A flawed but masterfully made piece of cinema

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2020)

The story follows several different characters in Hollywood during the year 1969, in particular television turning film actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio) and his stunt man Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). It captures their struggle to success in the business and also offers a look at real-life figure, actor Sharon Tate. This film really subverted my expectations and I was really excited by the fact it did this after it finished. Throughout a lot of the running time, I wondered if some longer sequences were really warranted and there's no doubt that it is overlong. However, when you have the ending in mind, it'll certainly be worth watching again and I think it'll offer a whole fresh perspective on things. The performances are wonderful and the writing is superb as always from QT; although stylistically you'd be forgiven for watching this and not even having Tarantino come to mind. It's not his most distinctive film and in a way that's what makes it interesting also; he's doing something different to the style he's perfected and that's to be celebrated in itself for bravery. Performance wise it's pitch perfect with Dicaprio and Pitt being brilliant headliners and Margot Robbie portraying Tate with such sensitivity and respect, you have to love it. A beautiful tribute to a bygone era and a woman who suffered a terrible tragedy, this is definately one to see on the big screen and it stayed with me for a while after watching due to its sun-drenched yet melancholic tone. The final 20 minutes are fantastically done!