OVP: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Film: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Al Pacino
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Oscar History: 10 nominations/2 wins (Best Picture, Director, Actor-Leonardo DiCaprio, Supporting Actor-Brad Pitt*, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design*, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Quentin Tarantino, at this point, is one of those directors who has a blank check from me as a viewer, because even when I'm going to see something terrible, it'll at least be interesting, and with films like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Inglourious Basterds, he's proven he can make truly spectacular movies.  Few directors working today (save, perhaps, for Martin Scorsese) are as in love with the process of moviemaking as Tarantino, who frequently indulges in filmmaking techniques that pay homage to the most minute of film references.  We saw this a few years ago with the excruciating The Hateful Eight which still looked great in 70 mm even though the imagery couldn't save the story, but here it's more apparent in recreating the indulgent art decor of 1960's cinema and television.  The strangest thing about Hollywood, though, isn't that it pays such careful homage to this era's entertainment, but instead that this feels like the least stylistic of Tarantino's pictures, perhaps even his attempt (until the ending) to make a movie that might be downright...pleasant.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film centers on 1969, a year in Hollywood where television has largely replaced movies as the national past time, but not the allure of movie stars themselves.  We see two fictional figures of the era, former TV star Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), who has fallen on hard times & is largely reduced to guest roles on TV rather than getting his own lead, and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt), who is Dalton's caretaker but has never enjoyed the glimpse of success that his boss did. Dalton lives next door to Sharon Tate (Robbie), who at this point has just completed Valley of the Dolls and is one of the most famous women on the planet, a star far greater than Dalton had ever hoped to be, even though she's largely ancillary to the plot and just there to look pretty.  Much has been made for Robbie's part being underwritten, and it is, but there's something sort of fascinating about watching Robbie, possibly the most beautiful woman in pictures today, giving us the lonely take of Sharon Tate, who was once the most beautiful woman in pictures.  Robbie has become a marvelous actress at this point and so she manages to make the isolation of being such a famous figure compelling.  Tate's need for validation and warmth gives her a proper character path with limited screen time, and as a result while criticism that Tarantino seemingly forgets the stories of women might be valid in other films, Robbie's Sharon is a solid creation & shouldn't be a subject of this ire.  There's a great scene where Tate watches a largely forgettable performance in the Dean Martin flick The Wrecking Crew, and seems overjoyed in her anonymity to find that the audience enjoyed her work-this is smart, careful moviemaking.  Tarantino should instead be raked over the coals for once again prominently inserting three of his actresses' (Robbie, Qualley, and Fanning) feet pervertedly onscreen for no apparent reason other than his own fetishes, but leave Robbie's role out of it.

Overall, there's nothing really bad about Hollywood, especially when it comes to the actors.  DiCaprio and Pitt are both great.  Though I don't want to get hyperbolic here (both actors have been better before), but they land their scenes with an ease & delivery that's genuinely fun.  DiCaprio is always better at lighter roles than serious ones, and Rick Dalton gets moments of levity, particularly opposite Pitt as well as a young actress whom he is starring with on a fictionalized TV show (played by American Housewife's Julia Butters).  DiCaprio is fun in this part, and now armed with his much-sought-after Oscar, gets back to what he's best at-playing a handsome man who is frequently his own downfall, but man do you want to root for him.  Pitt is even better as Cliff, a man who came within an inch of fame, and has some inner-demons that are only hinted at (it's implied but never confirmed that he murdered his wife on a boat, perhaps an homage to a different famous Hollywood death, Natalie Wood), but who is still very good at his job.

Pitt has a long, extended sequence where he visits Spahn Ranch with Margaret Qualley's Pussycat (not an actual member of the real-life Manson Family, but instead a character inspired Kathryn Lutesinger) that is terrific, and the most "Tarantino at his best" moment of the picture.  There's a tension here, since we don't actually know that Cliff (who is fictional) will need to live through his time on the ranch, but that certain people like Dakota Fanning's Squeaky Fromme and Austin Butler's Tex Watson will live since they still have crimes to commit.  It's not often in a movie where you know the hero might die, but that the villains have to survive, and I liked the juxtaposition.  Tarantino spares Cliff, and eventually totally messes with history (this is a fairy tale, and as a result Sharon Tate and the other residents at her Cielo Drive home live while the likes of Tex Watson & Susan Atkins die in over-the-top violent deaths), but the suspense here is mesmerizing, as is the way that Tarantino plays with our expectations (having Bruce Dern's George Spahn get mad at Cliff rather than the murderers who are fleecing him, is a nice touch even though Cliff is looking out for his own interests while Squeaky is just using him).

The film's ending is a bit of an eye roll.  We've already seen Tarantino's willingness to screw over history with Inglourious Basterds, and the shock simply isn't there this time.  We know the second that Watson & Atkins decide to go into Rick's house rather than Sharon Tate's that this is going to be a different ending than real-life, which feels appropriate (I didn't think I could handle watching a very pregnant Tate get butchered onscreen, and I suspect Tarantino realized that even for a director known for violence this was a bridge too far), but it also feels super predictable and kind of tired for a director who seems to have lost the ability to craft violence creatively.  Hollywood is best when it's going for nostalgia (like the scenes with DiCaprio & Robbie) or with atmosphere (like the scenes with Pitt on Spahn Ranch or the one scene featuring Damon Herriman's Manson, a sequence that hangs over the rest of the film, especially since it's our only glimpse of the monster behind all of this madness).  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is that rare Tarantino movie that's good up until the ending, and as a result I'm going with 3 stars even though it's a 4-star picture for most of the movie (I'm someone who gets annoyed when the execution on the back half is sloppy).  Note that this downgrade has nothing to do with the movie's length, which actually feels about right for what he was going for, but entirely due to the ending feeling like it missed the mood of the best moments of the picture.  This is an interesting departure for the director, though, and has enough strong elements that I'd recommend you see it.