"Once Upon A Time in... Hollywood"-Tarantino has tried to create an alternate reality according to his perception and wild imagination

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2019)

There are two kinds of realities in the world. One reality which we live in, other reality belongs to Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is a rare breed who works under traditional Hollywood system but always takes an independent route while making films. The novel quality he carries distinguishes him and his creations from the rest. "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" is Tarantino's 9th film starring two stalwarts of our time Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Expectations are always high when a well-known director has a support of talents like DiCaprio and Pitt but when it comes to Tarantino's film then star cast takes the back seat but how Tarantino is going to shock us this time becomes priority whether you are fan of his work or not.
His new cinematic piece is a story of a struggling TV actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt) who just exist in Tarantino's cinematic imagination about 1969 tinseltown. What makes reluctantly believable and interesting is their co-existence with the actual Hollywood characters of yesteryear like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), Roman Polanski and legendary Bruce Lee. The way Tarantino tangles his fictional characters with the real ones it becomes difficult to separate fact from the fiction.
Pacing of "Once Upon A Time....." is tediously slow like previous Tarantino films but required to build reasonable backdrop of fictional characters and their connections with the real ones. Once fictional characters find their solid base they all move forward towards such a jaw dropping climax which is the specialty of every Quentin Tarantino's movie. All bizarre and seemingly trivial presence of even actual characters with fictional ones finally creates an alternate ending of real tragedy you have not even imagined but subconsciously assume appropriate. Style of Tarantino's direction is like playing field hockey where eleven different players of same team holding different positions dribbling the ball in all corners of the ground but eventually delivers the ball into goal post with perfection.
Analyzing Dicaprio's performance is nothing short of a blasphemy because whatever he does seems immaculate. Brad Pitt with his controlled demeanor looks attractive but his ruthlessness in penultimate stages of the film is jaw dropping and will be remembered for years. Margot Robbie as Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate is adorable and presence of her character has a purpose.
On the whole, "Once Upon A Time...." is not the best Tarantino's movie ever but it is Tarantino's movie. It seems this time he is paying homage to victims of notorious Manson Family Murders and with "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" Tarantino has tried to create an alternate reality according to his perception and wild imagination. Has he succeeded or not? You will have to experience it to know it. In future Tarantino is gearing up to conquer space with his wildest imagination in next Star Trek.