Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Mike Moh, Al Pacino, Margaret Qualley

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino revising history again. Just like he did with Inglorious Basterds, just like he did in in Django. He loves obsessing over every little detail about certain time periods accurately, and then rewriting the events entirely. And since this movie takes place around and during the Manson murders, you think the movie is going one way, but then he leads you down another. It’s not the ending you expect, and at two hours and forty five minutes it’s as long as much of Tarantino’s work. Many will be bored by this film, or otherwise disappointed. But that ending made it for me, and it’s an ending a lot of people will find distasteful. But then I don’t know why you’re watching a Tarantino movie to begin with then.

To enjoy this movie, I think you’ll have to understand Quentin. He likes to play with expectations. His characters can do anything, say anything, be at places that seem impossible, but then make perfect sense. They can die at any moment. He’ll have them exist just because he can. Or to reference some obscure French film from the 60s, or a random ad that played on television he saw as a kid. He’ll break the editing pattern out of nowhere, he’ll have narrations when he feels like it. He has no rules. Anything can happen. So what happens when nothing does?

THAT’S Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s Tarantino playing on what you expect from his movies, and what you expect from history. It’s true, not much really does happen in this movie. There’s a lot of drawn out convos that seem to lead nowhere. That’s not to say they aren’t enjoyable, but this movie is more of us just chilling with them all. There’s a scene with Bruce Lee but isn’t really a scene, and more of an imagined story. It works.

But this will frustrate some people I think. I liked a lot of it, and just when I thought the movie was going completely nowhere, that ending happened, and somehow I smiled.

The story follows three groups of people in Hollywood in 1969. Rick Dalton, a tv star, and his stunt double and good friend Cliff Booth (both made up), then Sharon Tate and her lover Roman Polanski (real people), and squeezed in there are the Manson family cult. Rick (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff (Brad Pitt) are exactly the kind of people Tarantino would fantasize in here, and they’re the type of people we like to watch. Rick panics after a meeting with a studio head makes him realize his career is on the decline, he’s a “has been”. He stutters his words a lot, and drinks and smokes all the time. Cliff drives Rick everywhere. He comforts him in his moments of self doubt. He’s calm and collected, stoic and lets not much bother him. He’s way more than a stunt double for Rick.

Margot Robbie is Sharon Tate, who was actually married to Polanski during this time. She’s also an actress, but is free spirited and seems to be nice to everyone. Fuck Polanski. There’s a reason his portrayal is limited. Also the reason that an underage hippie cultist hits on Brad Pitt. You can look that shit up.

For a movie rumored to be about the Manson murders, the cultists make up a smaller portion of the film than you would think. Their intro might puzzle you at first, it’s a lot of young girls singing together while dumpster diving. In later parts that underage hippie girl (the same actress who played Amelia in The Nice Guys) is always at the bus stop, trying to hitch a ride. Eventually Cliff does oblige. It’s what leads him to the ranch of the cult. And even though Rick is the star, Cliff is the real hero of the story. He carries himself like a rockstar. He even walks into the heart of the cult without a care, just to check on an old co-worker. Remember when I said not much happens, and a lot of the scenes seem to be pointless? Well I still don’t fully get the Bruce Dern thing, but I guess it’s too show how good a friend Cliff is.

It goes on a long time though. Just like so many scenes. But I suppose I have to ask, what’s wrong with that? I think Quentin just wanted to make a movie relishing one of his favorite time periods in film history. Cause in the late 60’s Hollywood was about to change. Rick jokes about how being in an Italian western will be the bottom of the well for him. Sharon goes to the  theater just to enjoy a movie that she’s in with some strangers. It’s kind of…touching?

Look this movie is gonna bore a lot of people. And if you make it to the end you may disagree with how it turns out. But I loved how it finishes. I loved that Tarantino decides to forgo any real narrative this time and just have some people be people. His movies are always about other movies. And here, he uses every chance he gets to show behind the scenes of how they get made. In one long sequence, Rick is filming for a part he has practiced so hard for, and Tarantino plays it out like it’s part of his movie, until Rick fucks up his lines repeatedly, and they have to move the camera back. And he storms off and berates his own  uselessness. Also in the movie is another extended convo between Rick and an 8 year old girl who is his co-star, who method acts. It’s kinda unbelievable, but I liked it.

Some of the characters share moments of imagined scenarios. Cliff thinks what if he stops by Rick’s new set to pick him up, even though he said he didn’t need him that day. The movie plays out what would happen forever, but then cuts back to show that Cliff didn’t go. I loved everything about it. Because it has his confrontation with Bruce Lee. And what happens between them makes sense since it is Cliff who is imagining it. And also a strange rumor about how Cliff murdered his wife and got away with it, but is never really confirmed. With what happens by the end, it could swing either way.

And there fantastical things like Rick “almost” being in The Great Escape, which is a great excuse to blend Leo in scenes from the actual film. And a narration by Kurt Russell that doesn’t really work. But I guess I liked more in here than I didn’t. At times I was let down when it hit me that most of the movie isn’t related to a real overarching story. But then the ending happened out of nowhere, because it’s out of nowhere in this movie. It doesn’t fit with how most of it was going, but then that is probably Tarantino toying with us some more, and leaving us with a hint of something actually happening. And I loved what happens afterwards. And earlier parts like Steve McQueen recounting Sharon’s love life to another party goer are cool. And Brad Pitt is so fucking good in this movie that I think he’s the reason Tarantino made it in the first place. We could all use a friend like Cliff.