Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Soldato
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snore. did nothing for me, after django, inglorious and hateful i doubt i'll even give it a chance from the bargain bins, everything since jackie brown has been unremittingly awful.
 
Soldato
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Bumping this thread back up to the top as I'm surprised there is no real talk about it.

As above at the time I watched Jackie Brown if you had asked me if I was was a fan of Tarantino, I would have undoubtedly said yes. However not one film since has really sat right with me and I've had no urge to re-watch any of the others since. I've not been to the cinema to see a Tarantino film since Kill Bill Part 2 which I didn't enjoy all that much. However I think Pitt and DiCaprio plus the subject matter got my attention this time. It seemed like the closest Tarantino had ventured back to his 90s style, so I was willing to give it a go.

I would say it was predictable in part, using many Tarantino tropes and things we have seen before which definitely took the edge off. When Pulp Fiction came out it took audiences by surprise the way it manipulated reality, now we come to expect this and I would say some of the ideas in Tarantino's later films do get recycled here which unfortunately steals those moments thunder. If this film had followed on from his 90's work it would probably be seen as another masterpiece.

I think this is a film best enjoyed by those interested in the film industry, the stars of the era and a knowledge of the events surrounding the Manson murders. I think the biggest flaw is that if you don't know about these things you won't get the best out of the subplot / themes / constant nods and re-imaginings. I was certainly daunted by the length of the film, I found Django overly long but I think there was only one part here where my concentration wavered, for the most part I was lost in it's world.

As others have said in another thread I think Pitt's character possibly steals the show and I wish we got to see more of Sharron Tate. She was obviously the Yin to DiCaprio's Yang, the rising star to his declining star. Then on the flip side Pitt was the grounded rock who had none of the problems caused by grasping at fame. He just seemed to navigate fairly zen like through this strange world of make-believe (both on and off screen).

The film was a lot more playful than I expected, I thought it was going to be more of a straight telling of the wider events surrounding the Manson murders. I knew it would be done very stylistically and so thought it might be bordering on exploitative. However this wasn't the case, I loved it's fantastical direction.

As with most of Tarantino's works it is self indigent, but as a film buff I got to enjoy the indulgence a lot more this time around. The use of alternative history and the reworking of film scenes and posters was kind of trite, but just thoroughly enjoyable and I couldn't help but grin. Film fans often talk about who was originally cast for a role or imagine what a film would have been like if someone else had played a character. This took the idea and sprinkled it throughout.

It's these flourishes that makes it in part a love letter to cinema and also those who love cinema. This blurring of fantasy and reality reflects on the make believe world of Hollywood but also the swirl of fantasy in the minds of those mixed up in the cultural revolution at the time.

I adored the ending, and when I say that I mean literally the last 2-3 minutes. I think the film sets you up to create your own story of what happens next and I have been thinking about it a lot since leaving the cinema. A "what if" movie that sings to the choir yes, but for me it was impossible not to love it.
 
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Permabanned
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Watched it last night.

A strange one. Even as someone who has a background in film studies and has obsessed over the industry for years now, I struggled a little at times. You can really feel that it's a movie he WANTED to make for himself and industry vets more then anyone else. It feels a bit languid at times and I felt more then any other Tarantino movie that it could have done with a deeper edit, despite the thematic relevance of some of the longer scenes and takes.

More then anything, I'm glad that it exists as a thing if that makes sense. I did really enjoy it and I'd happily watch it again, but it DEFINITELY isn't for everyone. Tarantino has developed a very particular style which I think has gelled well with general audiences so far, but I feel this one will be a little too niche for most.

@MookJong says it a lot better and more eloquently above :)
 
Soldato
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Thanks, I really want to tell people to see it but then I think again because someone at my work said "It was the worst film I have ever seen at the cinema". As you say it's definitely not for everyone, even the people who think it's for them might be thrown and the marketing kind of implied something different also.

I went in with zero knowledge of what it was actually about and low expectations. This helped a lot, I wasn't really comparing it to any of the films he has made since the 90s and I see a lot of people online instantly comparing to Kill Bill or IB, which isn't going to end well as this is a very different beast. The original cut was 4 hours 20 before being reduced to this edit and that is worrying. Have we actually got the best version of this film, did he even know what that would look like in the beginning? Originally he was thinking of writing a novel around these themes and this was never initially intended to be a film at all. You could argues this does show through and is the reason the balance of the narrative suffers.

But yet despite all this, I thoroughly enjoyed it more than any film for a long time.
 
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Associate
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9 Jun 2004
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Just seen this and while the acting and direction were both 1st class, it was way too long for the subject matter. It is the only (non-kids) movie I've seen in the cinema in recent memory where I've struggled to stay awake in certain parts.
 
Associate
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Slight necro but just watched this in 4K tonight.

For me the whole film could have been condensed into about one hour. It had its moments but every time I thought it was actually picking up pace and going to go somewhere it just cut to another mundane scene. Thought Brad's character was excellent and Leonardo was very good too but the film just seemed a mess to me. Although I have to say the last scene was unadulterated old school Tarantino and I loved it.

To enjoy this film do you have to have background knowledge of that period in Hollywood to really appreciate it ?
 
Man of Honour
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I loved it and thought it was one of the films of 2019. I actually liked the way it meandered and had less action until 'that's scene. I also thought the twist on real events was good. Finally, superb casting.
 
Soldato
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Really enjoyed it, played with expectations a little as the manson murders are quite well known. The tension when he's at the mansion ranch was almost unbearable.
 
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