Quentin Tarantino's all-star drama set in 1969 L.A. stars Leonardo DiCaprio alongside Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate and Brad Pitt in an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning performance.
Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) is a struggling former TV star, still struggling to make it in Tinseltown, alongside his former stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). But as Dalton's neighbour, rising star Sharon Tate (Robbie), will soon tragically learn, something more dangerous than the pursuit of fame is stalking Hollywood - a violent cult led by a charismatic figure promising the apocalypse...
Best Supporting Actor (Pitt) and Production Design, Academy Awards 2020; Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Pitt) & Screenplay; Golden Globes 2020
2019Rating: R16, Graphic violence, drug use, offensive language & sexual material161 minsUK, USA
It’s quite a departure from the iconic filmmaker’s intense last three movies, ambling along to its own groove, which may be harder to get on board with. But when you do, it’s a particularly pleasurable groove that for some fans will make for Tarantino’s most beloved work to date.
With terrific complementary performances from Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino criss-crosses 1969 Los Angeles to create an enjoyable hang out adventure.
As always, Tarantino’s goal is to heighten the contradictions rather than resolve them, leaving us to guess whether he’s the idiot savant he’s so often taken for or whether he’s playing a deeper game than most of us can see.
This curious fairy tale may not be the truth, and it may prattle on too long. But when its stars align, and they let loose with their unmistakable shine, Hollywood movies do seem truly special again.
It sits at the mature end of Tarantino's work, bringing his tongue-in-cheek storytelling together with exquisite movie craft and killer lead performances from Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Tarantino luxuriates in bringing this prelapsarian heyday roaring back to life, and the effect is pure movie-world intoxication, laced with in-jokes and nibble-ably sweet period detail.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is uneven, unwieldy in its structure and not without its flat patches. But it's also a disarming and characteristically subversive love letter to its inspiration.
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