The belated reviews of "Movie Manual" commented on "Pulp novels" with the title of "Subversion of tradition". As we all know, "Movie Manual" is a unique existence in the industry. The movies they recommend have a strong personal imprint. Perhaps the movies that the entire public opinion community is criticizing, but they think they are good, that is good; vice versa, even if everyone praises them, as long as they think they are average, they will definitely be disdainful.

Therefore, the reviews of the "Movie Manual" are always a beautiful landscape in the film industry. Whether it agrees or not, they are at least eye-catching. This time, the "Movie Manual" praised the "pulp novel" that subverted the entire film tradition.

“Chapter 1, structure.

The structure of the movie "Pulp Novel" is actually not very complicated, just like the title of the movie, like it is composed of different chapters of the novel. The whole film is divided into four parts, and the beginning paragraph is considered a sequence. The structure of the whole movie is echoed from the beginning and the end, and the order is disrupted in the middle. This circular structure creative form breaks through the linear concept of space-time in traditional movies, but ignores the order of space-time and space-time in accordance with the director's conception.

This circular structure is very consistent with the theme of the film, because the cycle of violence does not stop, and this chaotic and disorderly structure also shows that the violent world has no rules of survival.

Of course, such a structure can easily lead to viewing confusion and misunderstanding, because the movie runs through the entire process with the powerful actor Hugo Lancaster playing Vincent.

Chapter 2, Space.

In order to show the unique spatial composition of the underworld, this film focuses on placing the scope of characters' activities in closed cars, suffocating elevators, narrow corridors, bathrooms, etc., creating a world of blockage, stiffness and linear development.

Especially the performance of the bathroom, a specific space, is a highlight.

When Vincent and Jules went to pursue the suitcase, their accomplices hiding in the bathroom rushed out and shot. In order to break the ambiguous atmosphere between him and Miya, Vincent chose to hide in the bathroom and hypnotize himself. In addition, Vincent also likes to read publications such as "pulp novels" in the bathroom. Once when a robbery occurred in a small restaurant, he was happily reading the publications, and the Butch's family was waiting for the rabbit, but he casually read the same publications in the bathroom, but he died of a life of death.

The bathroom was originally an extremely private space, but it was precisely because of its privacy that it became a place where dirt was hidden, and it was also an abyss of evil that absorbed drugs and violence.

Chapter 3, rhythm.

Quentin Tarantino's ability to control the rhythm of the movie is breathtaking. This rhythmic style of suppressing first and then rising deeply reveals the thoughts that hide many violent triggers in life. Calm dialogues and trivial things often bring an unexpected storm and hysteria.

After a plain conversation, Little Pumpkin and Little Rabbit suddenly pulled out their guns and robbed publicly; Vincent and Jules had no choice but to chat, suddenly broke into someone else's room and started a bloody cleaning; Vincent was taking Marvin back to deliver the task, but he accidentally got angry and broke the easy conversation between him and Jules; before Vincent tried to rescue Miya, he discussed with the drug dealer trivially how to get the needle...

This kind of rhythm is different from Steven Spielberg's treatment of "three minutes to make the audience laugh and five minutes to make the audience cry", but instead calmly controls approaching the theme of the film and reveals life itself.

Chapter 4, Photography.

In order to show the mystery and power of the underworld boss Masha, his appearance is carefully arranged in composition, and his appearance is full of dangers. In the first scene he negotiated with Butch, we actually hear his majestic voiceover in Butch's long close-up scene, and then he draws it with one hand. Then a shot is a close-up of Masha's huge head full of pictures, while Butch in the background is compressed into a very small space, and the power contrast between the two people is clear at a glance. This visual impact caused by the difference in area is very large.

At the same time, in order to show the space for activities of underworld characters, the movie uses a lot of long shots. Because long shots and long conversations are used together, it is easy to create a suffocating and stiff atmosphere. When the characters have hysterical scenes, the long shots and the quick-swinging photography method are used together to create a unique audio-visual impact.

Chapter 5, Voice.

The sound processing of movies is also complex and clever.

For example, Butch's handling of participating in a boxing match is very simple but effective, and it is completely handled with sound. Butch woke up from his dream during the break and walked into the boxing ring. Then, we could hear the cheers of the audience almost breaking his eardrums. Next, we felt the progress of the match from the live broadcast of a boxing match listened to by a female taxi driver, and completely described it with sound, which is simple but realistic.

