Pulp Fiction is a subliminal, darkly comedic film about the evils humanity is capable of across seven parts and over three interwoven stories. This genre-blending, action-packed, and subtly powerful film follows various protagonists: a hitman named Vincent Vega (John Travolta), his business partner Junes Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), their boss’s wife Mia (Uma Thurman) and a prizefighter named Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) amongst others. Through missions for their gang boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Vega and Winnfield demonstrate the brutality necessary for their lives of crime. Starting with a simple case retrieval from one of Marsellus’s business partners, Brett, only to end in a double-crossing, people end up dead. Their issues only escalate further as they continue enduring Wallace’s risky tasks, especially when his wife gets involved.

Meanwhile, Marsellus bribes Coolidge to lose his final retiring round in the ring. Coolidge attempts to double-cross him by winning the match, only to accidentally kill his opponent – sending him on the run from thugs and cops alike through the vile activities kept behind closed doors, even in business. Circling a vast array of spaces and events before returning to the same diner Pulp Fiction begins with, the film beautifully demonstrates biblical accuracies of humanity’s shortcomings through organically magic complications.

Pulp Fiction is a fantastic, must-see film for several reasons. First, it blends different genres gracefully, taking the best of every conceivably popular one – from romance and westerns to horror and thrills – through three organically connected narratives. They can feel a bit bumpy from exposition overload, but the organic writing and naturally built chaos shine like gold even in these filler moments. The characters are also powerfully written and filled, each providing unique traits to animate the film’s themes, especially given the initial illusion of separation between each story in their starts. The visuals and audio are beautiful and stimulating, from the transforming color scheme to the meticulous scoring and sound design that engulfs the viewers inside the screen. Each narrative and respective part represents a unique – but connected – form of evil humans are unfortunately capable of. While Tarantino is known for (overly) gratuitous violence elsewhere, here he uses it more intimately; humans with unique fears and vulnerabilities are just as capable of committing violence as they are experiencing its results. Whether sexually, financially, or otherwise motivated, the cycle remains the same: violence begets violence, and as traumas deepen, so does the anger that leads only to more violence. Quentin Tarantino’s self-performed use of the n-word thrice over should have been entirely avoided, as the point is painterly demonstrated everywhere else. Nevertheless, Pulp Fiction is an obelisk of cinematic power and a realistically entertaining thrill ride from start to finish.

Screens on 35 mm Thursday, 5/9 and Tuesday, 5/14, 8:00pm @ Brattle
Part of the repertory series: Long Live Film! The Art of Collecting