Author Topic: Once Upping A Time...In Hollywood (no spoilers not in the trailers)  (Read 642 times)

Offline perc2100

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Quentin Tarantino has been a tour de force since releasing his debut film, RESERVOIR DOGS, in Jan. 1992.  His sharp dialogue, colorful characters that inhabit his movie worlds, and interesting situations have spawned hundreds of imitators and caused internet writers to spend countless hours pontificating QT's merits and faults.  At this point, with QT releasing his 9th film (counting KILL BILL as one film broken up into two parts) this weekend, you either know you're a fan of his work or you're not.

That being said, ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD feels very different from QT's other work.  By my estimation, ONCE UPON A TIME... is QT's least violent film, maybe the film with the least amount of cursing, and virtually no racial slurs.  We get the same universe of richly developed characters, some fictional (as the main characters, Brad Pitt's Cliff and Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick), some versions of real life people (Sharon Tate and her friends factor significantly; Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee, and even TV western actor James Stacy - here played by Timothy Olyphant), but this film feels much more contemplative.  The themes of an artist (Leo's actor Rick Dalton as well as Pitt's Cliff Booth) realizing they may be coming to the end of their artistic career while trying to stay relevant & satisfied are easy to juxtapose onto potentially Tarantino having similar thoughts: especially if he does end his film directing career after his 10th film as he's said.

Brad Pitt's performance transcends, as he plays a calm and rational BFF to DiCaprio's character: a stuntman who has maybe burned some bridges and is more of a personal assistant & driver for Rick Dalton than stuntman.  He portrays the type of friend we all wish we had: encouraging, loyal, and the kind of guy who fixes a TV antenna with the same calm as fighting Bruce Lee or driving a car off a bridge.  DiCaprio is also great, showing emotional vulnerability and depth rarely seen from him as he struggles to stay relevant in a changing Hollywood but lets his ego and alcohol issues get in his way.

While this film is clearly a love letter to late 1960's Hollywood, it feels just as much a love letter to actress Sharon Tate: the young, promising woman murdered by the Manson Family while maybe just about to hit a peak.  Margot Robbie glides and dances throughout the film, and gets incredibly subtle, beautiful moments as a person: watching an audience laugh and enjoy her role in a movie theater (the scene features footage of the real Sharon Tate in Dean Martin's spy film THE WRECKING CREW), or even just dancing at parties or interacting with her husband and friends.  Robbie is radiant as Tate, and her scenes feel like QT's school boy crush, or daydream of a movie star that could've been.

The film is difficult to discuss if for no other reason there isn't much of a plot.  ONCE UPON A TIME...takes place over two days in 1969: Feb. 7&8, and that fateful night of Aug. 8th; most of the film takes place on February 8th.  QT expertly contrasts the differences in actor-on-the-downslope Rick Dalton with actress-shooting-to-the-top Sharon Tate.  QT made an artistic choice to feature Tate in a mostly silent performance (with some critics who IMO missed many points of the entire film by quickly jumping on the fact that Robbie has few lines but significant screen time), and Robbie KILLS it with grace, fun, and an almost child-like innocence that's at once confident but needing encouragement (as all successful artists).  Dalton and Tate intersect because they happen to be next door neighbors on the infamous Cielo Drive in the Hollywood Hills.  Tate has the lifestyle Dalton dreams of, while Dalton has the lifestyle Cliff likely wants but knows is out of reach. It really is an interesting character study of 1969 Hollywood movie industry!

There are long stretches of Rick Dalton on the set of the (real life TV show) "Lancer" pilot, playing "the Big Heavy" bad guy and trying desperately to deliver an artistically-satisfying performance while struggling with lines, alcoholism, and self-doubt.  While watching the pilot being shot is of course littered with QT and cinematographer Robert Richardson's artistic visual flair, it's always fun for me to see behind-the-scenes type of stuff.  While Dalton is on set, Cliff has time off to do whatever after fixing Dalton's TV antenna.  This day (Feb. 8, 1969) leads us to our favorite QT stuntman character (sorry Stuntman Mike - sidebar question, is Kurt Russel's Randy in ONCE UPON A TIME... who is a stunt coordinator any relation to Stuntman Mike? They at least must have the same barber!) picking up a hitchhiker who needs a ride to Spahn Ranch.

