it is Margot Robbie that illuminates this saga

Rating: 10/10 (15 August 2019)

Wonderful! The first Tarantino film, for a long time, that I have straight away wanted to see again. I'm sure I spent much of the film with a grin on my face. I certainly felt like applauding scene after scene. The evocation of the late 60s is astonishingly well achieved with sequence after sequence seemingly being advertisement pages of Playboy magazine come alive. The magical allure of neon signs flicking on, a crane shot to reveal the sleazy allure of the drive-in movie theatre and all those wondrous motor vehicles and perfectly period dressed individuals. And despite all this contrivance, still the director manages to convey much of the laid-back living and movie making style of the time. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are sensational, both pulling out all the stops in difficult parts to convince , amuse and inform. Margaret Qualley is stunning as Pussycat, the young lady we see most of from amongst Manson's girls. She manages to convey that innocent and childlike being combined with a startling knowingness that chills even before we have met the horrors and delights that are his farmland harem. More than anyone else, however, it is Margot Robbie that illuminates this saga. With the subject as it is and the knowledge of Sharon Tate being as we know she was, this central role, even if not the largest in the film, is the most important to have got right. Tate had a certain translucence, an illuminating presence in front of the camera (still or movie) and Robbie gets it spot on. Even when faced with moving pictures of the Polanski girl herself, Robbie's performance shines. There is so much more I loved, including the many references to Spaghetti westerns, the film posters spoof and real, the music and the dialogue but overall it is the affectionate and passionate representation of a very short period in cultural history that brings that smile and urge to applaud. Not, then a wham bam, non-stop extravaganza of crazy, snappy dialogue interspersed with constant violence but, instead a sustained and brilliant impression of a certain time, that happens to include one gut wrenching and prolonged scene of considerable and most effective violence.