Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Sharon Tate has been immortalised in countless movies. Sadly, however, they have almost always been about her death. The death shocked Hollywood but at the same time they looked to exploit it, and have been doing so for years with the most recent guilty party being the odious Wolves at the Door.


So when director Quentin Tarantino announced he was making a film about the Mansons, certain corners of the movie world sighed as it is unlikely that Tarantino, a man with little emotional sensitivity when it comes to dark subjects, would treat this material respectively.

In what is a major turn up for the books, Tarantino’s film is the only film, that I can think of, where Sharon Tate is an actual character. There have been complaints over the lack of dialogue Margot Robbie has but you can see so much about her character from her friendly demeanour and the delight she gets from entertaining others.

Every time you see Sharon Tate you cant help but think what may happen to her at the end of the film. It’s a credit to Tarantino and Robbie’s excellent performance (with limited screen time and dialogue) that seeing the potential that this beautiful, talented and likeable woman had one cant help feel regret and sorrow about a life taken away so suddenly. The route Tarantino goes down is one that leaves us on a satisfying and sombre note.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sees Tarantino at his most mature and reflective. Perhaps the themes of age and the gradual slide into obscurity that growing older may bring mirrors his own feelings (he has said his tenth film would be his final film). Perhaps it even mirrors that of the two leading stars but its unlikely these two leading men will not be on the big screen anytime soon.

Like Pulp Fiction, there is no narrative as such. Sometimes it feels the scenes are randomly spliced together until they eventually pay off. It does make the film feel a bit listless but its slow pace helps the film work as a character study with Rick Dalton feeling the brunt of a declining career and maintaining a close relationship with Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth. Both Pitt and Dicaprio are superb, sharing a lowkey but excellent chemistry.

The film takes place in a fictionalised version of Hollywood, but the film’s design and attention to detail (from the feel of the 60s to Rick Dalton’s many movie posters) make the setting film alive(Robert Richardson’s nostalgic cinematography helps bring out the best of the era). Still, clocking in at 161 minutes there are times the film feels overlong and self indulgent and whilst it may not be Tarantino’s best, it’s his most mature even if he resorts to over the top cartoonish violence as he always does.

4/5