Tarantino's best in years

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2019)

As a fan of Trantino-s work sonce Reservoir Dogs I had become a little tired of his over inflated, dialogie heavy and often pretentious offerings of late. All well written and wellmactwd of course, but lacking the cutting edge madness and comic genius of his earlier efforts.
Once Upon a Time... Harks back to Pulp Fiction and Dogs with it's larger than life characters and comic book ser pieces.
The story is follows Leonardo DiCaprio's ageing actor, an insecure failing former TV legend who is living off past glories, and his best friend for hire, Brad Pitt. The characters are well thought out, well written and extremely well acted. Their individual flaws are on display and that makes them all the more relatable.
DiCaprio is the glue that holds it all together while Pitt is hilariously understated in his performance. But we also het treated to a delightful showing from Margot Robbie who, as Sharon Tate, is a joy to watch. Tate is like this shining light of positivity who just kind of floats through the film alongside the main story afilmIt is almost like she is the spirit animal of this film and Tarantino wrote a fitting, if somewhat stylised, tribute to the tragic actress. It's like a personal love letter to Tate.
The story is well paced and, unlike most of Tarantino's scripts linear in nature, with none of his trademark time jumps. In true Tarantino eachnscene is a slow build with a payoff that makes each scene worth the weight. From Pitt's encounter with the Manson family to DiCaprio's cowboy actor having a moment of redemption on set, to the ultra violent but hilarious finale this film is Tarantino 101.
Also, in true Tarantino fashion we get an alternative outcome to historical events and a rare happy ending.
I suspect that on further viewings more nuances and subtleties will be revealed and the self-aware nature of the film, with it's obvious commentary about film makers coming to the end of their careers almost being a critique of Tarantino'a own career.