I graduated High School the same year Pulp Fiction was released. That was the same year The Shawshank Redemption, The Professional, Natural Born Killers, True Lies, The Hudsucker Proxy, Serial Mom, The Crow, Forest Gump, Killing Zoe, Quiz Show and Ed Wood were all released. Something had changed in Hollywood. All these strange little "Art House" films started getting wide releases, nominated for Oscars and they were financially viable. It felt like we were in a golden era of film and we where. It was the explosion of independent cinema and Pulp Fiction was at the center of the eruption.
Its easy to focus on the time a film is made. The political climate or social unrest that influences a film but a film be able to stand outside its time and be judged on its own merit. The only reason I listed all the films above was to illustrate how tough the competition was at the box office and the awards ballot box that year. Do awards shows use ballot boxes? Probably not, lets move on. With all the competition listed above Pulp Fiction was still a huge hit with both critics and movie goers. Its rare that a film can truly appease both. PF was everywhere in 94. When I saw it the third or fourth time theatrically I was seated next to man that had to of been in his 70's. I was watching man on man rape next to my grandpa and it was great. Not the man on man rape but that real films were getting such a wide audience.
The film was huge, If I'm not mistaken it was the first independent film to cross the $100 mil threshold. But was it good? Does it hold up? Yes and Yes. Time has been quite kind to Tarantino's second film. I saw Pulp Fiction at least 20 times by the time the 2000s rolled around and I needed to take a little break. I recently became reacquainted with Mr Tarantino's film and I glad I took 15 years off from the film. I knew it forwards and backwards but I had given it enough time to watch it while it was happening. I wasn't waiting for my favorite scene or distracting myself in any way, I was fully engaged with this great film.
If you are like me and you killed yourself on Pulp Fiction you might want to look up your old friend again. If you haven't seen one another in a few years you guys should catch up. Sure he is telling you the same stories you've heard a thousand times but you may have changed since the last time you heard them and his stories are really good.
Pulp Fiction is currently streaming on Netflix