ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Going in I am fully aware I may have my Tarantino blinders on.
I mean if I was going to post my top 5 working Directors I would go with:
J.J. Abrams
Spielberg
Wes Anderson
Jean Marc Vallee
And of course Tarantino.
I like Tarantino because he takes life and looks at it at other angles. He takes ones perception of characters and shows us what we think we know and then gives us a backstory that may or may not change our perception.
So for the first time in four years Tarantino released a full length film which he also wrote.
There are a lot of stories here in this film:
-DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton a washed up 50's early 60's movie star who is trying to find his place in the TV world in the late 60's early 70's.
-Pitt plays Cliff Booth who is the stunt man for Rick Dalton. However as jobs for Dalton are drying up, Cliff Booth pretty much becomes Dalton's Personal Assistant and Life Coach
-Margaret Robbie plays Sharon Tate, who we follow around Hollywood, she is in her glory she is happily pregnant and her film with Dean Martin is a hit in the theatres.
All three of these story lines bounce around a lot just as Tarantino did with Hateful Eight, he bounces to back stories and then to the present time. This leads the film to seem kind of choppy and almost nonsensical, and at 2 hours and 45 minutes you often think this is looooong where is it going???!!!
The film is often funny; often frightening; sometimes a little sad. Yet with all being noted it struggles to come together...and in a strange way it does at the end, it just may take a little to long to get there.
As for the end. Like in Inglourious Bastards, Tarantino takes a true story and twists it to make it...maybe turn out the way he or we would like it to end up. He pretty much does that here...No Spoilers.
Some critics have problems with the violence and the twist of history. IT IS TARANTINO IT IS WHAT HE DOES!!!!! It is a story. They question the violent and I do mean violent end of the film ...again IT IS TARANTINO!!! People understood the almost comic version of the violence and were laughing in the theatre.
Some people have problems with using the Sharon Tate story. Tarantino spoke to the sister of Tate and screened the movie for her. She loved how it showed the joy that Sharon brought into the world and she was happy people saw that and not just a victim of psycho killers.
Well I have gone on too long. Is it one of Tarantino's best? No. But it is vintage Tarantino, putting you in a place and time, and playing with the story, using odd camera angles and colors and music.. What pushes this film through is the performances by all three leads, I hope they are remembered at Oscar time.
4 stars out of 5 for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I think you will hate it and find it weird, long, and boring yet disturbing; or find it so different you will love it. I just barely loved it, mind you most of Tarantino film I could give 4 1/2 or 5 stars. but still I get it...at least I think lol. It is still tense and disturbing.
I end with a tip of the hat to the final performance here by Luke Perry. RIP.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time
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