For the love of film, and of Hollywood's waning golden era

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2019)

"Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" (2019 release; 161 min.) brings the story of struggling actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth. As the movie opens, we get a clip from NBC's "Bounty Law" TV series, and Rick and Cliff are interviewed (all in B&W). We then switch to "Saturday, February 8, 1969", and Rick is worried about his career, wondering what to do as a next move. Meanwhile, Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate land at LAX, creating a media frenzy as they walk to the airport. They drive home and as it turns out, they are next door neighbors with Rick Dalton... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest opus from Quentin Tarantino, and only the 2nd film crediting him as writer-producer-director (after 2007's "Grindhouse"). Here Tarantino recreates and re-imagines Hollywood's waning days of its so-called golden era (culminating in real life with the murders of Sharon Tate and others by the Charles Manson crazies). By mixing real-life and fictional characters, Tarantino creates a parallel universe, where he is of course in complete control. When I say "recreate", it is really that. No amount of detail is too small, check out the street scenes as Rick and Cliff are driving around. Pay close attention to what all is in the background, and you'll see what I mean. The film is helped immensely by the utter brilliant lead performances from be Leonardo DiCaprio (as Rick) and Brad Pitt (as Cliff). In particular DiCaprio (playing multiple characters in movies and TV shows) gets to stretch in a way that demonstrates, once again, why he is among the very best actors in Hollywood. Per the usual from Tarantino, the soundtrack is chock-full of great music from that era. While I recognized quite a few tunes, I was also pleasantly surprised with the more obscure songs. Bottom line: I really, really enjoyed this film. The proof is in the pudding: I was absolutely astonished when the house lights came back on. Had 2 hrs. and 40 min. passed by just like that? Apparently they had!
"Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" premiered at this year's Cannes film festival, to immediate critical acclaim. The movie opened wide this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday matinee screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati (in a medium-sized theater) was sold out down to the very last scene. First signs are that the movie have performed much better at the box office than projected (now expecting to deliver $40+ million). If you are a fan of Tarantino or simply love a well-crafted look at Hollywood's waning golden era, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.