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The Cannes Film Festival, May 1994. Two independent American crime films featuring guns, gangsters, torture, redemption, stylized artificial dialogue, quirky comedy, a cool soundtrack, a main character who dies and is resurrected and a criminal's kept woman with an Anna Karina haircut made their debut at the southern tip of France. One of them went on to conquer the world and become one of the most beloved and imitated films of the ensuing 30 years. The other faded into obscurity and is barely brought up three decades later. The films are Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Hal Hartley's Amateur, and their divergent paths clearly shifted the cultural space of American independent cinema moving forward.

We welcome back Pinnland Empire guru Marcus Pinn (like us, a teenage budding cinephile in the mid-90's) to talk about these two films, how they were shaped by the climate of late 80's/early 90's indie cinema, their impact and their legacy. Despite Hartley's deep meaningful contemplations proving no match for Tarantino's sheer exuberance, these are two films that were meaningful to all three of us, so we also get pretty heavily into some formative personal history and lament the slow death of a truly specific kind of American movie. Who's the real amateur here?

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Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”

Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"