Oh Quentin! I'm a big fan but your latest left me confuddled. Perhaps though I am just not arty enough to have understood the nuances of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The hubby and I had just watched Kill Bill Vol 1 (is this not one of the greatest Tarantino's) on Foxtel so decided to watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and we were left perplexed.
It's running time is 2 hours 41 minutes and it "apparently" fits into the genre of Comedy/Drama. It is set in 1969 in, you guessed it, Hollywood and centers around actor Rick Dalton (Leo) and Cliff Booth (Brad), his stunt double. We didn't find it particularly funny or dramatic - and where was the classic Tarantino violence and groovy way of story-telling.
I turned to Imdb for some answers and it told me - "A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles".
Totes agree that is what Rick Dalton is striving for - Cliff Booth on the other hand seems pretty happy with his life whether he is stunt doubling or not though. What it fails to mention is the story thread of Sharon Tate and her hubby Roman Polanski - isn't this the main thread? or do I just want it to be because this poor woman and her unborn child lost their actually lives back in 1969.
There were so many questions left unanswered for us - why is Bruce Lee in this movie? why is Steve McQueen in this movie telling me that Sharon used to be engaged to Jay Sebring and dumped him for Roman Polanski? what's with the storyline of Cliff Booth killing his wife? why do we have to watch Rick Dalton film a western movie?
I have tried to work out why I found it lacking - was I torn because some characters were based on real people - Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski, Charles Mason, Tex Watson, Steve McQueen, Jay Sebring, Mama Cass, Michelle Phillips and some weren't. Some events were based on real events - Sharon Tate's movies, Charles Manson's cult, the Playboy mansion and some weren't. Some events were rewritten - the death of Sharon Tate and some weren't.
Was it the fact we had to wait until the end for a true taste of Tarantino violence when Charles Manson's "children" broke into Rick's house and tried to kill Rick, his new wife and Cliff - all hell breaks loose (classic Tarantino). Cliff's dog, Randy goes nuts on a guy's nuts, one girl gets her face smashed in and another is BBQ'd by a flame thrower. Classic Tarantino.
One thing we weren't left questioning were the actors in this movie. Brad is amazing! Leo is amazing! Margot is amazing! Brad and Leo together are amazing! The supporting actors are amazing! The star studded cameos are amazing - we loved seeing Michael Madsen.
So all in all - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood isn't my favourite Tarantino flick but thankfully he has a lot of others we can choose from.
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