Glorious to look at, Tarantino's love letter to 60's Hollywood.

Rating: 9/10 (21 August 2019)

Of all Tarantino's controversial films, OUATIA seems to have polarised critics and movie-goers more than most. What did I make of it? To be honest I'm still processing.
The plot revolves around three characters over a couple of days in February and August 1969. Rick Dalton (Leonardo diCaprio) is an ageing film star, on the long wind down from stardom. As producer Marvin Schwartz (Al Pacino) points out to him, there's a reason he's being offered the 'heavy' roles in lots of TV pilots. The studios no longer care about him, and his job is just to make their young new stars look good. This is having a devastating affect on Rick's confidence and self-belief.
Propping him up, both literally and psychologically is Rick's long-term stuntman buddy Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Cliff keeps repeatedly running into a hippy chick (a brilliantly vibrant Margaret Qualley) on the streets of LA.
Living next door to Dalton (and the almost ever-present Booth) at 10050 Cielo Drive are newly weds the Polanski's. That's Roman (Rafal Zawierucha, clearly auditioning to be the new Austin Powers!) and fledgling actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Those with only a subliminal knowledge of true-crime will know what happened there in true life on August 8th 1969. A heavily pregnant Tate and three of her friends (together with a hapless by-stander) were brutally murdered by members of the 'hippie' cult under the control of Charles Manson. (An interesting historical fact is that both Quincy Jones and Steve McQueen were both also invited to be present on that evening).
As this is a Quentin Tarantino film, albeit a revisionist one, you know the night is not going to end with a cookie and a nice cup of hot chocolate!
Man.... Leonardo diCaprio and Brad Pitt are good! If you were to think of male film actors of the past with natural screen charisma, who would you pick? Errol Flynn? Cary Grant, for sure. Steve McQueen. Possibly Harrison Ford? Pitt and diCaprio just ooze confidence and charisma in this movie, and are clearly having enormous fun.
This is particularly true of diCaprio who's always had the "it" factor in spades. (Remember that phenomenal champagne toast in "The Great Gatsby"?) Here he is supremely confident in playing an ever-so-slightly-stuttering character who's confidence is on the wane. A scene where precocious young actress Trudi (a splendid performance from Julia Butters) whispers to him "That's the best acting I've ever seen" is an Oscar-worthy piece of acting in its own right.
Pitt is also still a pin-up at 56... as a guy who clearly has a whole wing of his home dedicated to gym equipment, a rooftop scene is certainly "one for the ladies".
Much has been made of Margot Robbie's lack of lines in the film. But she honestly does most of her acting here - which is flawless - without needing lines. A scene of her watching herself (actually the real life Sharon Tate) in the Matt Helm flick "The Wrecking Crew" is jaw-droppingly wonderful. And before we even get there, a scene of her just driving down the highway listening to music is just mesmerising.
Elsewhere in the cast there are some memorable cameos. For me, the most prominent of these is Damian Lewis's turn as Steve McQueen. It's absolutely pitch perfect. So much so that I would love to see him inserted into a full-length recreation of "The Great Escape"!
Much as "The Nice Guys" did such a great job of representing LA in the 80's, so here Tarantino's crew have done a bang-up job in recreating LA in 1969. Some of the street scenes are simply stunning and are works of magic. (I noticed that the Visual Effects coordinator here was none other than the veteran Star Wars/Star Trek genius John Dykstra). The costume department also did a great job, with the film dripping with nostalgia. This rose-coloured nostalgia angle I know has made some millennials gag somewhat. Racism isn't touched on at all here - aside from Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) the movie is wall-to-wall white. But in terms of "macho-male-bulls**t" the film reeks of it. I think we can also readily agree that this was a "different time", not a "better time".
I know I've used superlatives like "jaw-dropping" more than once in this review. But in terms of the cinematography (by Tarantino regular Robert Richardson) and film editing (again by regular collaborator Fred Raskin) it's technically glorious. The camera swoops and glides over Hollywood, cutting from one scene to another beautifully. Some road scenes, of Booth weaving in and out along a highway at speed, are incredibly well shot.
And so we turn to the writing and directing, both done by Quentin Tarantino. Here I pause in my praise.... since the film struck me as both brilliant and self-indulgent in equal measure. Is it sacrilege to say that this Tarantino is just a bit dull in places?
In terms of brilliance, the film ducks and dives continuously. There are flashbacks and sudden cuts to parallel scenes that make you think "where the hell does this fit in"? But you are never left confused for long.
As a "director", Tarantino is also a master at "misdirection". The rascal is continually setting you up for an expectation, often filling you with dread for what you are about to see - - and then he heads off in a completely different, tension-dispelling direction.
But for me, many of the scenes in the film were flabby and self-indulgent. There were numerous "driving" shots, that always seemed to outstay their welcome by several seconds. What were they trying to prove? And similarly, many of the movie-making scenes seemed padded and slow. I'm always the first to complain about the lack of character development within most movies, and certain scenes - the ones between Dalton and Trudi for instance - were deliciously slow in achieving that. But I could have happily trimmed at least 15 minutes off the bladder-testing 161 minutes and I think it would have been a tighter and better film.
Tarantino films are famed for their gratuitous violence, and this comes with a BBFC 18 certificate for "Strong and Bloody Violence". You could be mistaken for thinking that the BBFC had got this completely wrong for the first 140 minutes or so of this movie. Yes, there are numerous "F-bombs" dropped, and the promise of oral sex from a minor.... so it was never going to be a PG!
All that changed in the closing scenes. But I have to say, I have seen far more gratuitous camera shots of the outcomes from violence in previous Tarantino flicks. Here, although the violence is extreme, Tarantino shows much-welcomed restraint in not showing much in the way of close-ups of 'bashed in faces'. As is common in his films, the violence also has a comical edge to it, being more cartoon-like in quality.
Final thoughts: This feels like a slightly flawed masterpiece. Tarantino's Mona Lisa with a few accidental smudges. I think I feel obliged to leave it a week and go and see it again, if I can find the time. It's a film I think will grow on me with a repeat viewing. I think (on the understanding that you don't drink too much tea, coffee or beer before going in) this comes with a "Strongly Recommended" tag from me.
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