Mr Tarentino has always made it clear fans should always enter with blank expectations into his films, for nearly all have made unpredictable plot and character turns in styles drawn from the guy’s current film obsession. But Kill Bill’s slow dramatic revenge drama flown down a 80s kung fu flick doesn’t quite come off as weird as Tarentino’s latest film, which explores 60’s Hollywood through the lens of today’s. But beyond its initial expected weirdness, can Once Upon A Time In Hollywood be considered worthy among the ranks of his previous masterworks?
DiCaprio plays an alcoholic film star cursing his cheapened future of spaghetti westerns while his stunt double (Brad Pitt) sits by to support him. The film’s main purpose seems to be delivering a vivid irony of witnessing the outdated campy and low-budget feel of 60’s films in the execution of a high-end modern one, emphasised by the number of big-time stars included to stay you in the present while the film begs the bright dresses and poppy vinyl. And Once Upon A Time in Hollywood pulls this unique paradox well: seeing a drunk Leonardo and Brad laughing over one of their own cheap grainy action film on an old TV is oddly charming and seeping into a spaghetti western in the skilfully-filmed and edited way of a modern Tarentino but with the cheesy script of an old flick, only to get suddenly broken when DiCaprio forgets his line is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Tarentino has certainly nailed a new humorous and captivating film form.
But where the film falls for me is, even for Mr T, the many moments which seem dumbfoundingly unnecessary and seem to just want to play around in the bright 60’s sandpit which has been done to death in recent years one too long. Margot Robbie plays a not-a-care-in-the-world actress who’s significance is she’s married to a director DiCaprio so desires to befriend to amp up his career. Tarentino uses this as an excuse to indulge in the free and swingin’ blonde girl trope where we see Hollywood from her campy view. And would you believe it’s not that interesting and we end up seeing her as an unlikeable airhead.
But that’s not the biggest example. A main plot area involving Brad Pitt and a gang of country hipsters had potential to be one of Tarentino’s most memorable and mortifying tropes, with the dialogue having obscure creepy undertones. But the consistently ineffective outcomes and marred, inconsequential characterisation make it more confusing than engaging. Betraying a tensional build-up can be great but OUTIH does this one too many forgettable times. The film had a lot more ways to convey these youths as an unstable threat but ended up with a few moments with them at the finale that would’ve been memorable regardless if we just met these kids or had two hours of build-up, which we almost did have and was quite humdrum.
To some, Tarentino’s casual script with hardly any meaning half the time can be seen by many as genius characterisation. But to me, too many scenes are cliché and don’t stand out nearly as well in this film as moments such as The Bride warming up to Hanzo at his bar and Vincent and Jules discussing foot massages. When it’s not on its brilliant fourth-wall break scenes, it’s on a frustrating ride through glamorous LA in superficial indulgence we’ve, unintentionally ironically this time, seen done before in many films and, though Tarentino is known to borrow many elements and mise en scenes from previous films, it’d be hard to imagine him indulging in such a mainstream spectrum it’d dare make his own film ‘unoriginal’.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a film I found hard to grasp and would probably better understood and appreciated by other viewers. Some moments are revolutionarily brilliant with its challenging of types of spectatorship and its stylish homage to golden age cinema, with DiCaprio and Pitt giving their usual exceptional performances. Some great chemistry was also served, such as when Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) faces his inner-demons by befriending a young child actress, showing his mental progression with his improved performances. But the film’s mostly confused character focus and forgettable dialogue brings it down to a confused entrée, as well as the marketed bond between friends Cliff and Rick (the two main characters) being nearly totally side-lined to instead focus on other things, leaving you to simply assume they’ll gladly die for each-other with the occasional back pat. If it wasn’t for the fantastically written and humorous finale, I’d go as far to calling this film a bitter disappointment. Now, I’ll just call it an organised mess.