★★★★★
A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
Classification: 18
As the title suggests for what is possibly his penultimate film, Quentin Tarantino has crafted an ethereal fairytale of a time long past, an ode to the growing free-spirited nature of Hollywood and of a changing America. Set in the infamous summer of 1969 during the Tate murders, Tarantino examines the period where the golden age of Hollywood was coming to a close through three interconnected stories of the main characters; Leonardo DiCaprio as insecure television actor Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt as his cool, collected stunt double Cliff Booth and Margot Robbie as a fictionalised Sharon Tate. Except for Rick and Cliff, almost every character within Hollywood is real individual from the era as Tarantino's level of detail allows for a full immersion for the period but for how his unique storytelling will unfold the tragic events. Morbid curiosity takes hold as you wonder how Tarantino, a filmmaker famous for scenes of brutal explicit violence will handle the Manson family and their subsequent crimes but any doubt or fear one may have is unfounded as Tarantino delivers his most mature and beautiful film yet.
Similar to his previous historical films Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained, Tarantino takes these awful events, places in his original characters and creates a story which pays respect to those harmed but allows to the power of cinema to create a fantasy for catharsis against the pain of that history. Scalping Nazis and whipping slave drivers represent the revenge on a much larger scale due to the vast influence of fascism and slavery but with Hollywood, it goes far more intimate as the filmmakers explore the victim at such a personal level. The dramatic irony of what's coming isn't lost on the audience as Tarantino fills the runtime with disturbing scenes of the Manson family's infestation of Hollywood, a narrator giving us a play by play of Tate's actions of that fateful August night and giving ample time for Robbie's performance to display the beautiful humanity and kindness that was Sharon Tate. An incredible sequence through the second act revolving around Tate watching The Wrecking Crew on a whim and watching with bashful joy how her performance entertains the audience. Tarantino doesn't present Tate as a victim but as a shining light who captures the attention of every character in her presence, someone who treated her friends as loved ones, who danced, laughed and loved with every fibre of her being. Robbie brings an angel to life with her performance which makes the scenes leading to the infamous night at Ciello drive all the more distressing to the audience. Just like his previous films however Tarantino knows what tragedy is coming and places in his heroes to adjust history in the slightest, with Inglorious Basterds we had Aldo Raine and Shosanna, with Django Unchained we had Django and Dr King Schultz and with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Tarantino presents Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth.
Heroes in no real sense of the word as Rick is an insecure, depressed drunk and Cliff while cool as hell is most likely a psychopath, DiCaprio and Pitt give career-best performances as this underdog duo doing their best to make it in Tinseltown. While their characters interact with the history of Hollywood and the Mansons in surprisingly interesting ways, Tarantino's script places these two into the fold with such ease that their fictional status is an afterthought to the audience. Dalton and Booth represent the polar opposite of Hollywood to the gleaming beauty of Tate's lifestyle, with Dalton as Tate's neighbour but with his house at the bottom of her hillside driveway; he's at the bottom and she's at the top. Tate parties with Steve McQueen at the Playboy mansion, Dalton mixes eight whiskey sours into a massive beer stein while surrounded by memorabilia of successes past while rehearsing lines for another television guest spot. Tarantino represents the death of this age Hollywood with these two storylines, showing Tate as a beacon that brutally taken and showing how an actor famous for playing a cowboy was fading into obscurity. Hollywood's love affair with the western genre led to hundreds of films and television shows as they tried to capture the wild nature of America, the freedom it always claimed to represent but when the west was tamed America changed and was never the same again, no matter how many stories told about the era. That same passage of an era is taking place in the late 1960s as bohemian lifestyle begins to take hold of America, rock and roll, drugs, anti-government sentiment; a new form of rebellion. At this point in 1969, America had witnessed in the last decade the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the civil rights moment, the space race, American intervention of Vietnam and it is clear as day that the times they are a-changin'.
Dalton spends a large portion of his storyline as a guest star "heavy" on a pilot for a new western television show called Lancer, through his interactions with the directors and co-stars Dalton begins to come to terms with the possibility that his career could be over. Leonardo DiCaprio is an actor who puts his whole soul into every performance and Rick Dalton is probably the best example of that yet as Tarantino's script and DiCaprio's talent create this deeply flawed, sympathetic, loveable yet maddening character. Dalton is a bona fide action star with many great cutaways of his western show Bounty Law and an amazing sequence of him torching Nazis with a flamethrower in one his WWII pictures but he's now only seen as a punching bag for younger television stars. Essentially Tarantino is showing how Dalton is being put out to pasture if he remains in Hollywood and that his offer to go to Italy to film "spaghetti westerns" may be his only hope of a continuing career. Dalton's storyline on the Lancer set has him face his insecurities head-on through amazing scenes that have DiCaprio display his talent as a physical and emotional performer. It becomes Dalton's last stand as he faces a director who wants him to shirk his Bounty Law persona, a child co-star unimpressed by his star power portrayed by amazing newcomer Julia Butters and dealing with the series lead inadvertently bringing up painful career memories. Dalton must fight through his self-doubt and fear to prove all his doubters wrong and show why Rick Dalton is still a name to be reckoned with.
