Movie Review: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2019)

I'm going to state my bias right here, right now: I absolutely love Quentin Tarantino. There are a handful of film-makers that I discovered when I was first developing my tastes in cinema (Edgar Wright, Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Stanley Kubrick, The Coen Brothers and of course Tarantino), these directors will always have a place in my heart and as a result I may be easily persuaded to recommend their latest work. That being said Tim Burton's Dumbo isn't exactly going to be making my top 10 this year so don't take too big a pitch of salt when I tell you that I might have a new best of the year contender.
I would be interested in how this film would be received by someone who is unfamiliar with the previous 8 (or 9 depending how you count them) Tarantino films. I think a large part of my love for this film is down to how it messes with the standard formula of a Tarantino movie while still offering many of the trademarks that have made his style iconic, however I have seen many critics and fans saying they were disappointed in the film for similar reasons. Either way it is clear that this film can only be read effectively through the eyes of the kind of person who knows what like a virgin is really about, what a quarter ponder with cheese is called in Paris and can recite Ezekiel 25:17 by heart.
This is probably the slowest film that Tarantino has brought out to date, large amounts of screen-time are dedicated to watching the characters drive through the painstakingly real looking sets or to fairly mundane conversations with no real baring on the overall plot. This has been an issue I have seen in many reviews but I have to say that it didn't bother me, the cast are fantastic and so even the most pointless dialogue exchange feels engaging and as I mentioned before the attention to detail in the set design as well as the wardrobe makes every scene a treat to watch.
There are a couple of scenes that have caused controversy for this film. In the interest of keeping this spoiler free I will not go into detail here but lets just say that I don't see what the problem is.
I do want to talk briefly about the ending, I will try to keep this as vague as I can but if you really want to go in blind then ignore the next paragraph.
A lot of people have compared this film to a fairy tale, given the unexpected and cathartic ending as well as the 'Once Upon a Time' title. For me this film reminded me more of a well told joke. A great comedian is able to keep their audience engaged for a long period of time while telling a seemingly mundane story, they will throw in little jokes and go on funny tangents only to come back at the end with the punch line. At the end of the movie when the sub-plot comes in focus and everything goes full Tarantino everyone in my cinema as laughing hysterically. I think that is what Tarantino wanted and what many critics are missing.
Ultimately, this a really great film. You should go see it.