Quentin Tarantino’s definitive film, if not his best. The writer-director’s innate talent for terrific, tangential dialogue; non-linear yet seamless narratives; shocking, sadistic violence; and the perfect pop song all come together in this wild, episodic crime picture loosely structured around two talkative hit men (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson). A landmark of seductive cinematic style, Pulp Fiction marked one of those rare moments when the movies seemed to be reborn. Though steeped in the schlock cinema of Tarantino’s 1970s youth, Pulp Fiction spoke in a language all its own (one that none of the endless imitators were ever able to learn). I don’t quite buy into the theme of redemption that’s often attributed to this pure guilty pleasure, yet even at its most mindless this is essential stuff. Also with Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, and briefly, hilariously, Tarantino.
