"Pulp Fiction": audience reviews, content, cast

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Quentin Tarantino's iconic and arguably best film has long been a role model for directors around the world. Reviews of "Pulp Fiction" were only the most enthusiastic. The picture was an important milestone in the history of cinema, providing a significant impetus to the development of independent auteur cinema in America.

General information

The American title of the painting Pulp Fiction ("Pulp Fiction") refers to cheap magazines popular in the middle of the 20th century, which printed sensational and scandalous materials.

The picture consists of several storylines shown in the technique of non-linear narration - a favorite technique of the French directors of the "New Wave". The film is divided into five short stories, which are mounted in non-chronological order. Stories are shown in the picture:

• two gangsters have leisurely conversations with references to the Bible;
• favorite entertainment from the 90s, including dancing and drugs;
• boxer caught inextreme situation.

Professional critics and viewers in reviews of "Pulp Fiction" write that this is a metaphor for a deck of cards shuffled by the supreme demiurge, whose role in the film is played by the director. Another group of viewers believes that the stories are arranged according to the principle of increasing emotional tension. And that is why the action unfolds so slowly to give you the opportunity to get used to the style, vocabulary, and from about the middle it starts to accelerate, ending with a spectacular climax.

The story of two gangsters

The film follows three storylines connected by common characters, details and setting.

Two gangsters Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) work for local godfather Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). He instructs them to deliver the case, the contents of which remain unknown to the viewer. At the same time, gangsters conduct theological and philosophical dialogues between murders and other crimes. In passing, they touch on the instructions of the boss Vega to entertain his wife Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) in the evening.

Jules, the survivor of the shootout, takes this as a sign and decides to end his criminal past. After that, he reads a whole sermon in a roadside restaurant, which does not look trivial, because before that the bandit was involved in cold-blooded murder.

How to safely entertain the boss's wife

Having completed the assignment,the gangsters visit Wallace, who is briefing boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) on the details of an upcoming match-fixing. After injecting himself with heroin, Vincent picks up the boss's wife and they drive to the popular restaurant Jack Rabbit Slims, where she takes a dose of cocaine in the toilet.

Under the influence of drugs, the couple decides to enter a dance competition that has become Pulp Fiction's most spectacular scene. Uma Thurman became a good partner for John Travolta, who was a professional dancer. Vincent drives Mia home, where he will have to save a woman from an overdose.

"Honest" boxer

Mafia boss offers professional boxer Butch Coolidge to make good money in the last fight of his sports career. To do this, he must lay down in the fifth round, but Butch decides to throw Wallace. He bets on his victory all the money received for the fixed fight. Having knocked out an opponent, as it later turned out to death, he tries to leave the city.

But at the crossroads he unexpectedly meets Marsellus Wallace, who is hit by a car, and he himself has an accident. The enraged gangster starts shooting at Butch. Fascinated by the duel, they are captured by sadistic sodomites.

Main dancers

Now it is impossible to imagine a picture without the most spectacular scene - the enchanting dance of Uma Thurman and John Travolta. "Pulp Fiction" may have set the record for the longest filmingone dance that went on continuously for 13 hours. The dance was invented by Tarantino and Travolta based on the once popular swim and twist. The actor, who was a professional dancer in his youth, had a special training session with Uma Thurman before filming the scene.

"Pulp Fiction" could well have been left without its famous dance number. After all, the director's favorite for the role of Mia Wallace was Michelle Pfeiffer, in addition, Isabella Rossellini, Meg Ryan, Rosanna Arquette and many other Hollywood stars were considered. The role of the white gangster was originally written for Michael Madsen, since it should be Vic Vega - Madsen's character from the movie Reservoir Dogs. Therefore, when he could not take part in the filming, he had to change his name - Vic became Vincent, and the script was slightly tweaked.

Other actors

According to Tarantino's plan, it was Samuel Jackson who was to play the black gangster Jules Winnfield, but first they "tried" Paul Calderon for this role. He so easily and organically fit into the image of a black gangster that he was almost approved. True, as a result, Calderon got the role of a bartender in the bar of Marselas. And Samuel Jackson became a partner of John Travolta. As noted in reviews of "Pulp Fiction", these are the most philosophic thugs in the history of cinema, who between criminal showdowns have conversations about the meaning of life.

The hero of the short story about an honest boxer had to be a little younger than Bruce Willis, since the role was written for another actor -Matt Dillon. However, he refused to act in the film due to participation in another project. Then Harvey Keitel recommended that the director try Willis for the role of Butch Coolidge. Tarantino agreed after some deliberation and tweaked the script. The role of the boxer was a good success for the actor, although Bruce Willis himself wanted to play the gangster Vincent Vega.

Reviews of the film "Pulp Fiction"

Many viewers noted that despite Tarantino's love for the often ostentatious cinematography, the characters in the film speak in a completely non-literary language. The specific construction of phrases, jargon and even obscenities create the impression that the characters in the film speak a living language, and not a template text invented by the screenwriters. Thanks to this, not only some memorable phrases, but also monologues, and even dialogues, went "to the people". Especially critics and viewers liked the philosophical conversations of two gangsters Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield, which they had on the way to another criminal case.

In reviews of the film "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, Russian viewers noted that the premiere took place at a time when the main characters of the post-Soviet space were bandits. And although Californian tough guys were different from domestic ones, they still had similar features.

And of course, in the reviews of "Pulp Fiction" everyone enthusiastically mentions the funny dance of Mia Wallace and Vincent, which absolutely everyone liked.