Once Upon A Time In Hollywood  
4 stars
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Leonardo di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch,  Margaret Qualley
Duration: 161 mins
Class: 18
KRS Releasing Ltd

There was a moment while I was watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where I thought to myself, “if the story is going where I think it is going, it’s going to be in really bad taste…” and it wouldn’t have surprised me. After all, in his 28-odd-year career, director Quentin Tarantino has never shied away from controversy; and pushing the boundaries of political correctness was never something that bothered him.

 Yet I was proven wrong when the film reached its bitter-sweet ending, at which point I’d concluded that this is probably Tarantino’s most personal film yet – a loving homage to Hollywood itself, home of the art form that he’s worshipped since childhood, and that informed his career.

 This former video store clerk has come a long way since he exploded on the scene with the sublime Reservoir Dogs in 1992. He has since created a legacy built on complex, interweaving and fascinating narratives, featuring memorable characters; dialogue that is at once sacred in its eloquence and profane in its content; and his characteristic, almost unhealthily gleeful use of gratuitous violence. He has consistently delighted audiences and critics alike, and while everything in OUATIH is stamped with all his hallmarks, everything is much more measured, resulting in what is also his most ‘grown-up’ film, with a focus on his protagonists as they look back on what was, what could have been and what is to come. 

Headlining the film are real-life Hollywood heavyweights Leonardo di Caprio and Brad Pitt. The former stars as Rick Dalton, beloved star of 1950s and 1960s TV smash hit Bounty Law. With the 1970s – and the hippie culture they would usher in – fast approaching, Rick looks back with regret on a career that never fulfilled his desire of making it in the movies.

The film’s climax is explosive, expansive, highly entertaining and not a little emotional

He longs for a chance meeting with his superstar neighbours, Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha) and his actress wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), hoping that will bring him the access into the highest Hollywood echelons he craves so badly. Pitt plays Rick’s stuntman and close confidant Cliff Booth, a man whose easygoing, languid façade belies the darkness that lies within. Cliff needs to rely on Rick for stunt work and spends his time running errands for him, getting involved in street fights with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh), giving lifts to nubile women, or reducing a hippie commune resident to a beaten pulp over a puncture. 

That is pretty much the nub of the story and it all ambles on amiably as it charts Rick’s career as he guest stars in myriad TV shows and, much against his better judgement, spends time in Italy making Spaghetti Westerns, with Cliff  constantly by his side, until, this being a Tarantino film, the myriad wandering story strands come together seamlessly. To say anything more would be giving things away. Suffice it to say, the film’s climax is explosive, expansive, highly entertaining and not a little emotional, as it defies expectations, and actually brings a little tear to the eyes.

Tarantino has always drawn terrific performances from his actors, and this is no exception. His leading men do not put a foot wrong as they effortlessly enter the director’s vision of Hollywood while Robbie injects her portrayal of Sharon Tate with enthusiasm and a lovely sense of whimsy. Add to that the considerable collective of actors, many of whom probably did not put in more than a couple of days’ work, yet who commit to their portrayals of mostly real-life characters like they were all playing Hamlet.

Names like Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell and many more fill the roster, and they flit in and out of the narrative without ever disturbing its flow, cementing your enjoyment even more. 

Tarantino tells his story with flashbacks, a little voice-over and some fun and cheeky gimmicks (to wit, Caprio seamlessly inserted into a classic Steve McQueen film).  Technically it is faultless, from Robert Richardson’s photography, Barbara Ling’s production design, Arianne Phillips’ costume designer and Fred Raskin’s editing making it a cohesive whole.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino’s ninth film and purported to be his penultimate one. Whether this will come to pass has yet to be seen; and based on his ability to tell a more mature story without sacrificing any of the fun, there is much more left in him yet to be tapped; so it would be a shame if he did ‘retire’ after the magical 10.

Also showing

Playmobil: The Movie (Classification U) – A young woman travels to the animated world of Playmobil to find her missing younger brother, Charlie. In order to bring him back home, she must embark on a thrilling adventure.

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