LA love-in

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2020)

A real Marmite movie. One that i liked on first watching, and a day or two later has actually gone up in my estimation. I've found Tarantino's last 10-15 years increasingly awful - long, overblown, questionable and dated. I came to this with lowish expectations and was pretty much blown away.
The heartbeat of this movie is the fantastic chemistry between DiCaprio and Pitt(Redford). Thrown together maybe, but with a sweet, genuine friendship. Leo studied intensity and Brad easy smiles and laid-back charm. It's an exhilarating pairing.
Tarantino sets his film in the months leading up the Manson family murders, letting the tension rise, like storm clouds rolling in to kill off the flower power 60's. Rick and Cliff symbolise the last gasps of classical Hollywood, now threatened by the decade's counterculture.
There's no doubt the director feels greatly for Tate and the film's most tender scene sees her slip into a local cinema to watch her latest movie. Robbie comes alive as she giggles and blushes when people applaud, close to tears in the knowledge that she's made an impact (however small) on the world.
The ending takes risks that will inevitably divide audiences - i hated it, but now think it's perfect.