Severed thumbs up.

Rating: 9/10 (25 August 2019)

I think it was Jay Bauman who jokingly named Quentin Tarantino the last real filmmaker left, in the sense that his films get big openings without being unnecessary remakes, unnecessary sequels, and/or superhero products. This is an artist who, even under Sony, makes nothing more nor less than precisely the films he wants - and yet, the masses pay to see his work and the rest of us don't have to look in arthouse theaters to find real movies. You can tell from the vintage poster and old-school Columbia Pictures logo what sort of era he delves into this time.
Less outwardly "wacky" than Tarantino's usual output, but nonetheless witty and gritty, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (or Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood if you'd like to use your ellipses properly) focuses on a famous actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt man (Brad Pitt) in 1960's La La Land, whose lives interweave with the gruesome case of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and the Manson family. Critics have said that this film does to the Manson killings what Inglourious Basterds did to World War II. I believe I enjoyed this one more.
The most prominently featured members of the infamous family are Pussycat (Margaret Qualley), Tex (Austin Butler), and Squeaky (Dakota Fanning). Damion Herriman plays Charles, reprising the role after also portraying him on Mindhunter. This is in addition to the screen celebrities and Hollywood figures of the era, themselves portrayed by exquisite actors.
We see Timothy Olyphant as James Stacey of Lancer fame, Mike Moh as Bruce Lee (my favorite performance in the film), Bruce Dern as a rancher who would rent out his farm for the shooting of Westerns (it later became a Manson family hideout), and the late Luke Perry as Wayne Maunder. Jay Sebring, another known victim of the Mansons, is played by Emile Hirsch, and original characters are performed by the likes of Kurt Russell, Julia Butters, and Jack & Jill survivor Al Pacino. There are other cameos worth mentioning, but doing so would take a while. In terms of Hollywood nostalgia, this film satisfied me in ways 2016's Hail Caesar did not.
Our two leads, Western serial star Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and body double Cliff Booth (Pitt), are not among the film's real-life figures, although their friendship is modeled after that of Burt Reynolds and his long-time stunt double Hal Needham; we meet them at a time where the Golden Age is ending and the Rick Dalton type heroes are no longer in fashion. The events on which this story is based are highly fictionalized, of course, but great care has been taken to recreate the era, mimic its filmmaking, and getting so much else right. I read that Margot Robbie did extensive research on Sharon Tate's life, without ever having to get within talking distance of Roman Polanski (wise).
Tarantino's actors, in general, are killing it as usual. This is one of those times where Brad Pitt gets to play something other than Brad Pitt and create a believable, entertaining presence. Robbie is even more wonderful, as is easy to forget when you remember her as "that girl who played Harley Quinn so poorly that hundreds of white girls cosplayed the bejeezus out of her". DiCaprio is magnificent, both as Dalton and as the heroes and villains Dalton is hired to play.
In addition to great and well-acted characters, as well as Tarantino's signature grit (when necessary), the movie is also meticulous in terms of its camera work, editing, authentically "Sixties" production design (same goes for the makeup and hairstyling of Robbie), and choice of music, plus some other things heard on the radio at the time; the soundtrack has been called an "oft-disquieting mixtape of golden-age rock'n'roll, radio DJ patter, and period-specific commercials". It is touches like these that make a QT movie a highlight of any movie year. Does it need to be quite this long? Perhaps not, but even the seemingly inessential scenes have something that sticks out.
One of his less enjoyable QT trademarks, depending on who you ask, is the apparent foot fetish. And nowadays, as it turns out, he doesn't even seem to care if the feet in question have been washed or not. Keep this in mind, but do please watch this movie just the same. 'Tis important to separate the art from its salivating foot fetishist.