Hollywood, 1 9 6 9. Rick Dalton is a TV actor struggling to try to make it into film roles, but is only suggested for Italian Spaghetti-Westerns. His best friend is his stunt-double Cliff Booth. Their neighbors are Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. Rick gets a role of a villain in a new TV series "Lancet". In the meantime, Cliff picks up a hitchhiker hippie girl who brings him to Spahn Ranch, where dozens of girls are part of Charles Manson's commune. Cliff leaves the place with his car. Several months later, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel arrive around midnight, intending to kill Sharon Tate. However, they enter Rick's house, where Cliff kills all three of the cultist with the help of his dog. Upon hearing what happened, Jay Sebring invites Rick to Polanski's house.
Out of all of Quentin Tarantino's films, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is arguably his most misunderstood one: attacked for all the wrong reasons, from people who claimed that "Bruce Lee would never say this" or that "Sharon Tate has too little lines", through people who objected that there is too little violence in the story (the only violent scenes are at the start and ending of the film, while the entire 90% middle part is remarkably calm and measured) up to those who claimed that the movie is too long or too slow—this nostalgic essay is actually Tarantino's most humanistic film ever. Ditching the crime, thriller and revenge tropes which were his trademark, Tarantino offered a confirmation of the old saying that "each film is a product of its time": it is a sly metafilm commentary on both the transition of 'old Hollywood' into 'new Hollywood' of 1 9 6 9 and the contemporary transition of 2019 which seems to be an end of an era, where the 'modern Hollywood' is succeeded by a 'Hollywood of CGI, brands, sequels, remakes and prequels'. It is almost as if it is Tarantino's contemplation about his own place in such time of cinema, where the auteur now has to be a commercial manager.
There is an underlying sadness in protagonist Rick Dalton who thinks his best days are behind him, and who cannot adapt to the 'new Hollywood' rules. The film is very untypical for Tarantino, surprisingly relaxed, taking its time to enjoy the little details and interactions, almost as if he is doing a 'slice-of-life' film without a real goal. "Once" is filled with quirky dialogues ("What are you looking at?" - "At a dope whose jaw is about to get punched!"; "Don't cry in front of the Mexicans!"), inventive ideas (using special effects, DiCaprio is "inserted" into Steve McQueen's role in Sturges' actual film "The Great Escape"), delicious moments of details and numerous film references, whereas it also gives an excellent performance to Brad Pitt as Cliff, who hereby gave the role of a lifetime. Not all the subplots work, nor do they all connect at the end or have a point, though. Some of it falls into 'empty walk', and too many side characters make the film too episodic at times. For instance, Steve McQueen makes a cameo where he cleverly points out that Jay Sebring, Sharon's ex, is just sticking around hoping that Polanski will sooner or later goof, and that she will thus return to Sebring, but after that, McQueen never appears in the film again. Several sequences also lead nowhere. One in particular has a great, mysterious set-up, where Cliff insists at seeing the owner of the Spahn Ranch, even though all the girls are trying to stop him from entering the shack: one expects a trap or a huge reveal, but it just ends without any particular point. However, the 'Mandela effect' twist ending is brilliant, being both respectful towards Sharon and providing 'out-of-this-world' justice at the same time, taking the power away from the Manson murderers and giving it to the victims—this ending breaks the bleak reality, and thus suggests that hope can live on in movies, since Sharon is the symbol for the spirit of "classic Hollywood" which is indestructible and may stop its own death.
Grade:+++
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