Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Pulp Fiction: 10 Years Later
Sunday
December 19, 2004
Last night I watched the movie Pulp Fiction on DVD, and it occurred to me that it had been ten years since the movie came out. Technically ten and change, but it came out in early 1994 and here it is in the final days of 2004. But from a calendar standpoint, it's been ten years.
The choice of movie was happenstance; Lara (my neighbor from upstairs) and Chrissy (her cute blonde friend) got back from Planet Nine Ball (a pool hall) at about 3:30 AM. They came by my place, and since my choice of programming (SportsCenter) wasn't compelling to them, I went to the movie channel circuit. Anyway, between the Skin-a-max fare and the B-movie late night filler, there was a classic, Pulp Fiction. Unfortunately it was 40 minutes into it, and Chrissy wanted to see it from the beginning. Luckily, I own the DVD. So we took it upstairs.
And there, with Lara passed out asleep on the floor, and Chrissy laying in my lap listening to me explain the plot to her, it hit me that it had been ten years since I had first seen it. My memory sometimes is ultra-sharp; I remember little details sometimes really well. I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time in the theatre out at Hickory Hollow in Nashville, with my on-again, off-again high school girlfriend Jennifer Lane. Ten years, but it might as well have been three lifetimes ago. Jennifer and I were on one of our final downslides when we went to see it, and with the fighting I was distracted and didn't appreciate the movie... at all. In fact, I didn't even like the movie the first time I saw it. Though in hindsight I blame it on the circumstances surrounding the evening, as now it's on my short list of all time favorites.
Now if you've seen Pulp Fiction, you know that explaining it is tough. No spoilers here if you haven't seen it, don't worry. But explaining the plot to Chrissy... well it was extra-tough since she was rather buzzed and Lara kept bitching about the TV being on too loud (making the little things in the conversations tough to hear). Then Chrissy would ask me, "So is he going to get killed?" and I'd tease her with an ambiguous response to keep her guessing. Luckily Quentin Tarantino is such an anti-formula moviemaker that I didn't have to worry too much about the plot being obvious. There's no predicting what happens next in Pulp Fiction.
Unfortunately, Chrissy didn't get to see how it all turned out, as her questions disappeared as she drifted off to sleep. Lara was crumpled up on the floor, also asleep. I was tired, to be sure, but I managed to stay awake and watch the movie all the way to the end. Past 6 AM. Insane? Perhaps, but I enjoy Pulp Fiction a great deal. It's a great film. And having an attractive blonde laying on me didn't hurt, either.
Most amazingly, when the movie was over, I managed to get my stuff and get out of the apartment without waking up either of the girls. That in itself was a nice accomplishment...
|
