The best Quentin Tarantino movie since "Pulp Fiction"

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2020)

This is the best Quentin Tarantino movie since "Pulp Fiction" and I'm going to explain to you why. Tarantino made a whole circle since he won critical acclaim with his second film. His movies were highly popular but there was always something missing artistically. As talented as he is as a filmmaker and storyteller Tarantino usually looses the bigger perspective. His movies are flashy, but they don't provide us anything than just shocks. For the first time since "Pulp Fiction" I fought that there is a deeper message underneath it and Tarantino actually says something important.
The movie uses the idea of alternative history which Tarantino likes to use recently and which he started to play with in "Inglorious Basterds". But I fought that he failed the first time he tried it. The fact that he sent his made-up characters to kill Hitler and another bad guy from SS didn't really change much. And the way he touched Holocaust using comic book style didn't prove much more than his lack of sympathy to the subject. I don't know if he learned from the mistake or simply the subject he picked this time touched him in a different way but the final result is something else.
This is the first Tarantino movie I ever watched that I really enjoyed watching. There is somehow positive feeling as the movie progresses. There is also surprisingly not much violence in it. At least up to the last scenes when the whole hell finally unleashes. Normally in his movies the audience is shocked constantly. This is more like slow-burning Alfred Hitchcock film where suspense is pilling up for a better result. This is much more mature piece of filmmaking.
The main idea of the movie is to take something that everybody knows about and twist it. Everybody knows about Charles Manson bunch and the killing of Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski's wife. In Tarantino movie this audience's knowledge about what happened works as a free suspense mechanism. The movie doesn't have to scare us. It doesn't have to show the danger that is coming. We already know that it's coming. All Tarantino had to do was to recreate as well as he could reality of Hollywood in 1969. Once we believed that we see Polanski and Tate, and the girls from Manson's band we were ready for a ride.
The crucial scene of the movie for me was a moment when Cliff walks into the house when the guy lives who allowed Mason's hippies on his ranch. Knowing that we are watching Quentin Tarantino movie we expect gore. We are sure that Brad Pitt will be killed. And then surprisingly nothing happens. This was a moment when I realised that this movie is completely different then anything Tarantino ever made. This was also a moment when I thought that he has an upper hand. He knows exactly what he is doing.
Big part of this movie is waiting. Some scenes are amazing. Like the scene with Bruce Lee. But many other ones are quite slow and you can even say that the dialog is not as crisp as it was in some of the previous Tarantino movies. The whole story of Rick Dalton doesn't seem that interesting. All the scenes with Brad Pitt and Manson people are far more engaging. Leonardo DiCaprio is trying his best but there are moments when everything is dragging. We don't know where this is all going. But we can't stop watching it because there is Charles Manson on the horizon.
It's a long movie and as you watch it you have a feeling that some of the parts could be cut down. But somehow at the end everything gets into its place. Everything is leading to the final confrontation and when it comes it's as surprising and as shocking as anything you can watch in movies. The shot of three people with gun and knives walking through dark street is repeated few times. Tarantino has us on the edge of the seats, and he enjoys postponing the moment of La Grande Finale as far as he can.
The final scenes of the movie are one of the greatest piece of film making I watched for a long time. But not necessarily because they are made so well. It's because of the whole buildup that led to it. Because it's completely against what we expect to see. Hitchcock said once that if you build a suspense you need to release it. Otherwise, audience will hate you. If this is true this is the greatest release you will ever see. Tarantino uses all the violence to show us what happened, but he directs it in a different way. It points it back to people who started it. The same way his gangsters are being smashes and humiliated in "Pulp Fiction".
This is possible because of Cliff, the character played by Brad Pitt. We can say that everything else here is realistic. Most of the people are historical: Polanski, Tate, Manson, Steve McQueen, Bruce Lee. The whole Hollywood of the past. Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) is fictional, but he could actually exist. He is an actor struggling with the change in America that Polanski and hippies represent. The only one guy who is out of this whole world is Cliff. He is a superman. And he is put there with only one purpose. To change the history.
Cliff is bulletproof in the way the most iconic characters played by Clint Eastwood were. But we don't realize that until the last moment (otherwise there would be no surprise). He handles things. He is a guy taken from the movies. A stunt man. If Rick Dalton is a weak alcoholic who can play tough guy in the movies, Cliff is his alter ego. He is an actual tough guy who can do anything. If antenna on the roof breaks down: Cliff fixes it. If you need to fight Bruce Lee: Cliff can handle it. And if you have to stop Charles Manson's family from smashing everybody: Cliff is there to do it.
Pitt played similar character in "Inglorious Basterds". The American hero put into II World War to kill the Nazis with a baseball bat. And he is perfect in this role. Mostly because he himself is something bigger than an actor. He seems beyond everything. He doesn't age. He doesn't mind. He is Clint Eastwood of our times. And once he does what he does Rick Dalton can step in and finish the job using the flamethrower. He can for a moment be like touch guys he usually plays. Because we need Cliff. We need Hollywood magic. Without it we can't handle Charles Manson guys. We can't handle reality.