On the opposite end of the spectrum to DiCaprio's emotional manic temperament as Dalton, Brad Pitt might be the coolest cat to ever drive down the boulevard. Pitt's performance as Cliff Booth is award-worthy, a chill, collected former stuntman with a fair amount of mystery and secrets about him as his character is unveiled slowly throughout the film. His demeanour is a great source of comedy as Cliff's inability to be shocked or phased by anything makes him a perfect foil for Dalton's spiralling ego, displaying a real organic friendship. There is a great kinship between the two characters in large part because of the incredible chemistry of DiCaprio and Pitt, scenes of them just driving together or having a drink are instantly entertaining, again Tarantino's attention to detail from every line of dialogue to an actor's body language make every element of Hollywood all the more authentic. These two men weren't real and were not there that night but through the expert performance and direction, it does feel that Rick and Cliff have existed in some way, that their story represents the reality of many in the show business industry; the stars that burnt out. Pitt gives Cliff a sense of authority, that he is likely the most capable individual in any room displayed clearly in a sequence where he effortlessly faces martial arts legend, Bruce Lee, in one on one combat. With that authority however comes his darker side, seen in his lifestyle and routines. Cliff is a man who does not properly fit into the world of Hollywood, as seen by living in an airstream trailer behind a drive-thru theatre but has made a place for himself regardless. With his rock-solid confidence and aloof disposition to almost everything around him, what better character to introduce us to the Manson family?
Despite the number of events occurring in 1969, Tarantino, however, has small audio references to Vietnam and politics are hidden in radio and television broadcasts but doesn't present any of these events as a catalyst for breaking Hollywood. In a town of artists, dreamers and believers, Tarantino and history know something far more twisted was responsible for shocking them to their core. The handling of the Manson family is akin to that of a horror film, the cult mentality clear as day with creepy singing, random bursts of anger, the uncertainty of what awaits in their domain and most terrifying component, the humanity within them. Tarantino doesn't show them as monsters, but as disturbed individuals not to allow you to empathise with them but to show the great cruelty humanity is capable of as with his previous villains. Through serendipitous events, Cliff finds himself in the company of Pussycat and soon the whole family at the infamous Spahn movie ranch. As mentioned before the gravity of the events are treated seriously, with Tarantino showing the cult as danger and acknowledging their role in history but at the same time allowing for cathartic mockery and violence. As Margaret Qualley's character of Pussycat, whose manic hippie energy is delightful against Pitt's demeanour tries to give Cliff the sales pitch of Charles Manson's vision, Cliff quickly sees through it and allows for Pitts comedic timing to shine. Tarantino balances all these tones and subjects matter effortlessly creating a cinematic experience like no other even among his own repertoire.
The passion on the screen is undeniable as Tarantino and his team painstakingly recreated to the last detail, the heyday of Hollywood. From the cars, costumes, set designs of restaurants and ranches to the aspect ratios of Rick Dalton's television flashbacks, absolutely nothing is left to chance as the love of the period is on full display. The script ties Dalton, Booth and Tate together thematically as every scene serves its purpose, paced brilliantly and everything fitting together perfectly when the credits appear over the sublime final scene. It is a story and film that could only be crafted by a mind like Tarantino who doesn't necessarily hold himself back but instead explores a different side to his filmmaking. It is a film that takes a time to soak in the beauty of its setting and its character in large part due to the incredible cinematography of Robert Richardson but then paired with the incredible auditory experience of the soundtrack. Watching Cliff Booth drive down the street blasting "Bring a Little Lovin'" or watching Sharon Tate dance to Paul Revere & the Raiders is cinematic bliss as Tarantino's fairytale just takes hold of you in every sense that matters.
There is so much beauty to witness and unpack, This is a filmmaker putting his passion under a microscope, not for examination but celebration. Tarantino takes a tragedy and honours the life taken instead of exploiting it and shows clear as day that while the golden age of Hollywood has passed, the golden age of film has not. History doesn't change but how we look back on it can, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood while fantastical in places has great value in its storytelling of its characters both fictional and historical. Sharon was so much more than a victim, Rick was so much more than a failure and Cliff is probably the coolest person you'll see on a cinema screen this year. This is Quentin Tarantino's finest cinematic achievement yet catapulting an already iconic and influential filmmaker to new heights of talent and brilliance.
Director: #QuentinTarantino
Cast: #LeonardoDiCaprio, #BradPitt, #MargotRobbie, #EmileHirsch, #MargaretQualley, #TimothyOlyphant, #JuliaButters, #AustinButler, #MikeMoh, #DakotaFanning, #KurtRussell, #BruceDern, #AlPacino
Release Date: August 14th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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