a lot went down fifty summers ago

Rating: 9/10 (3 February 2020)

Quentin Tarantino gives us another tribute to lowbrow entertainment, this time an homage to Hollywood's transition to mature material. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" focuses on an actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt) in 1969 Los Angeles, a bastion of hippies, old-school agents, and the Mansons...and the protagonist lives next door to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).
This brings to mind all the things that happened in summer 1969. The obvious one is the Manson family's deeds, but there was also Judy Garland's death (and the subsequent Stonewall uprising), the moon landing, and Woodstock. And just as the world was about to move into autumn, Moammar Qaddafi seized power in Libya. What a world it must've been (for the record, I was born long after the '60s). As "Alice's Restaurant" reminded us, every generation has a story to tell.
Anyway, it's an impressive movie. I hope that it wins at least one Oscar.