Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019)

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Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019) – Q. Tarantino

As with all of QT’s films, this one is extremely problematic in so many ways.  I hesitated to give it 4 stars (relegating it to my better film blog rather than to the annex) but I was impressed by the performances offered by Brad Pitt (as an out-of-work stunt man) and Leonardo DiCaprio (as a fading second-string star).  Tarantino’s efforts to recreate the past, in this case 1969 in Hollywood, are as always unparalleled.  Being old myself, I appreciated the nostalgia for the analogue world (and TV Guide!) even if the events depicted – encompassing the lead-up to the Manson murders – happened before I can remember.  I didn’t much care for the past two Tarantino films (Hateful Eight, Django Unchained) but Once Upon a Time has less in common with them and harkens back a bit more to the pacing and rhythms of Jackie Brown (1997), which is one of his best.  While watching, I had mixed feelings about the long scenes (in an already long film) of Pitt driving around or DiCaprio acting in TV westerns but I have to admit that they do establish the characters, the setting, and the tone. The Spahn ranch episode is especially creepy.  Of course, QT is working around the edges in every scene, filling the soundtrack with period music and radio DJs, decorating the set with period props and furniture, getting every detail right (kudos to his art department).  There are a lot of references and in-jokes, to be sure. However, Once Upon a Time does have grander objectives than just reproducing the past – Tarantino wants to say something about Hollywood’s loss of innocence as a result of the Manson murders (as well as various implicit and explicit side comments about Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Bruce Lee, and the industry).  Everything builds to the murders and viewers are naturally in dread as the date nears – DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton actually lives next door to the murder house on Cielo Drive. I won’t spoil the movie but it should come as no surprise that Tarantino revels in the depiction of terrible violence. He seems to be using the film to lash out at “hippies” and the way the counter-culture overwhelmed and perhaps destroyed the film and TV days of old – or perhaps this is just assuming that he identifies with Pitt and DiCaprio’s characters who belong to that older world. If he does, then the film might be a sort of fantasy wish fulfilment for him.  But a lot of viewers won’t want to go through the ordeal of the final scenes even if the denouement grants QT’s wish.