Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

photo courtesy of indiewire.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Director Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a dramedy set in 1960s Los Angeles. It follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former TV star fallen on hard times, and his stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). While Rick attempts to take charge of his career, Cliff gets mixed up with a group of spooky hippies fixated on Rick’s next-door neighbors, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).

     Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is recognizably Tarantino, with all his usual tics and idiosyncrasies, but it’s also less ostentatious, less excessive, less violent than what we’ve come to expect from a Tarantino flick—until the ending, of course. With solid performances from its all-star cast and a well-written screenplay, it takes the audience for a cool, often tense, and surprisingly affectionate trip to the golden age of Hollywood.

photo courtesy of rollingstone.com

     DiCaprio and Pitt give charming performances in the lead roles. They’re seasoned actors playing seasoned professionals, and there’s a certain joy to watching them work together both in real life (this is their first time starring together) and in the world of the film. Robbie, by design, has much less to do in Once Upon a Time, but her scenes are delightful, if perhaps foreboding. Many other actors appear in bit parts or cameos, including Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Timothy Olyphant, Kurt Russell, and Lena Dunham.

     Tarantino’s screenplay takes its time to unwind, which gives the movie an easygoing, almost uninterested pace through much of the first two acts. It meanders maybe a little too much, but otherwise its storytelling is measured and absorbing. As you might expect from Tarantino, it operates multiple storylines at once, each of them intersecting in time for the final act. It alternates between suspense—building tension and often cleverly subverting expectations—and other scenes that seem entirely relaxed, unbothered, where he gives his characters room to live and be. And though they might not all be surprising to Tarantino fans by this point, Tarantino does throw in a few enjoyable curveballs.

photo courtesy of slashfilm.com

     In some ways, Once Upon a Time represents a more straightforward—and therefore perhaps more widely appealing—film for Tarantino. He limits the desensitizing, graphic violence to a few sequences, tones down his stylistic quirks, and even allows for a bit of optimism. Tarantino clearly has deep admiration for this time period and culture, and that wistful, near-tenderness permeates the whole film (and especially Robbie’s scenes). Other commentators will be more qualified to discuss what this all means for Tarantino, but for our purposes it means only this: armed with nostalgia, wit, and well-realized characters, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood makes for a groovy good time.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is rated R for language throughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references.

TRAILER