Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood

The balls on this guy.

If I were to give you a fair depiction of what I’m talking about in Quentin Tarantino’s 9^th film, Once Upon a time in… Hollywood, it would essentially spoil that for the would be viewer so I’ll just keep it to the review. But my god the balls on this guy.

And when I write the ‘balls on this guy’ I say it with the love and admiration that Tarantino shows for the nostalgia of film, new and old and the people that have come together to make Hollywood happen.

It also helps to cast Leonardo DiCaprio (Rick Dalton) and Brad Pitt (Cliff Booth) into the leading roles as an aging actor on his way out and his best friend/stunt double with no real purpose in the world beside driving his alcoholic pal to rehearsals and made for TV shoots.

They both have their own personalities but are emotional, complex and sympathetic in their own ways and play off each extremely well into what amounts to a buddy film.

It’s almost like fast forwarding the series Entourage with Vinny Chase and E., 20 years down the road and sticking them back into the 60’s after they were once at the top but now are scraping by, holding on to glory days of years past while finding out the difficult truth that time has passed them by.

It’s emotionally engaging and often funny with far less talky dialogue and graphic violence than we have come accustomed to in past Tarantino films (ok there is a bit).

However, true to form, Tarantino continues to get memorable performances from his actors. DiCaprio is perfect as the fictional former western hero Rick Dalton who was once on the cusp of becoming an A-list action star but now is lucky to nab a gig as the washed up “heavy” (villain) needed to face off against the latest Hollywood up and coming heartthrob. He’s a drunk, a sniveling hedonistic leading man but DiCaprio, like he does in every film makes the character so likeable and sympathetic that you forget that he’s kind a douche bag.

DiCaprio is amazing and continues to impress during the prime of his career but Pitt on the other hand has fallen off considerably in past years and you almost forget that he too can act and still has the presence that he held a decade ago as one of the biggest leading men in all of Hollywood.

He still plays the physical role, which he’s best at but doesn’t say much in this film. He has battle scars, emotionally and physically from a past life we only get glimpses into. In a lot of ways he seems to be atoning for said scars by being a man of principle and action. He’s resigned to a less than livable life as a semi employable chauffer and stuntman, living in a trailer with his affectionate pit bull “Brandy” and being a good friend to his washed up co-star. In a world of role-playing and make believe his character is subtle and true and it stands out.

Then somewhere in the middle of this, intertwined in the summer of 1969 we’re introduced to the Manson cult and the followers that executed the infamous murders of actress Sharon Tate and her famous friends at her residence that happens to be next to Rick Dalton’s home.

It’s a chilling story that many in the film industry still remember to this day, however, you have to believe Tarantino is very cognizant of this and under his guidance he’s able to turn a tragic horror story into something else because his films are truly a genre of its own.

A genre that continues to evolve from an aging director not so much in the sense that he’s losing his touch but gaining a sense of a grander scope of what memorable films can actually accomplish.

Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood moves with a sense of love of film and not just film but the old, rustic Hollywood glamour while shuffling in the new and casting off the old into a dignified sunset which many sometimes don’t receive.

It’s quite moving in that way and far from our expectations coming into the film. There are clues in this movie that should guide you towards what is to unfold during this story but you better know Tarantino films to understand its meanings because with Tarantino… classic storytelling rules don’t exist… only his own.

He has earned that right over a masterfully three-decade career. A career that continues to surprise and excite with every new film.