Characteristically Brimming with Quirky Forms of Life, if Not Particularly Motivated to Get Moving

Rating: 6/10 (12 August 2019)

Quentin Tarantino's back, with a grand posse of his favorite actors, to tackle the faded sheen and troubled dreams of celebrity life in Hollywood during the late '60s. Although their subjects are quite different, this film's structure is very similar to the preceding Hateful Eight, in that it takes forever to get where it's going and tends to linger on short, irrelevant asides that add to the tapestry but don't have much influence on the greater plot. It's loaded with flavor, lovely little touches that bring a very specific slice of life back into the present, but after a while it begins to feel over-indulgent. As if the director just wanted an excuse to recreate a beloved time and place, then take a stroll, breathe the air and look around.
Once Upon a Time is peppered with entertaining performances and amusing cameos, with particularly impressive work from Margot Robbie as the sweet, sunshiny Sharon Tate and Brad Pitt as a guarded, past-his-prime bachelor in the John Wayne mold. The city and studio lots all look great, bustling and alive, with various characters' paths crossing in a string of complex, delightful coincidences. And the last scene, loosely (er, very loosely) depicting the Manson family's violent siege on the Hollywood Hills, is pure Tarantino. Chaotic, gratuitous violence, rampant unpredictability, explosive payoffs... crookedly wonderful in the most wicked of ways. I don't want to spoil anything, because the surprise is part of the fun, but at that moment it changes gears from Hateful Eight to Inglourious Basterds. You'll know what I mean if you see it.
I didn't dislike this, but I didn't love it. It certainly would've benefitted from some selective editing and smoother pacing. I think the importance of Sally Menke, Tarantino's longtime partner and behind-the-scenes collaborator, who died in 2010, has been evident in the director's recent output.