Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film is one of the richest
and most rewarding moviegoing experiences in quite some time. After only one viewing, I’m still having
trouble expressing just how impactful it is.
I plan to revisit it very soon and if and when I have more to offer at
that time, I’m sure I will chime in with some new thoughts. As for now, let me see if I can adequately
convey just how much of a big deal this thing is to me.
On the surface, it’s a film about the bromance
between actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his best friend and stuntman
Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). It’s February
of 1969 and the alcoholic Rick is on his way down the Hollywood food chain. He once was a leading man in pictures of
varying quality, but now he’s reduced to being a villain of the week on episodic
television. He drinks too much and is overly hard on
himself as he wonders if his glory days have passed him by. Cliff is a once-great stuntman who is
hopelessly devoted and loyal to his friend Rick. The stories surrounding Cliff are the stuff
of legend, but those stories have also isolated him from just about everyone in
town BUT Rick.
Unlike Rick, Cliff is happy where he is in his
life. He lives in a trailer while doting
on his guard dog Brandy, seemingly at peace with himself and his past. He’s just happy enough being Rick’s glorified
assistant and chauffeur. Whereas Rick is
struggling to find himself, Cliff has it pretty much figured out. Together, they are a perfect yin to the other’s
yang. One could assume they’d probably
fall apart if they didn’t have the other to lean on.
Rick’s neighbor is the lovely and famous Sharon Tate
(Margot Robbie). Even though he’s a
household name himself, Rick still turns into a giddy fanboy at the prospect of
living next door to a movie star. To
Rick, she embodies what it means to be a star.
While Rick overcomes his own set of self-imposed
mental demons on the set of his latest TV show, Cliff kills time taking a beautiful
hitchhiker (Margaret Qualley) to the Spahn Ranch. I’ll stop right there. If you know your history, you might be able
to guess how it might turn out. Or maybe
not if you remember Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
Tarantino is clearly in love with Hollywood in the
late ‘60s and this is his love letter to that bygone era. The way he weaves the minutia of the
directors, movie stars, TV shows, commercials, trailers, and non-stop pop music
of the time is downright magical. Some
may think the movie is too long, but I quite honestly didn’t want it to end. I especially loved the scenes of Cliff driving
around Hollywood blasting music. The way
Tarantino drops the music into the scenes via jump cuts, along with the long-gone
scenery of Hollywood deftly gives you a feel of what was in the air at that
time.
The film really belongs to Leo and Brad. I was a little nervous about DiCaprio in the
lead as I found him to be sorely miscast in Tarantino’s Django Unchained. However, he gives us a truly moving,
full-bloodied, and believable portrait of a man stuck in a crisis of faith. Not in God, but in himself. His tortured, alcoholic tantrum in his
trailer is some of the best acting he’s ever done. He’s so wounded, sad, and honest in the scene
where he describes a book he’s reading that it had me choking up.
On the other side of the coin, Pitt is all
unfettered id and gleeful delight as Cliff.
I never thought he’d be able to top Tyler Durden, but Cliff Booth comes
awful close. He’s quite possibly the
best friend you could ever hope for. He’s
so easygoing and carefree… until he’s not.
Then, just be glad he’s on your side.
The film is terrific when it’s contrasting the lives
of the two buddies, however, Tate’s character though mostly peripheral, is equally
important. She’s there to remind us that
movie stars are people too as she is quite literally the girl next door. Robbie is particularly winning in the scene
when she goes to a movie theater and talks her way past the girl in the ticket booth
into letting her see her own movie without paying. Yes, she’s glamourous and beautiful, but look
at the way she watches the audience’s reaction to her film. The way she gets a kick out of seeing them
enjoy her work. She just wants to entertain.
Once Upon a Time follows in the hallowed tradition
of Tarantino characters who are struggling actors and/or stunt people. Like Dick Richie in True Romance, Mia Wallace
in Pulp Fiction, and Zoe Bell in Death Proof, the characters in this movie love
to talk about their latest roles and past work.
Tarantino clearly has an affinity for the struggling actors of Hollywood
and the picture is a love letter to them as much as it is to the town itself.
On the action side of things, there are at least two
fight scenes that are just simply incredible.
I wouldn’t dream of spoiling either of them but allow me to say that the
finale may be my favorite thing Tarantino has ever done. He pulls it back just a notch, so it’s not
quite as over the top as Basterds, and in doing so hits an entirely different
and compelling note. It’s still
hilarious and gory as hell though. I loved
it. Not to mention the fact that Pitt is
devastatingly funny in it.
Tarantino also gets an intense amount of suspense out of the scene when
Cliff goes to the ranch. Not only is this
scene a crackerjack sequence of tightly wound tension, it serves as the main
theme of the movie. Cliff is an old
school stuntman whose way of life is kind of on its way out. The hippies that have taken up residence at the
western ranch represent the younger generation.
The not-so certain future. Seeing
the western setting overrun by dirty hippies is the perfect metaphor for the next
generation taking over and making the once great landscape their own. It’s kind of a western in that respect with
Stuntmen being Cowboys and Hippie Cultists the substitute for the Indians.
It’s also a Hangout Movie as Rick and Cliff buddy
around for most of the running time. Some
may be left cold by the lack of an A-to-B-to-C plot, but that is what was kind
of refreshing. Here, the characters’
interactions inform the plot and not the other way around. It’s also a film
about The Last Good Time. The Nostalgia Monster. How we often look back to the crest of the
wave and remember things being great, even when they didn’t always seem that
way. Even the low points didn’t seem so
bad. Then of course, once the shit hits
the fan, nothing was ever the same again.
This is a special movie in more ways than I can
count. I probably didn’t do it the
justice it deserves. It’s a film that
demands your attention. I think everyone
will walk away wanting to be more like Cliff while feeling that pang of
recognition that there is more Rick in them than they’d care to admit.
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