By: James Southworth
Rating: 5/5 Stars
There are some directors where you immediately associate something with them when you hear their name. Quentin Tarantino is one of those seminal directors. Most people are likely to think "Pulp Fiction", stylized violence, quotable lines, and most importantly, quality film-making. That last association is probably the one I would most associate with him, as he's made films that are basically classics at this point. He will definitely be remembered as one of the best directors of all time years down the road. There's always buzz whenever he has a new film out. That's definitely been the case with "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". It's been four years since Tarantino's last film "The Hateful Eight", and I was interested to see what he'd cook up this time. This film revolves around Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth. Dalton is living in 1969, which marks the end of the Hollywood Golden Age of movies. This also marks him fading out as a star, and him having to come to terms with that. This film is absolutely masterful, and is easily my favorite movie of the year so far.
There were a lot of things about this movie that are really refreshing for the cinematic landscape we live in right now. For one, this movie does feel like a relic of a time in Hollywood that rarely pops up anymore: a time when movies took their time, and didn't always have to have things constantly happening. There's a lot more quiet moments in this film than I was expecting, and I appreciated that a lot. The world of Hollywood, California feels truly lived in here. There are some shots in this film that go on for an elongated time just to give the viewer a sense of mood and atmosphere. I can't emphasize enough how much I loved that aspect of this film. What's more, the characters all feel incredibly realistic. The amount of time we get to see them just living in the world makes it feel like we could easily meet them on the street. They are real people. Sometimes characters in this movie just sit and talk. These conversations don't necessarily move the plot along, and they don't have to. The characters do not dictate the plot, rather the plot comes naturally into the film when it feels most logical to incorporate it. I think some people may try to characterize the movie as "boring" because of the amount of quiet moments here. I personally find these quiet moments to be valuable, as they give us plenty of time to intimately know each of the characters. They become fully fleshed out.
Something else I was absolutely impressed by in this film was the amount of films within the film. This is a movie that's partly about the making of movies in a way. I know there will be a lot of eye rolls in the audience when I say that, because we all know the Oscars eat this genre up. However, I think Tarantino is clearly sincere in showing his love for the Golden Age of Hollywood. There's a lot of cool moments where he's showing old shows that I'm sure will bring a sense of nostalgia, and make the movie feel all the more lived in. What's more impressive, though, is the amount of fake TV shows Tarantino creates here with Rick Dalton. He's in a black and white western that is clearly meant to be Tarantino's homage to shows like "Gunsmoke" or "The Rifleman". He's shown to be in a clip killing Nazis that is clearly meant to be lightly poking fun at over the top B Movies. The one that stood out the most to me is the western Dalton is in for the movie's present, where he plays a villain. The way Tarantino filmed the scenes where Dalton was in this film within a film were some of "Once Upon"'s best moments. Tarantino has proven with something like "The Hateful Eight" that he can do a western, but this 'movie' that we only see fragments of is even more intriguing to me. The fact that Tarantino can make other mock movies within his own film that are just as intriguing proves how great of a filmmaker he has come to be. I would love to see a fully realized version of any of the mock flicks in this movie. As they are in the film, they only serve to accentuate Rick Dalton as a character more, serving as a depressing reminder to him of the star power he used to have.
And now it's time to talk about the performances in this movie, because they're all superb. Leonardo Dicaprio stands tall as the best performance of this movie in the role of Rick Dalton. This character is endlessly enjoyable to watch, and that's because of how committed Dicaprio is to bringing this person to life. Rick is an undeniably tragic character in many ways, due to how he used to be such a great Hollywood star, but now is fading into memory. We see through the movie that this was really all that Dalton felt he had, and losing it weighed on him heavily. However, Tarantino also brings a surprising amount of comedy out of Dalton's tragedy. Dicaprio plays this character as absolutely clueless in many scenes, taking himself too seriously. Because of that, we are supposed to laugh at him. It's clear Rick Dalton isn't really in on the joke, which makes it even funnier. There are many times when he's unintentionally funny (such as a particularly funny scene where he's getting mad at himself for forgetting his lines), and it's clear he doesn't realize how ridiculous he looks. And yet, for as much as we do laugh at Dalton, it's easy to feel sympathy for him. He is a likeable character, and seems like a generally decent person. Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth is a superb foil to Dalton. Whereas Rick is clueless about how he looks to others, Cliff seems to be much more intelligent and cognizant of the world around him. He is the first to feel something is up when he meets this cult-like group of hippies (you'll immediately know who they are once you see the movie). He also seems to see through a lot of the Hollywood facade, even able to make Rick Dalton more vulnerable towards him. I really found this character intriguing, and that's in big part due to how well Pitt fits the role. This is his best performance in years, and I hope to see more like this from him in the future. Margot Robbie has a bit of a smaller role in this film as Sharon Tate, but I still really liked what she brought to the table. She did particularly well when giving her reactions to seeing how much other people were enjoying her movie. I think in her Tarantino was symbolically ushering in the new Hollywood, and his perspectives on the new generation of film don't seem to be cynical.
The final fifteen minutes of this film cement it as an absolute must-watch. I don't want to spoil it for you, but those last minutes are some of the most memorable scenes I've watched in the theater this year. I don't have really any negative things to say about "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". It's an endlessly engrossing film populated with characters that are great to watch. Even the smaller characters here have some intriguing things to do. It's really Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth who are the focus here, as it should be. I'm sure this movie will be nominated for some Oscars, as it should be. It's hard to say where I'll rank this in Tarantino's filmography, but rest assured it won't be low on the list. Go watch this!
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