Review:
*Originally written August 26th, 2019*
I thought I'd watch this at least twice before cementing my opinion on this. I've been a fan of Tarantino films growing up, mostly due to constantly watching Reservoir Dogs on DVD when I was a teenager. A new Tarantino film is always going to be a big deal and this was far and away my most anticipated film of year. I know Tarantino has had a bad rap lately, due to his constant self-indulgences in his recent films, narcissistic personality and frequent uses of a certain N word in his films.
As much as I love Tarantino and will constantly defend him in a year of cinema that has been rampant with soulless sequels and remakes for the majority of major releases, it is always so refreshing to see a film that is so obviously a director's singular vision. Sony agreed to fund this film and let Tarantino do what he wanted, for better or worse. It paid off though, as not only is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood easily one of the best films of the year, but it's also his best since Inglorious Basterds and possibly his most mature since Jackie Brown.
Hollywood contains some of the things that you should come to expect from Tarantino films by now, long scenes that really don't go anywhere, horrific violence, a twist of history and a grotesque amount of disgusting feet shots. Despite all that, this actually feels like it has a lot of substance under all the usual Tarantino flourish. If I had to criticise Tarantino for anything it's that a lot of his films lack any sort of emotional impact, they're pretty much all extremely entertaining, well written and compelling, but I rarely feel myself caring for the characters.
Thankfully that isn't the case here, as Tarantino has conjured up two of the characters he's ever written with fading western actor Rick Dalton and his trusted stuntman and friend Cliff Booth. Hollywood follows a few days in their lives and Sharon Tate leading up to the fateful night Tate was murdered by the Manson Family when she was nearly 9 months pregnant.
First of all, none of this went anywhere I expected it to go at all. In many ways this is quite plot-less, we spend time with Rick, Cliff and Sharon as they go about their day at pivotal moments in their life. Due to Tarantino's dense script, it feels like it has something to say as we see Rick try his hardest not to fade from the spotlight and suffer a few breakdowns as he realises he's not as young and famous as he used to be. One particular scene involving him and a young actress is some of Tarantino's most poignant moments he's ever had in film.
DiCaprio himself is the best he's ever been. Ranging Rick Dalton from sad, pathetic to reflective, but at the same time, easy to root for and sympathise with. His journey during the fading days of the Golden Years of Hollywood is one full of love and respect for the era, even with a few moments of altered history and a few cameos of late celebrities that are sure to divide, but for me I was more than okay with just allowing a lampooning of a late celebrity. Anyway, DiCaprio's arc ends on a surprisingly cathartic note and goes through moments of reflective sadness we rarely get from Tarantino, so it was wonderful to see.
Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth on the other hand is a whole different beast. A stuntman having trouble finding work after the rumours of him murdering his wife and getting away with it (A note that is kept purposelessly ambiguous through the film). Pitt himself is wonderful as he plays a much more quiet and less flashy role than DiCaprio that feels much more subtle and volatile. We spend a lot of time with him just either with his dog or driving around Hollywood before he gets a chance to steal the film once of the Manson Family come into play, which I'll get to.
Lastly, of the 3 arcs here Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate is certainly an interesting choice. Robbie is insanely likeable as Tate, I see what they were going for here, the last bit of innocence before the '60s ended and it mostly works. She's portrayed as just the nicest person ever with scenes of her just going to see her own films in a cinema and gouging the audiences reactions to her scenes with nothing but delight. It's genuinely sweet to watch and I love the subversion of her story building up to what happened in history, but obviously with Tarantino, it goes in a slightly different direction.
It was also lovely to see such detail and attention to the era of late '60s Hollywood. This is a beautifully shot and vibrant film making use of a wide variety of styles and camera work. Tarantino clearly loved this era of film and watching him portray this time in history only made me want to seek out more stuff from Golden Age of Hollywood. I particularly loved the scenes of Dalton's fake films and TV shows from the era, which perfectly matched the style of TV and films from the time. As you would also expect from a Tarantino film, there's a wide variety of incredible music, mostly '60s rock, which I adored, but he also reuses some scores from other films to clever effect, which I noticed the most during a very tense scene involving Booth and the Manson family.
I may as well get to to the Manson Family aspect now. A big part of the marketing was dedicated to the fact it would revolve around the night Sharon Tate was murdered, but much like with the end of Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino changes history. I won't spoil what he does, but it's just as crowd-pleasing, hilariously sadistic and demented as you could hope for. It will definitely divide audiences on whether it was in good taste or not, but for me, it was as close to pure cinema as you could get. It was a complete joy to watch.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood probably won't change your mind on Tarantino as he indulges in the usual aspects that make him Tarantino, but for me, it was easily his most mature work in a while that spends time with its characters and takes them on a satisfying odyssey of Hollywood in the 1960s while still being as entertaining and demented as Tarantino films usually are. I'll also note that this was the quickest nearly 3 hours for me has passed in a film this year, it completely flies by. I really hope Tarantino doesn't retire after his next film (Or possibly this) because love him or hate him, he's one of the only people still delivering successful original films that have a voice amongst all the soulless live-action Disney remakes and passable Marvel films.
10/10 Dans
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is out now in cinemas in the UK with a 4K UHD Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV
Watch the trailer below:
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