Tarantino's True Self

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2019)

This film Honestly like nothing Tarantino has ever done before. I don't even know how to put it into words, but I'll try.
You go into a Tarantino film with a certain set of expectations about the kind of film you're going to see and how it will be rendered. With this film, I had the same expectations: Snappy dialogue, a kickin' soundtrack, lots of stylized violence and profanity, a wild cinematic execution and a non-linear narrative. We all know what makes a Tarantino film a Tarantino film. But it's also how his films make us feel that gives us the ability to recognize his work as HIS work. You don't expect any of his films to be Citizen Kane, but you enjoy it so much and appreciate his unique style that we consider him an artist, as he deserved to be considered one.
When I saw this film, I didn't see the Tarantino I grew up watching. Yes, we had snappy dialogue, we had violence and profanity. Yes, we had a non linear narrative. But it was all executed in a way that was so polished and different that it did not feel as though you were watching a Tarantino film. How I felt watching it kind of took me off guard. Usually when Tarantino renders Los Angeles in a film, you get an almost comic-book kind of Los Angeles. In his films, he has a way of making LA his own. In THIS film, LA is portrayed as true to reality as possible, which ultimately enhances the realism in the atmosphere of these characters' lives. The tone and vibe is not Tarantino-like at all. This film is much darker, slower and deeper than any film he's ever done. Sure, almost of his films are analytical in some way or another, but this is centered around characters, where his previous films were centered around the narrative and cinematic execution. Sure, each of his characters were unique and had a purposeful voice, but in this film, he delves into them in a way he had never done before. A much deeper way. In fact, his characters were both stylistic and realistic at the same time, creating a balance between Tarantino's craft and this totally real world he's rendering on screen.
It's the least Tarantino-like film he's ever made, yet oddly enough, at the same time, it feels like a Tarantino film. I don't know how he did it this way, but it works so well that I'm speechless. He really took his work in a different direction yet stayed true to his past style at the same time. Every single second of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was magnificent, but I felt a variety of things that I just can't convey into a sensical explanation.
You have to be a true Tarantino fan to at least know what I'm talking about. You DON'T have to be a Tarantino fan to appreciate this film.