Justice is Served

Rating: 9/10 (15 January 2020)

Most of the fairy tale start with Once Upon a Time... The name of the movie alone suggests us that we are going to watch a tale, not a fairy one for sure, but a tale that takes place in Hollywood in 1969. This tale is told by Quentin Tarantino, whose one of the best skills is to alter the history for the tastes of people who wish, some certain events would have ended differently. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is not a movie that follows some events and create action and reaction situations. It simply focuses on the lives of an actor and his stuntman and their ordinary but extremely funny and natural adventures that takes place in Hollywood. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is both an action and character-based movie. The comedy parts mostly come from the performances, gestures, thoughts, conversations and looks of the actor Rick Dalton performed by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his stuntman, Cliff Booth, performed by Brad Pitt. They both share the leading and supporting roles of the movie in my opinion, while they carry the movie further, average performances of Margot Robbie, as Sharon Tate, and Al Pacino, as Schwarz, adds an extra flavor to the movie. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a compact movie. There is a bit of everything. For more than two hours you just watch the ordinary lives of people in Hollywood and towards the end, the movie takes a direction towards a real event that happened in 1969 by "Charles Manson Family" which resulted in the murder of 5 people in the house of director Roman Polanski, including his wife Sharon Tate. Quentin Tarantino takes this event, changes it, adds his story and actors in it and serves the justice to the murderers by altering the real event which provides a sensational final to his movie. He did exactly the same alteration of course in his Inglorious Basterds. Those alterations are extremely bloody and satisfying. If you are familiar with the director, you will not be surprised watching violent, gore and bloody scenes in his productions. This is his signature and this is how he serves justice. This is what puts him in a different place than the other directors and this is what he is criticized the most. This is why, once again in my opinion, he is not going to win the Best Directing Award but this is also why he is considered one of the most talented directors of all times. He knows how to write a story, how to put it in practice and how to get the best out of actors playing it and harmonizing everything he has in an artistic way. His love for Western is visible also in this movie and the unity between Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are impeccable. When you watch the movie, you will realize that it is artistic and very well made from A to Z. You understand it is different, you agree that this is how a movie should be made. It has something to offer each and every audience. 10 Academy Award Nominations prove my point as well.