Where dreams are made

Rating: 9/10 (23 August 2019)

As I walked out the screening of Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" I felt a bit... confused. This is a film that is nothing more than an action-comedy fiasco so why did I enjoy it so much? There is no obvious technical answer besides Tarantino's knack for unpretentious bravado. With the commemoration of 50 years of Woodstock and its hippy culture, QT joined the celebrations in his own oddball way--giving praise to the factory of dreams that is Hollywood.
As per Tarantino, the movie does not follow reality because reality is boring. For Quentin Tarantino, not using Hollywood for the purpose of fulfilling your fantasies is a waste of time. And so he does. Every frame is filled with posters, locations, logos, small businesses, big businesses of the time. So is the music. It's so condensed that it feels like a nostalgic playlist of which QT skips a track now and then. This is an era he only experienced from magazines and historical footage. This is for the better. It allows him to fill in the blanks with what he would've wished it were and in doing so, he added another stamp to his so-called cinematic universe.
The plot revolves mostly around a faded TV actor, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as Rick struggles with your typical LA rich-boy midlife crisis. Despite having a luxurious villa, he is worried about time passing him by and he is stern even more when he finds out his neighbor is Roman Polanski--director of "Rosemary's Baby". As pleasing and over-the-top as DiCaprio's performance is (reminds me of his Jordan Belfort in "The Wolf of Wall Street"), Brad Pitt's taciturn Cliff Booth wins my heart. Dalton treats him like a friend, but in the end, Cliff is still his helper and he is fine with that. He never hints at wanting something more, he suppresses any thoughts you might have about him being jealous or angry. He genuinely seems like a satisfied, serene, nice guy--more than you would expect from a Tarantino movie. Despite having his own affairs, Cliff always watches Rick's back.
This is the classic bromance--alongside it, Tarantino employs other mythological Hollywood motives--suspense (the leading to the climactic rumble in Dalton's house), action (the actual rumble), the beautiful ladies and this last one is special. Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate is a character you don't feel you really connect to. This only goes to magnify your fascination. Tarantino follows her with the camera as she goes about her day as if idolizing her--the pure, innocent beauty of Hollywood so close yet completely out of touch.
At this point, you might get the impression this is not your usual QT movie. Many Tarantino purists will notice a more softer approach. This is because this movie is about what he truly loves and respects--the art of cinema. His trademark dialogues might lack the usual debauchery, but they are still written with precision. A particular scene in which Cliff finds himself on an abandoned film set now overrun with hippies in which he visits his old friend with whom he used to work 8 years ago finds the two talking in a recurrent manner. It is a great example of a master screenwriter doubling back-and-forth without losing steam (not to mention it was really funny).
The climactic point of the film, which takes inspiration from the tragic Tate Murders will leave you surprised. It is an intense scene, yet one that will hopefully satisfy you fully. In the end, despite the people, "OUATIH" is mostly about an exclusive world. One in which the lights never dim, the man never gets old and people drive like maniacs. But Tarantino now is a made man in Hollywood, he is on the inside but I get the impression the reality seems disappointing to him. He would rather live the dream. Luckily, he is in the perfect place and industry to do just that.