I went to college in 1995. It’s hard to overstate how big Pulp Fiction was for people in college in 1995. I probably heard that soundtrack more times than any piece of music not written by U2 or REM, and maybe more yet. I still think of my freshman dorm as soon as I hear Jungle Boogie.

So, 1995 is the last time I saw this movie, and the calendar tells me that it was just shy of 20 years ago. Watching it again tonight, this is what I think:

  1. It’s weird, because this is one of those movies that has stuck in the zeitgeist in many ways, and there are parts of it (“What does Marcellus Wallace look like?”) that are basically indelibly part of my memory, there are parts of it that are almost cliched to the point of parody now, and then there are parts (like the ’50s diner) that I totally forgot and had no memory of whatsoever.

  2. It is undeniably great. Like, even if I weren’t aware of its historical significance or of its impact on the movie world or of Tarantino’s subsequent career, it’d be impossible to watch this movie and think I was watching just another generic movie. Tarantino is like Kubrick or the Coens in that when you’re watching one of his movies, you know you’re watching something unique and personal, and this is an extremely Tarantinoesque movie.

  3. So that scene where (um spoilers if you haven’t seen this movie, but HONESTLY) Uma Thurman snorts heroin? When I watched this 20 years ago, I had NO IDEA that’s what she was doing. I just assumed it was cocaine, because she was doing cocaine earlier, and it’s a powder, and whatever, right? I AM NOT REALLY A DRUG EXPERT. So that was kind of mind-blowing.

  4. Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman look SO YOUNG. Christopher Walken and John Travolta do not, even though they are now 20 years older.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen this movie, it’s basically part of the modern movie canon, and you totally should. But I’d be shocked if there was a single person reading this who hadn’t seen it, so yeah.