Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

UK Release Date. 14 August 2019
Certification. 18
Running Time. 2 hours 41 mins
Director. Quentin Tarantino
Cast. Austin Butler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Margaret Qualley, Margot Robbie.
Rating. 73%

Review.

Fact and fiction have an interesting relationship in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood. Fictional characters rub shoulders with real-life individuals from 1969 Los Angeles - the likes of Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis), Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch) and Charles Manson (Damon Herman) are interwoven into the film's storyline. Invented, non-existent films and imagined, re-cast films co-exist alongside genuine television shows. And importantly, the actual events leading up to 9 August, 1969 are told with an entirely different narrative altogether. 

Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood features three main characters,

• Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) - A fading television actor and former star of the 1950's western series, Bounty Law. Tarantino is in his element in sketching out Dalton's career for the audience, from the apparent cult favourite The Fourteen Fists Of McCluskey to an unsuccessful screen test for the 1963 film, The Great Escape. Oh, what could have been! At least in the realms of Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood.
• Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) - The long-time stunt double of Rick Dalton, turned gopher. His easy, sun-kissed appearance belies an inner darkness that would have appeared to cost him everything. 
• Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) - A genuine actor on the brink of stardom, and neighbour to Rick Dalton on Cielo Drive. 

The separate storylines of the three main characters provide a loose framework for a series of scenes that demonstrate that the industry is moving on without Rick Dalton (and for that matter, Cliff Booth). To begin with Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood doesn't quite coalesce. Some of the scenes are stand out - for example, Booth's run-in with Bruce Lee, played by Mike Moh and Dalton's encounter with an eight-year-old method actor, Trudi Frazer (Julia Butters) on the set of the television show, Lancer.

From Robert Richardson's stunning cinematography to Arianne Phillips' exquisite costume design, the technical elements of the film are impressive. Take Harry Cohen's extraordinary sound design for example, which interweaves music, talk show radio sound bites and adverts without detriment to the rhythm or the pace. Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood is a film that courses with a love of filmmaking. It might be Tarantino's most personal film to date. A sentimental piece - a rose-tinted view of Hollywood at that time - and one that reflects the sensibilities of a more mature, and possibly more thoughtful, filmmaker than the indie miscreant who stormed the industry back in the 1990s with his cool criminal portfolio of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown.

But to the heinous events of 8 August, 1969 when Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Steven Parent were all brutally murdered in their own home on Cielo Drive by Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel. The killers were apparently acting under the influence of the self-styled, counter-culture, cult leader, Charles Manson. The following evening, six more members of the Manson Family, this time actually accompanied by Manson himself, slaughtered Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary at their house on Waverley Drive.

At the time of release, much was made of Tarantino's treatment of Sharon Tate, in, particular, barely giving her a voice on screen. Yes, the character is less well-developed and Margot Robbie certainly has much less dialogue than the other two leading characters. But, what she lacks in dialogue - and screen time - Robbie more than makes up for with charisma and Tarantino seems more interested in the idea of Sharon Tate than he necessarily is in exploring who she really was. Tarantino's fiction is a correction of the horrible reality - an alternative storyline in which Tate's murder is simultaneously averted and avenged. The clue is in the title, 'Once upon a time...' Tarantino is presenting a version of Tate's tragic story with a fairytale happy ending. On the evening of 8 August, 1969 in Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood there's a disturbance of the peace next door that Sharon Tate isn't involved in. If Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood is about Tate in any sense, it's about giving her that life back, and deliberately not fixating on her death. To some extent, Tarantino's aim is to actually leave her well alone.

Quentin Tarantino has stated on numerous occasions that he only intends to direct ten feature films before retiring. Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood is his ninth [if you count Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 as one film, and ignore his contribution to Four Rooms]. Once again, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood showcases Tarantino's apparent encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema and pop culture, his idiosyncrasies and his tendency for self-indulgence. In a polar opposite treatment to Damien Chazelle's Babylon, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood serves as a loving tribute to a bygone era of films and film stars. Whilst, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood may not be Tarantino's best work, it is still better than the efforts of many other filmmakers gainfully employed. Only time will tell if The Movie Critic really will be Tarantino's swansong.