Once Upon a Time In Hollywood | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I didn't really know much about this movie, and ended up seeing it on a whim. I knew that it was a big deal, that it was Quentin Tarantino's ninth film, and that it starred some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but I didn't know much about the actual story.

Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his long-time stunt double and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) live their lives dealing with the fact that the film industry, and Hollywood itself, is changing before their very eyes.

There's so much more encompassed in the movie than the small description I gave, but that's the simplest way to describe it, and a lot of the film is about this singular idea.

Now, I've seen both good and bad reviews of this movie, and because I can completely see both points of view about it, I have to say that while I liked it, I didn't love it.

But there were things about it that I did love.

For a start, as someone who is obsessed with movies and the film industry, it was so interesting to see the way that the movie portrayed the industry. There were scenes where DiCaprio's character was filming something, breaking character, and then going right back into it, which the outside world never really gets to see.
It is kind of like a film-making masterclass to see a movie like this made by such a masterful director. You can immediately give yourself over to the film and know that these aspects are accurate and you're in good hands.

There are some amazing characters in the film. Of course the three that are talked the most about are Rick, Cliff and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). But some of the best performances were also the most underrated. In particular, Pussycat (Margaret Qualley), Tex (Austin Butler) and Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters - who was incredible), plus a whole host of other characters - the film is full of them!
However, the standout actor of the group, without a doubt, was Brad Pitt, who completely stole the show as Cliff Booth. Not only was his acting amazing, but his character was the most interesting, layered character of the group, and the one that you most wanted to support.

There is a beautiful scene between DiCapio and Butters, probably my favourite scene in the movie, where you're just watching two people have a casual conversation, but you can see the pain in DiCaprio's character's eyes when it dawns on him that this industry is changing rapidly and it's not taking him with it. Heartbreaking, but beautiful in equal measure.

However, as mentioned, there were also things that I didn't love.

I think the film would have been amazing if the prevalent story-line was about the industry changing, but most importantly the relationship between Rick and Cliff. Because DiCaprio and Pitt have amazing chemistry in the film, and I would have loved for the whole thing to be just them and the way that the industry has changed their lives and their friendship.

Because this is a long film that didn't need to be as long as it was. The middle felt boring and dragged, and I think that was due to the fact that some of the scenes were just too long. For me, I enjoyed seeing what was happening off set much more than I enjoyed watching the characters make the actual movie. The scene in the western bar (if that's what it was) was really interesting for about 5 minutes, but the further 10 minutes of it felt unnecessary.
And in a similar vein, I found DiCaprio's character the least interesting one of the bunch. Not that I didn't like him, but I was much more interested in what Pitt and Robbie's characters were up to.

Speaking of Margot Robbie's character, while I was interested in what she was up to, I did walk out of the cinema wondering what the point of her was. I understand that Sharon Tate was a real person who was killed by the Manson family, but in the film all we really see is her having fun, going to parties, watching herself in the movie theatre, and then partying more. She doesn't even really interact with our main characters. And as the two main men weren't real people, I wondered what was it about the Sharon Tate story that made Tarantino want to include her in the film, when it would have been very easy not to.

And then there's the fact that it felt like we were being included in a variety of different story-lines while all of them either had an unsatisfying ending, or no ending at all. For me personally, it felt like the film didn't know what story it was trying to tell, so it just tried to cram in a bit of each of them without coming to any meaningful conclusions.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, and I would recommend it, not least because it's definitely going to become a modern classic. But it's not one that I'll rush back to the cinema for a second viewing.

6.5/10

Lou