I adore this movie and it’s probably going to be the most technically exceptional (la di da) film and/or controversial given it’s reviews. However, I was largely blown away by this movie, however I confess, I’m a sucker for the late 60’s especially this movie’s gorgeous interpretation of a legendary time not far removed. However, I’m also not blinded to the complaints surrounding this film as I can definitely see how…masturbratory even the long driving scenes can be. A little bit of them bothered me, however overall I adored the cinematic vacation of this film. What is is this film about though?
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is about Rick Dalton and Cliff (played exceptionally by Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt respectively), his stuntman buddy having a midlife crisis in 1969 Hollywood while the city itself drastically changes too. Like I said, this film is a cinematic vacation (a term that I’m admittedly stealing from Tarantino himself), I can’t think of any other way to describe that. It feels like the most practical/realistic way to attain a sense of time travel.
Again with the low score I don’t know if this will get Oscar accolades upon that time, but the cinematography in this film is truly exceptional like a warm hug of nostalgic pop culture. That pop culture extends to it’s soundtrack which I have been blasting more regularly/on repetition then Tarantino’s other works.
Margo Robbie may technically be overqualified for the amount of screen time that she’s given, but I feel that you need someone with her caliber of charisma to sell what needs to be with her character. The supporting cast I also love and am very much hoping that the extended edition netflix mini series that has been proposed to have more time with the smaller characters.
These actors characters include Cliff’s boss (played awesomely by Kurt Russell), Al Pacino (), Timothy Olyphant as another cast member on Rick Dalton’s show Lancer, Bruce Dern as Cliff’s old friend with an eerie connection, Damon Herriman as that eerie connection, an awesome but weirdly random cameo by Damien Lewis (as a 60’s icon), yet another exceptional performance by the arthouse Tom Cruise of his generation Emil Hirsch, a Clu Galagher cameo and many more. So, yeah…a little run on, but it’s a big cast that I adore, what can I say?
Overall, this may be a bit highbrow for something called Brovember, but I feel that the charisma between the two lead (especially in a later scene with them just drinking and talking crap while watching a cheesy TV show) really solidifies how exceptional of a bro film that Once Upon a Time In Hollywood is. I adore this movie, but I know that it has a love/loathe reputation and I’d love to hear which side that you take.