Movie Review: “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”

“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”

Release Date: July 26, 2019

Runtime: 161 mins

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio

              Brad Pitt

            Margot Robbie

           Emile Hirsch

Few directors have built up a body of work so incredibly divisive, a bold style so instantly recognizable, and a name known even among those who have never seen one of their films. 

Perhaps no contemporary filmmaker embodies such a description more fully than Quentin Tarantino.

Tarantino’s latest film, “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” is the ninth in his self-imposed ten-movie limit. 

“Hollywood” follows Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), a once-popular leading man quickly fading into irrelevance, and Cliff Booth (Pitt), Rick’s longtime stuntman and only friend, as they go about their lives in 1969 Hollywood. That barely gets at what the movie is really “about,” but this is not a plot-centric movie.

On the contrary, the film focuses most of its attention on recreating the look and feel of a specific time and place. In many ways, the radically and rapidly changing Hollywood entertainment industry could be considered the film’s main character. It tangibly influences the thoughts and actions of basically every human character in the movie. Even ignoring its thematic purposes, the superb cinematography, set design, costume design, and perfectly used soundtrack truly take the audience through a time machine and engulfs them in its world.  

This is not to say the other characters in the film are in some way useless or uninteresting. Rick and Cliff are fun to be around, and DiCaprio and Pitt have fantastic chemistry. The audience will have absolutely no trouble believing these two have been friends for years.  

These two main characters are fictional, but many of the people they work with and around are real people. Of these, by far the most substantial role is given to actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).  Her story is mostly separate from the main narrative, but she is central to the theme and purpose of the film. I would advise, however, that people not expect the film to be entirely accurate in its depiction of these real people.

The movie has been criticized as having poor pacing and several scenes which seem to lack purpose. I understand why many people felt this way. I had the same problems after my first viewing. However, I was not all that bothered by these aspects on repeat viewings.

“Hollywood” is not the kind of tightly scripted, interwoven story audiences have come to expect from Tarantino after films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Inglourious Basterds.” It is a much more relaxed, patient and even mature movie. It gives itself room to focus on smaller character moments. It is difficult to imagine a scene dedicated entirely to a character feeding his dog, for example, in any other Tarantino film.

This more patient direction does not necessarily make “Hollywood” Tarantino’s best film, at least in my opinion. However, it does seem to make the movie more palatable to those who were turned off by Tarantino’s earlier work, though the film does end with a burst of Tarantino’s trademark over the top violence. Those who have been disgusted by Tarantino’s use of violence in the past seem not to mind as much in this film though. 

The movie is unquestionably Tarantino’s love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood, honoring movies and shows he grew up on and actors and actresses he admired. He devises a way to keep that era from ending, at least in the way that it did. It does seem to be Tarantino’s most personal film yet, but he still infuses it with the energy and style he is known for. 

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