Film Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie

Running time: 160 mins

In August 1969, fifty years ago, mankind just made a giant leap thanks to one man’s small step, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who are rehearsing for Woodstock, and the Golden Age of Hollywood was about to be butchered by the Manson Family. You may need to know about the latter to fully appreciate Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

Quentin Tarantino's ninth, and supposedly penultimate, film starts six months before the Manson Family events, and follows two separate story lines: the first focuses on the comeback struggles of washed up B-movie actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), who delivers arguably one of his best performances, followed by his best and only friend, Cliff Boot (Pitt), who proves yet again he's from the same stock as those old Hollywood giants.

Cliff is Rick's easygoing stunt double, and manages his self-pity; nothing seems to disturb him and he has no ego to bruise. He's also Rick’s driver, since his licence has been suspended. If you've ever dreamed of Brad Pitt driving a car to a sixties soundtrack during the Golden Age Hollywood - and happen to share Tarantino's foot fetish - you’ll love the first two hours of the film. Because there is a lot of that. And I mean a lot. 

The second and, frankly weaker, plot, follows Dalton’s new neighbour, Sharon Tate (Robbie), who is hanging around Hollywood and living the dream, having recently relocated to Celio Drive - a name which should sound familiar if you are interested in the Manson Murders - with her husband, director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha).

His new-found proximity to Polanski inspires Dalton to try and befriend the director, with the hopes of acting in one of his films. “I may be one pool party away of playing in the next Polanski,” he says to his buddy Cliff. And he is damn right, and what a pool party. The presence of Roman Polanski also makes a scene during which Cliff refuses a blowjob from a young girl because she can’t prove she’s eighteen feel quite… memorable.

The chosen structure helps build toward a potentially divisive - though not surprising if you follow Tarantino’s filmography - finale, but we’re far from the perfectly crafted de-constructed narrative structure of Pulp Fiction. No doubt that the under-developed sub-plot of Tate is here as a backdrop, but it merely ends up slowing down an already (very) slow-paced story and just becomes frustrating. The mention of Polanski and Tate being Dalton’s neighbour, and Cliff’s Western-ish visit at the Spahn Ranch, an actual movie location which was also the lair of Charles Manson fellowship, would have been more than enough to put the story into context and built the tension needed. As it is, it feels a bit artificial and I can’t help thinking that it’s probably due to the fact that, in 2017 or so, Tarantino said he had written a screenplay about the Manson Family murders and that the casting was ongoing for a film produced by the Weinstein company. But the director disengaged himself from Weinstein company in the aftermath of Harvey's sexual abuse scandal and, after that, the film went through a new production process. That original script may well have then mutated to become the film we now have.

Overall, watching Di Caprio and Brad Pitt duo is delightful, even though I would have preferred Tarantino to focus more on this relation than other sub-plots, or inserted movie scenes from Dalton's catalogue. But the director is no stranger to long digressions, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is no exception: you either love it or you hate it. But there’s another thing puzzling me: when you are such an outspoken lover of Sergio Leone’s cinema, and you create a film called Once Upon a Time in Whatever, you generate expectations. Of epicness, of emotions, of grandiose. And, it may be on purpose, but there’s nothing of this in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; the film stays really grounded and is merely an enjoyable comedy (way above the rest, don’t get me wrong). Maybe the lack of a proper original soundtrack - like that of Ennio Morricone in Leone’s film - contributes to this. Indeed, the soundtrack is a gimmicky, yet tasteful, compilation of sixties music and at some point, as much as I like this selection of songs, feels tacky and irritating. As is the use of Kurt Russell as an all-too-convenient narrator, whenever Tarantino falls short of the "show-us-don't-tell-us" standard we've come to expect from him. 

These Tarantino patchwork slices of life come before an expected (and long-awaited) climax where he unleashes everything that made him famous in the past and redefines the meaning of Chekhov’s gun quite epically. But, on a personal note, I was disappointed by the lack of Tarantino’s controversial use of violence during the film, again, probably because he kept it for the finale to give it a bigger impact. But, this impact may have been bigger if I didn’t guess where it was going way before it arrives. Tarantino’s cinema is codified, gimmicky, and it seems he’s reached a point where it has become foreseeable. But hey, he's meant to be retiring soon anyway.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of Tarantino, you’ve already seen the film (or are about to) and if you’re not, you probably don’t care. No one will argue that he's isn’t still doing his own thing, and it’s refreshing, especially now, when cinema is drowning in franchises and adaptations, to see his original stamp put on a film. Ultimately, the film feels like a compilation of everything he loves, put together in a clever way. To be honest I don’t even know if liked the film or not.  I almost didn’t feel the three hours passing, I had a bit of laugh, I felt frustrated, and I can't quite tell whether the good feeling I had upon leaving the cinema was just down to Broadway's amazing new seats. But the more time passes after viewing, the more I think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is worth re-watching - and that in itself means a lot. 

Did you know? Margot Robbie, who portrays Sharon Tate, wears some of Sharon Tate's real jewelry. Sharon Tate's sister, Debra, gave Robbie the jewelry to wear.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 29 August