Tarantino's tribute to Hollywood in a real-life/fiction hybrid

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2019)

Tarantino's 9th (last-but-one, he proclaims) feature film is the lightest in the violence department. It is a fond tribute, one could say, of the auteur to his beloved Hollywood. The 160 minutes run time many consider to be too long but that arguably is just a matter of personal preference. It structures along three parallel story lines which, as mentioned, constitutes a hybrid of real-life and fictional.
The fiction can legitimately be called a buddy story. While many comparisons have been offered by critics, from Don Quixote/ Sancho to Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid, the most obvious one nobody mentioned, perhaps because it was too recent. I am talking about "Green Book". Obviously, there are more differences than similarities but let me just focus on the latter. Here we have Rick the past-prime but not yet over-the-hill movie star (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his long-time stunt double Cliff (Brad Pitt). The most obvious similarity to "Green Book" is that Cliff is temporary chauffer to Rick, although for a different reason (Rick got his license suspended for drunk driving). There is the similar class gap, essentially money and social status. In terms of temperament, Rick is emotionally fragile while Cliff is all cool common sense.
Before I elaborate further on this fictional plotline, let me also mention the real-life story: Rick's Hollywood neighbor, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). This right away casts a dark shadow on what would have been a purely fun-filled movie. Her brutal murder by the diabolic Manson gang has left such a horrific scar in Hollywood that even 50 years has not quite completely healed. I won't go into how this devastating atrocity is addressed in the movie. I may, later, but not without an additional spoiler warning.
The bulk of the story happens in a weekend, or the first two hours of screen time. The last half-hour, "six-months later", approaches the fateful date of the Manson murder.
Cliff's place in Rick's life is, as described in a voice over, "more than a brother but less than a wife". In the movie, while we see them often together in the car, they have two separate trajectories.
Rick struggles with self-doubt during filming of a western in which he is cast as the villain. This project turns out to be a blessing, restoring his confidence in a large measure, particularly when a super-cool-matured 8-year-old girl, after their scene together, praises him: "this is the best acting I have ever seen". This movie-in-a-movie, by the way, can be seen as an entertaining subplot, with a classic gun fight, as well as a cliff-hanging moment when Rick's character threatens to kill the 8-year-old girl he kidnapped for ransom. Anyway, this movie opens the door for Rick to make four spaghetti westerns in Italy. Six months later he is at a crossroad of his career, coming home with modest success, as well as an Italian wife. One good thing that comes to an end though is his long partnership with Cliff. The two buddies plan to give this treasured relationship a memorable ending by going to a pub and getting drunk together.
Cliff's trajectory takes on a different route. Except for chauffeuring Rick, hanging out occasionally with him during his busy filming schedule and doing odd jobs for him (such as fixing the antenna in his house) Cliff has plenty of time to kill. Although he wouldn't mind spending all this time talking to his dog, which listens patiently, it's not entirely satisfying, as the dog cannot talk back. Cliff therefore drives around and ends up hooking up with pretty Pussycat, who expectedly tries to seduce him in the car, while he is driving. Rick is ultra-cautious and refuses unless she can provide solid proof that she is over 18, which she cannot. Through this, Rick intimates that he once had a close brush with the law and does not intend to push his luck. From another source, we understand that he might have murdered his wife. But his shady past is always shrouded in mystery.
It is logical therefore that the most high-tensioned, suspenseful sequence comes with Cliff's arc, an encounter with the Manson gang. Pussycat is a member of the Manson "family' at Spahn Ranch, a hippie community, mainly of young women plus a couple of young men. One exception is an old man George Spahn (Bruce Dern), the owner whom Rick knew 8 years back before the filming location was abandoned and acquired by Manson. The tension keeps building when Cliff, brought to the Ranch as a friend and guest by Pussycat, keeps pressing for the whereabouts of George. While the outcome is anticlimactic, the journey of Tarantino's deft suspense is well worth the trip, particularly with Pitt's superb minimalistic performance.
With Sharon Tate's real-life story, the irony is that Tarantino had Robbie portray her as a dreamy fairytale figure that just might live happily ever after. Her husband Roman Polanski appears only briefly in the first segment and is overseas in the final half-hour segment. Sharon goes about her life almost like floating with an airy lightness, partying, shopping and watching by herself a comedy in which she has a minor role. In the "six months later" segment, she is very pregnant and, with Polanski away, entertaining four friends at home. While most in the audience were probably not yet born on that fateful day, they would know, even if vaguely, that August 9, 1969 was when the five people were brutally murdered by the Manson gang (Manson himself was not there) in Sharon's home.
So, there you have it: 3 protagonists (2 fictional, 1 real-life), 3.5 story lines (including the movie-in-movie), 2 segments comprising February 1969 (first 2 hours) and August 1969 (last half-hour).
Big spoiler warning.
By the time the second segment starts, most in the audience would be holding their breath, even subconsciously, with ominous foreboding. The way Tarantino handles the devastating true event is a master stroke, especially the final shot.
After the aforementioned farewell drinking spree, Cliff (together with his dog) comes to stay over at Rick's house. Rick's Italian wife is living there already. The Manson gang, fitted out with gun and knives, has been sent to the neighborhood to kill some rich people. The noise of their car engine really annoys Rick who comes out to his front driveway, yells at them and chases them away. In the meantime, Sharon next doors is having a great time with her 4 friends. On-screen texts keep updating the time, masterfully creating creepy foreshadowing. Tarantino keeps the audience believing that the Manson gang, coming back after a brief retreat, will be going into the Polanski house, in a movie recreation of the murder. But instead, they go into Rick's house where Cliff, probably at one time a killer deadlier than any of them, gives them a hell of a gory time, assisted by his dog. Rick and his Italian wife have their share of the fun too. This scene is vintage Tarantino. Fans who have been disappointed so far will likely find what they have been missing.
And here comes the master stroke. When the dust settles and police arrives, the gang members are all dead. Rick is taken into an ambulance, injured but not fatally. One of Sharon's guests comes out to see what caused the commotion. Rick explains everything to him. At Sharon's invitation for a drink (over the intercom), Rick comes through the Polanski house's main gate while Sharon comes out with the other guests to greet him. The last shot is a crane shot (playing God?) showing the cordial greetings of these new friends before they go into the house. We are left wondering if, for the movie, the murder as in real-life is going to happen in the next day or two. Or, as an alternative to the open-end, the bloodbath has been substituted with what just happened in Rick's house. In this alternate time line, the world never lost this endearing, child-like Hollywood rising star.
End of spoiler
The three leads are all wonderful, each in their own way. The support cast is also something to behold. In addition to abovementioned Bruce Dern, there are Al Pacino, Kurt Russell and Timothy Olyphant portraying, respectively, movie tycoon, director and lead actor that interact with Rick. Dakota Fanning plays a leading member in the Manson "family" at Spahn Ranch. On that sequence, abovementioned Pussycat is played by Margaret Qualley. While not exactly a household name, she is familiar to those who have enjoyed the excellent TV series of "The leftovers", as one of the key members of that exquisite ensemble cast. Compared with that powerful TV series, the character Pussycat in this movie is easy work for her, but not entirely unchallenging. Incidentally, this being a Tarantino movie, his signature shot takes advantage of her shapely bare feet, resting comfortably on the dashboard while Rick is driving her around town. Early in the movie, two iconic Hollywood figures are portrayed with good resemblance, Mike Moh as Bruce Lee and Damian Lewis and Steve McQueen.