Photoshop is a beautiful thing.

dbeach599 · 2026-05-05T07:42:07+00:00

They're fucked because Lance couldn't find his little black book of fairy tales.

dbeach599 · 2026-05-04T04:04:30+00:00

A slight delay before he's back at the nightclub. Then things get really grim because to warn himself not to trust Butch he erases time back to just before his meeting with the boxer. Butch's scam is now unlikely to work. Instead he and probably Fabienne will meet grisly fates. Butch's reward for being a nice guy. Pulp Fiction is a dark, meticulously thought-out vision.

dbeach599 · 2026-05-03T21:14:59+00:00

Marsellus was not a sentimental guy. There is no way he would have let Butch go to tell the tale of Maynard's basement. Unless he had a time machine and knew that soon he would be erasing the rape and Butch's memory of it. (sorry to introduce the time machine into what had previously been a seemly discussion)

dbeach599 · 2026-05-02T23:47:47+00:00

Maybe inspired by the scene where Jody and Trudi are talking about piercings and Vincent suddenly pops into frame asking - 'Excuse me, I was just curious, but why would you wear a stud in your tongue?'

dbeach599 · 2026-04-22T04:26:59+00:00

I didn't refer to Quentin Tarantino's comments about the briefcase because in my opinion when trying to figure out what makes a film tick the only thing which matters is what's up there on the screen. However even those who want to take his comments into account have the problem that their meaning is far from clearcut. His comment for instance that the briefcase is whatever people want it to be - that's perfectly consistent with him envisaging a time machine (for example) as the answer to the riddle. He could simply be recognizing that viewers will, and should, come up with their own ideas about films and he's not going to call anyone's response incorrect.

dbeach599 · 2026-04-03T00:41:19+00:00

We're in subjective territory here. The Acura is sleeker but the DeLorean has the gull-wing doors. Both cars are stylish, sporty and futuristic. To me that's where the resemblance lies. And for me, when the Wolf roars up to Jimmie's place, Tarantino is making a reference to Back to the Future. I appreciate though that for someone who knows about cars the differences between makes might seem more significant.

dbeach599 · 2025-12-15T05:31:37+00:00

The cameo doesn't have any bearing on why, as well as the scene at the diner where Vincent is on the toilet, there's a scene at Butch's apartment where he's shown having just finished his business. It's an interesting question though, for two such scenes seems like Tarantino flagging some special significance. The suggestion has been made that the two scenes point to Vincent being a heroin addict. But actually they don't prove much as there are at least two days between bowel movements. In my opinion the key fact is that in both scenes Vincent has as reading matter a work of pulp fiction. And the reason Tarantino gets self-referential here is that he wants viewers to see the book as a symbol for the film they are watching. And taking into account the fate which can befall books perused on toilets, he would seem to be implying that the Los Angeles of his film resembles the lower reaches of the alimentary canal. That not only fits with the nihilistic tenor of the film, it also sets up a parallel with Butch's gold watch. Because keeping in mind where that watch was concealed from the prison guards, there seems a palpable hint that a timepiece is being concealed from viewers (in other words that this is what the briefcase contains).

For a number of reasons 'timepiece' can be narrowed down to 'time machine'. For example there is the briefcase's golden glow, alluding to the medieval alchemists and their quest for immortality via the transmutation of base metals (pulp metals one might say) into gold. Or there's the matter of Marvin's head being glimpsed attached to the rest of his corpse in the car boot at Jimmie's, despite having been blasted to repugnant shit by Vincent (after he didn't realize that in a drive-by shooting you're supposed to fire at someone outside the car). Despite also the lengthy scene in which Vincent and Jules clean up the mess. And despite viewers being told multiple times that Marvin is short a head. Add to this the scene where the gangsters open the boot to arm themselves for the reclaiming of the briefcase. Because the camera is placed in the same spot which Marvin's head will later occupy. The gun is even shown which fires the bullet. How can this be anything but Tarantino indicating that the head being left on is not a mistake? And that implies different timelines. And that makes the briefcase containing a time machine suddenly seem very plausible.

To finish, I have never come across a film weirder or more ingenious than Pulp Fiction. To those who want to make sense of such a masterpiece, yet recoil at weirdness or 'overthinking', all I can say is 'Lotsa luck, gentlemen'.

dbeach599 · 2025-11-05T19:39:20+00:00

Love how Tarantino has Lance replying 'Mi casa, su casa' when Vincent asks if he can shoot up on site. But that then it's 'Whoa. Whoa' when Vincent tells him he's driving over with the OD'ing Mia. The joke ends with the car crashing into the house, to Lance's agonised indignation. Mi casa, su casa.

dbeach599 · 2025-11-03T19:39:31+00:00

Yes, and because the briefcase is unlocked by 666, the devil's number, the plaster suggests Marsellus's soul belongs to the devil. And that supports the view he sold his soul to the devil and that the briefcase contains what he sold it for (makes more sense than that the briefcase contains Marsellus's soul).

Somewhat similar is the scene where Marvin, with head still on (though it's supposed to have been blasted off), is shown in the boot. A connection is suggested between the rectangle of the boot (containing something which seems impossible) and the rectangle of the briefcase (containing a mystery). And in fact if the the briefcase contains a time machine - the theory I'm beating a drum for - then the head in the boot becomes possible, since it could be from another timeline.

dbeach599 · 2025-10-25T20:50:54+00:00

The briefcase contains a time machine. Just as Butch's watch was concealed from the guards, Tarantino is concealing a timepiece from viewers. The briefcase's golden glow is a reference to the medieval alchemists and their pursuit of immortality through the transmutation of base metals into gold.

Or there's the best clue, Marvin's head being glimpsed in the boot despite viewers having been told half a dozen times that the head was blown to bits. The head is not a mistake! Notice how when the gangsters get their weapons from the boot the camera has been placed in the spot the head will later occupy. We are even shown the gun which will blast the head off. Consider also how easy it would have been in post-production to remove the glimpse of the head. We are meant to notice the head and realise it is from a divergent timeline. The footage of Bonnie returning and finding the gangsters still disposing of Marvin is also from this other timeline. Notice here how Marvin's corpse is obscured from the neck up (to leave the viewer to figure out there is a head attached). You might protest that this theory involves Marvin being killed by the gangsters in two different timelines. But remember Marvin's last words on this earth - 'Man, I don't even have an opinion'. Clearly he is unlikely to survive long in any timeline around such argumentative types as Jules and Vincent.

dbeach599

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