Tarantino is known for a genre known as revisionist history. Django Unchained is mostly that and Inglorious Basterds is true to the genre.
It didn’t take long to pique the curiosity of Tarantards (ha ha) and the bystanders when he announced Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. This movie isn’t about a cult that wreaked havoc on Hollywood or the celebrities. It’s a loving tribute to a Hollywood where western TV shows were the staple of the households. The main stars and the ones that played cameos were huge celebrities in their own right.
This movie is about such a star past his prime looking for that one break to bring back the glory days.
Di Caprio plays this star to perfection. He is hysterical, miserable and often has to swallow his pride to survive in the cut-throat industry. A pensive Brad Pitt plays man Friday, driver, friend, philosopher and Agony Aunt to Rick Dalton. Pitt plays this character with so much charm and wit that you forget that he is a violent man to start with. There’s a reference to the disappearance of his wife. The man even loses his job on the sets of a Bruce Lee starrer because he cannot back off from a fight.
These two characters are on the decline in their personal and professional capacity. While they live in the tony area of Hollywood, a residential plot at a higher level in the hilly terrain overlooks Dalton’s house. It’s the start of a new era in Hollywood with the hot and happening Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate. She has done small roles in the movies and TV and is on the verge of stardom.
Anything more about the movie and we would be in the dangerous territory of revealing the plot. The movie is long, indulgent and proves yet again why Tarantino is the master of creating mood, suspense and a fantastic treatment. This movie is more Coen brothers than a typical Tarantino and that’s a welcome change, if at all!
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