Tarantino Does Not Hit His Mark In Creating A New "Genre"

Rating: 3/10 (3 August 2019)

Quentin Tarantino writes and directs his 9th film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood".
The movie tells the story of an aging Western actor Rick Dalton,who plans to re-invent himself after his career roles are running out of fashion.Together with him is his stuntman,Cliff Booth.The year is 1969 and both go to Hollywood as Dalton intends to acquire new roles. The screenplay has a meandering plot as it takes the viewer to the 1960's with the familiar costumes,stars like Bruce Lee, and music.Added to the story is Sharon Tate together with Charlie Manson as well as the "Manson Family". Apparently,Tarantino's screenplay tries to present his vision and opinion of what the 60's was all about particularly in Hollywood which was the advent of the counterculture era as well as the sexual revolution.
No question that Tarantino once again tries to revise history in this movie just like in his previous films such as "Inglorious Basterds" and "Django Unchained" - both of which he did pretty well that why I gave a 10 rating on them on my reviews.Too bad that he tries to apply it in the Charlie Manson murders and it obviously does not work unlike his previous movies. Added to that,the meandering plot sort of like confuses the viewer rather than building the tension of what was suppose to happen in the story. What is worse,viewers who do not belong to the 60's generation or who are not familiar with it will only get frustrated. Finally,anyone who isn't familiar with Charlie Manson will only be more confused and more frustrated.
What made it worse is that the story does not revolve around Sharon Tate despite the fact that she is the most important figure particularly in the conclusion of the film as it revolves around Dalton and Booth together in their journey.That does not contribute to a great storytelling that other Tarantino films are characterized with such "Pulp Fiction" which also deserved a 10 in my review.
This was obviously a missed opportunity. Too bad that having Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt together with Tarantino could have produced a cinema classic rather than just another film that is trying to create a new "genre". Nevertheless,they managed to provide great performances particularly DiCaprio as an aging actor and Pitt being great in a secondary role.