Enter The Manson Family, front and center.

While I'm only in my early 40's, i.e. too young to have lived through the Manson murders of early Aug. 1969, Manson has been a large part of my lifetime: on TV, books, different movies, news, etc.  I've read "Helter Skelter," the book written by LA prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi who prosecuted the Manson Family for the multiple murders (the Aug. 8 Tate murders, the Aug. 9 LaBianca murders, and a few others) and I'm very familiar with details of the Family members.  The hippy family members permeate a sense of dread and tension throughout the movie, but maybe only if you know who they are.  When Cliff finds himself at Spahn Ranch, he almost immediately realizes something is amiss.  Being the loyal friend and nice guy that he is, Cliff stirs up trouble by wanting to check on elderly ranch owner George Spahn, whom Cliff knows from shooting Rick Dalton's western show at the Ranch years ago.  Things go south, and Cliff leaves the ranch after a one-way fight with a male Family member (this is in the trailers so not really a spoiler).  While Charles Manson is only in one scene (again, in the trailer), the menace he's caused via brainwashing exists throughout the film.

And it all culminates on that fateful night, August 8th 1969.

To say any more about the plot would be a disservice, but IMO the events of that night are maybe the closest thing to a plot the movie gets.  It's mostly 2+ hours of characters hanging out, working, and doing their thing with maybe 20/25 min. of The Manson Family doing their thing late on the night of Aug. 8.  The last 30 or so minutes of the film will get a lot of attention and talk, but to me it's all icing on the cake. 
The real joy of this film is spending time with compelling characters as they navigate 1969 Hollywood.  With trailers and commercials the screening of ONCE UPON A TIME... I saw was slightly more than 3 total hours long, and I would love to spend another 3 hours with (almost all of) these rich characters QT has introduced to us.  I've never wanted a postscript, "where are they now" type of end title cards like I feel like I need for this film! 

Like I said, you're either already excited for this movie, or you're not so I'm likely not going to convince you either way.  I'd say this is a very unique, different Tarantino movie: maybe the closest of his films to compare to would be Jackie Brown.  I'm pretty sure ONCE UPON A TIME... has the last amount of cursing and violence as any of his other films.  And the way QT handles Sharon Tate is exquisite and non-exploitative at all: again, almost like a boy with a crush on a girl that he puts on a pedestal.  If you're on the fence due to how Tate and the Manson murders are handled, I think you don't have to worry.  Of course, the Manson Family murders do indeed get violent and gorey, in the last 20 min. or so, but everything is handled well IMO.

This is indeed another Quentin Tarantino masterpiece: a surprisingly unique and fresh one that shows the auteur contemplating older age and the potential nearing-end of his artistic career.  I feel lucky to have lived in the age of Tarantino, having seen all of his films opening weekend and even seeing an early screening of RESERVOIR DOGS with a Q&A by him after-the-fact.  Anyone my age has experienced Tarantino change Hollywood and movies before our eyes in the early 1990's with first DOGS and then PULP FICTION.  This might be his most mature film to date and I think even die-hard QT fans will be surprised at the themes and maturity of this film.

Offline TardisMom

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Re: Once Upping A Time...In Hollywood (no spoilers not in the trailers)
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2019, 12:36:10 PM »
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The film is difficult to discuss if for no other reason there isn't much of a plot. 

And the way QT handles Sharon Tate is exquisite and non-exploitative at all: again, almost like a boy with a crush on a girl that he puts on a pedestal.

Great review!  I love Tarantino films and your two points above are exactly what we discussed on the drive home.  Even without a plot I found the nearly 3 hours went by without needing to check my watch.  And I was very worried about the lack of dialog for Margot Robbie but she did SO much with the character without saying needing dialog.  Brad's acting looks effortless and even Leo didn't annoy me as much as he usually does.  And it was nice seeing Maya Hawke again so soon after Stranger Things.

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