Reinventing Hollywood

Rating: 9/10 (23 August 2019)

"Don't judge a book by it's cover" should be the correct approach to any movie, and that is probably what I did here upon entering Once upon a time in Hollywood. I went to judge it as a Tarantino movie with an impressive cast, and left the cinema with the impression of having hated 2h of the movie and liking only the last part. And then I spent 2 days pondering over the story and started to really like it and finding it the best Tarantino. WTF would you say, well let's look at why the movie wouldn't work but... actually it does.
Oh my gosh, this movie is long, 2h40 and not a lot going on, you are taken across scenes after scenes of "tarantinesque" storytelling of how Hollywood was/is working with its intricacies with actors, stuntmen and producers backstabbing each others and downplaying each others. Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) driving, DiCaprio DiCapriing etc. etc. And it feels like the story doesn't really evolve much up until the ending which gives you the real feel of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction et al.
The actors are amazing throughout the scenes though, and that is what is so surprising on the first look, one is like "why are they acting so good with such an aimless scenario?". Shots are beautiful, cinematography is spot on and everything it perfectly in place. And yet you still have the bitter note of having a story diluted over 2h before "subverting your expectations" (that is the current fashion term for "plot twist") where the Manson family doesn't kill anybody and ends up being dead, in a cathartic way.
Uh but wait is it really like that ?
Actually I do believe after some thinking that the movie is great for being in its present cut. The rythm is there to install the feel of a slow movie before increasing the pace step by step, and for that it is brilliant, you get the feel of the time, you get to feel the frustration of a changing Hollywood with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) being of the old school times faced with the new names that are emerging (Polansky, McQueen etc.) and new techniques like the little girl doing her Actor's Studio perfectly, being in the character's body all allong. And you see Rick Dalton changing through that prism, embracing a new way of shooting movies and evolving into the new style of acting. And for that the story is spot on, it is pure Tarantino giving an hommage to an actor that adapts itself for a new time that he can't comprehend before reaching the end. You get the reverie of the old Hollywood merging to the new one.
You get the slight touches of modern tackles to current Hollywood too (honorable Cliff Booth refusing to have something going on with the young hippie? Me too movement and recent scandals in Hollywood anyone ?), you bridge the past and present at a time when the studios are starting to get ever powerful once again (Disney and their various ventures as an example) by celebrating a time when the new Hollywood was emerging.
But in the end, above all, the main account of the story is rewriting a trauma. Yes that is the end, the murder of Sharon Tate and her friends was a traumatic experience for Hollywood. Here, just like in Inglorious Basterds or Django, Tarantino pays back to history and just deals with a traumatic past in a comical and satisfying way, the bad guys are dead and everybody is happy,no innocent is dead, Hollywood is saved and we can continue to make great movies and enjoy life.
And this is why in the end, Once Upon a time in Hollywood should be judged by its cover ! Yes, it's a tale "once upon a time in Hollywood's kingdom". Like Anastasia's cartoon, that was slaughtered in real life, but lives to tell the tale in Disney's adaptation. And here we have a tale of Hollywood, of an imaginary and yet impossible moment in history. It's a tale, Rick Dalton, our King Arthur trying to reclaim his title of actor, helped with his Lancelot of Cliff Booth and Brandy the good dog. They save the princess, they fight evil people (Rex/ Tex the 'devil') with their flamethrower (Excalibur) and acid cigarettes and have a happy ending "...and they lived happily ever after". Rick Dalton enters the new Hollywood, Cliff Booth saves the day like an amazing knight and Sharon Tate lives. This is a tale, this was the amazing Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.