In addition, Butch returned to the apartment to get the gold watch. When he walked into the apartment compound from the back door, the sound processing was very lifelike; and when Butch walked into the room to kill Vincent, he created a thrilling and tight atmosphere through the combination of clever editing and toaster tweets.

The most outstanding scene is the part where Butch began to choose weapons in order to save Masha, from the soundtrack to the cutting of the sound, as well as the use of the camera and the composition of the picture, with humor in the tightness and ease in the stimulation, pushing the movie to **.

Chapter 6, Characters.

The characters in the movie all have self-contradictory scenes. Vincent's decisiveness and cold blood in executing the traitors are in contrast to his awkwardness, humor and casualness when facing Miya; Jules' cruelty and coldness in reciting the Bible before killing, which is in contrast to his choice to wash his hands after escaping from death; Butch's ferocity and blood in the boxing ring are in contrast to his pampering and maintenance when facing his girlfriend...

This contradictory color can be seen in almost every character, which also makes the film's self-salvation color quietly integrate into the story, giving the violent story about the underworld a more meaningful connotation.

Summarize.

'Pulp novels' subvert the traditional film model with its original structure and new audio-visual language, and has achieved outstanding results in breaking through the routine exploration of film noir, especially in rhythm processing, photography style and sound setting."

The "Movie Manual" analyzes "pulp novels" from almost all aspects. Although they do not choose to analyze the connotation of the movie, nor discuss the characters, themes, ideas, etc., and only interpret them from a technical level, they can still feel their admiration for this movie.

This is very rare for the "movie manual". With a high score of 3.4, it is not surprising that this authoritative magazine uses comments like "subverting tradition" to make footnotes to "pulp novels".

The overall analysis of the film was also conducted on the British magazine "Imperial" from the UK. This magazine has a great relationship with Hugo. In several Hugo's previous films, "Imperial" gave very high praise, and this time was no exception. However, this time, "Imperial" magazine did not specifically praise Hugo, but like other media, praised Quentin.

“This is obviously Quentin’s most important work.

From the perspective of drama structure, Quentin abandoned the traditional Hollywood method and used the method of disconnecting perspectives to process the narrative of the whole film into a circular structure that echoed the beginning and end. Under this novel overall structure, every story in the "pulp novel" is told clearly, and the greatest success of this novel narrative method is that it subverts the traditional linear narrative structure, but does not lose the audience due to the technique being too bold and experimental.

Violence is an unshakable theme in Quentin's works. The frequent violent images in the film have always emphasized that such time is a vicious cycle and never stops. Violence is everywhere in life. In front of it, life and death, right and wrong are not fair. Under the cover of violence, Quentin also explores a more profound problem: accidental changes to fate.

In fact, although the "Pulp Novel" has four parts, it is a story in general. Miya's overdose, the chance encounter between Butch and Masha, the miracles experienced by Jules, the robbery in the restaurant, etc., are all accidental events, but it is these accidental times that change the fate of the characters.

"Pulp novels" continue Quentin's ability to control language during the "Drunk" period. The dialogues in the story are unique, not only in line with the identity and personality of the characters, but also hide the underlying culture and simple philosophy. The rich black humor has become Quentin's iconic label.

At the same time, the actors' outstanding performances in the movie are also worthy of praise. Vincent played by Hugo Lancaster is a classic character. Although his characteristics are not as obvious as Jules and the conflicts are not as clear as Miya, Hugo gives Vincent a kind of humorous but casual, cold but funny, casual but cautious charm, and it is perfectly integrated with the temperament of the gangster at the bottom, and finally interprets Vincent with a different style. Hugo's superb performance is a highlight.

Another feature of 'Pulp novel' is its retro and description of the underlying culture in the 60s and 70s culture. Similar to the style of gangster movies, the crazy countryside, blues and rock, Jules' fluffy and explosive curls, and Miya's tight shirt and flared trousers all exudes a retro flavor; and the conversations about fast food, makeup, poison, etc., and the ubiquitous slang and swear words in the film are also the real side of the underlying culture in the United States.

In addition, in terms of rhythm control, photography style, sound editing, etc., "Pulp Novel" also has a unique style and color, which can definitely be regarded as the most personal film in the 1990s to date."

The film reviews of "Imperial" magazine are more general, and they just clicked on every detail. Although they were not detailed, their admiration for this movie is beyond doubt. According to the official scoring standards of the Cannes Film Festival, "Imperial" magazine scored an absolute high score of 3:5!
Chapter completed!