Tarantino Firing On All Cylinders, But Mainstream Audiences Will Stay Away

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2019)

My Once Upon A Time ... in Hollywood review at imdb.com

Once Upon A Time ... in Hollywood well be QT's magnum opus, to date anyway. Several jaw-dropping scenes are cinematic tapestries and demonstrate a master, a once in a lifetime auteur, at work effortlessly exploring new dimensions and redefining the traditional narrative perspective and focus of post-millennial American film
Brad Pitt (who knew he could act?) is sublime as Leonardo's alter-ego/Id with a conscience; never hot, cold, tepid or lukewarm. Pitt's always just right
Meanwhile DiCaprio, as if challenged by a mentor, unleashes an astonishing, and sometimes improvised performance as the self-doubting, about to be washed-up and TV has-been Rick Dalton. Likely his best performance on film, even if threads of late 1960s Jack Nicholson glimmer just below the surface
Doubtless benefitting from both the advantages of experience and chronological age (he's just old enough to remember Woodstock, Altamont, perhaps even contemporaneous TV news stories of the Manson murders that signaled the tail end of the 60s), Pitt comes out on top and wins the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award going away
Long-legged Sarah Qualley is delightful and merits special mention as the mercurial, manic hippie chick and Manson disciple, Pussycat
For those familiar with the actual, brutal and evil events of August 9 1969, Margot Robbie presents as an indistinguishable, breath-taking and alas, heart-breaking 21st century Sharon Tate. Less is more, and Robbie's hypnotic countenance is a reminder that, paraphrasing Norma Desmond, "Actors don't need words when they have faces."
That's far from suggesting OUATIA is flawless, or even consistently engaging. At 2hrs 41mins, OUATIA is LONG. Read that sentence again: OUATIA is LONG