Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood made me wish I knew more about Hollywood.
It also made me wish I knew more about hippies.
Set in 1969, the film follows the fading career of Hollywood actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt man Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Booth is at Dalton’s beck and call, but the two have a close friendship. Dalton lives next to director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) and his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Dalton’s agent books him for a spaghetti Western in Italy, where he gets married to Francesca Capucci (Lorenza Izzo). When he, Capucci, and Booth return, the infamous Manson family is waiting.
Of course, a lot of bullshit happens along the way.
To be honest, I can’t tell you what Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is about.
I’d need to know a lot more about 1960’s Hollywood culture to do that.
I know I missed a lot of the film’s references. I recognized Polanski’s name and The Playboy Mansion and that was about it.
The film also involved, somewhat randomly, the Manson family.
What do I know about the Manson family?
They were some crazy motherfuckers.
Ok class, no more questions.
In other words.
It kind of felt like an extended inside joke I wasn’t in on.
On top of that, although shit absolutely goes down in the last fifteen minutes, not much happens before that.
But somehow, I still enjoyed the film.
The superstar combination of DiCaprio, Pitt, and Robbie probably helped. They’re larger than life, and their reputation and recognizability sucks your attention toward them whenever they’re on the screen.
I should mention that DiCaprio’s performance is incredible. The man simply knows how to act. His character, Dalton, struggles to come to terms with the fact that his best days are behind him. And although DiCaprio is still getting major roles, he, too, has gotten a lot older since Titanic. DiCaprio’s masterfully captures Dalton’s desperation and grief at having lost what one once had, perhaps because he’s familiar with them himself.
Pitt? He’s a stoic badass. It’s the role that fits him best. Tarantino gives him a surprisingly weighty backstory, and Booth’s relationship with Dalton is strangely touching in spite of its one-sidedness.
I wasn’t exactly sure what Robbie was doing in the film. It’s not her fault; the character she plays, Sharon Tate, is a historically significant figure in relation to the the Manson affair but plays a minimal role in the film. I wish Tarantino had given Tate a more active role in the narrative; it feels like they cast Robbie for what amounts to a minor role just because of her star power.
But hey, I’m not complaining. I think that if God was asked to create a perfect woman, he’d point his fat, cloudy finger at Margot Robbie.
There’s a two hour and twenty minute lull, and then BAM! Shit hits the fan in an incredibly violent and gruesome concluding fight scene. It’s brutal, even for Tarantino. But it isn’t unwatchable, and it didn’t even feel excessive.
My reaction to the film is somewhat inexplicable. I don’t care about Hollywood or the anxieties of former big-shot actors, and that is basically what the movie is about. And Dalton’s career is not declining — that would’ve lent directionality — but rather whimpering, petering. And that’s all that happens for most of the film: whimpering and petering. In other words, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood doesn’t have much of a plot. Yes, there’s the whole Manson kerfuffle, but that felt kind of random anyways. Dalton and Booth’s relationship is intriguing but never fleshed out, and, as I said, Tarantino doesn’t give Tate much to do.
And yet.
The movie is two hours and forty minutes long, and it held my attention all the way through. I don’t know how, but it did. Much of the movie is Dalton drinking or Booth driving, but Tarantino somehow made Once Upon a Time in Hollywood feel brisk and engaging.
Was it the colors? The music? The dialogue?
Don’t ask me. I’m just a guy who, until a month ago, cropped Adobe documents for a living.
In short, the whole thing felt a bit like a magic show. I didn’t know why the movie captured my attention, but I didn’t want to lift the curtain and find out.
My advice?
Just sit back, relax, and watch DiCaprio pull one dove out of his hat after another.