Episode 17 - American Pulp Fiction

Locally Grown with Jim Fini

I love movies that start at the end and work their way back. One of my favorites, Pulp Fiction, is Quentin Tarantino's magnum opus. It’s a black comedy based around the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. It weaves several stories together and presents them in a non-linear story arc. The opening scene takes place in a diner, where a couple are discussing their business of robbery over lunch. They decide that the diner they are at is perfect for their next job; a conclusion that doesn't play out until the very end of the film. At the end of the film, the couple's attempted robbery of the diner is brought to a halt when they demand that Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) hands over a briefcase he is guarding at his table. Of course, the importance of this briefcase is featured throughout the film, resulting in an intense finale between Jules, Vincent (John Travolta) and the thieving couple. Suffice it to say, the couple does not leave with the briefcase, but they do leave with their lives. And a little money courtesy of Jules, the shepherd.

There are other great movies that start at the ending like American Beauty, Pan's Labyrinth, the 1979 musical Quadrophenia by the Who, and the classic Forest Gump. There is a poetic simplicity in getting right to punchline, or most of it, at the beginning so the audience knows right way what they are dealing with. It’s the hook. In that artistic spirit, I begin this blog near the end, leaving enough room to postulate a couple of different endings in the future. I deviate from my normal “just the facts” approach to paint a dystopic near-future presidential election story that seems outrageous. This is an experiment so hang in there, as the story winds through fact, fiction and a surprise ending that will blow your mind.

United We Stand. Divided We Fall. Each One for the Other, and All for All.