little town went to Northeast before going off to Senior college. It was a rite of passage- a bridge between high school and really growing up. The marching band was bigger/better, I could act in plays, I could live in the dorm, and I could have a tiny bit of freedom. Interestingly enough it took another 19 years to get to California. 5 years ago today I began that journey to Los Angeles. Seems like yesterday in many ways...which should give me a bit of peace looking ahead a few years. Should....

Today, I'm in Oxford, MS, which is where my relationship with both "Pulp Fiction" and Quentin Tarantino began. Unlike "The Crying Game" I can't recall where I first heard about "Pulp Fiction." Maybe it was when it won the Palme d'Or in Cannes...maybe not. I was entrenched in the Oscars at this point (see previous pieces aka: Bugsy and The Crying Game), so that's very possible. Could have been Siskel & Ebert...could have been Entertainment Weekly. Although I don't remember hearing about it, I remember vividly seeing it for the first time.

It was some point during the summer of 1994 and it was after my birthday. Oxford used to have a theater called the Hoka. It was really incredible. I remember sitting near the back, on a bench watching other patrons drinking beer out of paper cups and wishing I could as well. At that point I had drunk a little...probably been drunk once, but I was too chicken to even try. The Hoka was the perfect setting. Interestingly enough, "Pulp Fiction" was the only film I saw there. 3 times.

Looking back, the opening scene of "Pulp Fiction" is so incredible, but it was that title sequence that hooked me during that first screening. It was like Tarantino had seduced me in an instant. I knew I wanted to end up in California one day, but I honestly didn't quite know why until I saw this film. I wanted to do THAT. Whatever that was. It was an altogether new experience for me. We know from this series that I had already been in love with film. "Funny Girl," "The Godfather" trilogy, the "Star Wars" trilogy, "Bugsy," "The Crying Game." All (almost) great films...but none of which pushed the boundaries of cinema in the way Tarantino did with "Pulp Fiction." Maybe "The Godfather Part II," but I didn't understand that at the time.

Clearly Tarantino has a way with words...he has won two Oscars, for "Pulp Fiction" and "Django Unchained" and was nominated a third time for "Inglorious Basterds." Many people seem to have issue with Tarantino these days, especially some of my louder Oscar prognosticators, but Twitter is a fantasy and should not be and really isn't the barometer for actuality when it comes to how Hollywood and the Academy actually perceive things. (See "The Revenant," "La La Land" and even last year with "Three Billboards.") Tarantino is a genius and is still making great films.

That being said, his writing and directing style has changed. He has a very specific voice, but looking at "Pulp Fiction," the daring goes so beyond the violence and Uma Thurman pantomiming a digital square. There is a naturalism to the conversation in "Pulp Fiction" which partnered with some of the incredible shots by cinematographer Andrzej Sekula elevate the film beyond any other independent film I can think of. Tarantino's dialogue remains conversational...but in a fantasy setting. I can't help but think about the Pub scene in "Inglorious Basterds." Very different than what we see in his early work.

The characters in "Pulp Fiction" are incredible as well. Vincent Vega, Jules, Mia Wallace, Marcellus Wallace, Butch, Pumpkin, Honey Bunny, Captain Koons, Fabienne, The Wolf, Esmerelda Villalobos, Zed, the Gimp! The list goes on and on. Watching the film again reminded me why this is Tarantino's masterpiece because these actors, like no others since, created real, if a bit insane people. Travolta is really good as Vincent. As good as Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump." But Samuel L. Jackson as Jules and Uma Thurman as Mia probably deserved the Oscars...although it's hard to deny both Martin Landau in "Ed Wood" and Diane Wiest in "Bullets Over Broadway"...who won for comedies.

And then you have the briefcase. What's in the briefcase? In the 90s I remember thinking it more than likely held the seven deadly sins...something vile, but beautiful to criminals. The lock code is 666, after all. Or it seems to be that...hard to tell what the last number is...even watching it quite closely a few times last night. The Internet will tell you it is Marcellus Wallace's soul...or Brett's soul...Brett being the kid...Marcellus's "business partner" eating the Big Kahuna burger for breakfast who gets shot by Jules after receiving the Ezekiel 25:17 death verse.

During filming, Tarantino told Jackson that it could be whatever he wanted it to be, which makes sense. I think it has to be Salvation...freedom. How Brett ended up with it is a bit of a mystery, but Marcellus wants it...Pumpkin ogles over it. We say that strange glow every time it is opened. Shortly after Jules opens it for the first time we see a similar glow as Jules and Vincent take down Brett. And shortly after that...bullets can't touch Jules/Vincent. Is that salvation? Perhaps. If not...that "miracle" leads Jules to want to give up the life of crime, and ends up saving (for the time being) Pumpkin and Honey Bunny as well. Salvation....

There are a couple of things that still bug me about the film, even after all these years. I would cut Bruce Willis talking to himself in the car on the way to get his watch. He's not good enough to pull it off, and it just doesn't work in context with the rest of the film. Also, Julia Sweeney...I remember thinking it was neat that she was in the film, but she isn't very good either. Something that never bothered me before, but did this go around was the use of slow motion when Butch gets free after being tied down by Zed. Not necessary...although clearly a technique of the time.

Oscar night, March 27, 1995, goes down as one of the worst Oscar nights of my lifetime. Along with 2006 when "Brokeback Mountain" lost to "Crash" and 2011 when I was a complete and utter mess fearing that Natalie Portman might somehow lose Best Actress for "Black Swan." The drugs didn't help matters.

We all knew that "Forrest Gump" was going to win. But part of me hoped beyond hope. I didn't really hate "Forrest Gump" at the time, although you wouldn't really know that from the way I have talked about it over the years. I saw it 4 times in the theater, once more than "Pulp Fiction." I needed to understand why people thought it was better...how could it possibly win? How could Zemeckis win over Tarantino?!

Needless to say, I still don't know. When "Pulp Fiction" lost Best Picture I was so angry that I grabbed my glass and threw it at my parents television. They had long gone to bed, and were not very happy. I was inconsolable for years. If anything, that year taught me that the best film doesn't always win Best Picture.