Mario's Musings: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Mar’s Note: I saw this movie a while ago and had been meaning to give this a write-up, but other things got in the way.  

Anytime a story starts with the phrase “Once Upon a Time” we automatically assume as adults that the ending will be a blissful one. However, this is a Tarantino flick, so it could go either way; everyone goes home happy or there’s a bunch of dead bodies everywhere. And in a flick like this that supposedly focuses on the Manson Family Murders, it’s safe to assume it’s going to be a grim ending. 

The chemistry between these two makes me want to see more of this duo.

Hollywood tells the story of actor Rick Dalton, the once popular Western star whose career has seen better days, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Once the leading man, he now plays the role of one-shot villains on various television shows. His best friend is his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, whose career has also taken a hit thanks to Rick’s downward trajectory and his own bone-headed actions. But there’s a glimmer of hope for both men as Rick’s new neighbors are Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, and if Rick can say hello and become friends with the couple he can maybe make his way back into the Hollywood Elite. He just has to say hello to Sharon before Charlie does.

And that’s really it. The movie focuses on these two, and their interactions with others over the course of a few days. That’s not a knock on the flick at all. It’s very Tarantino in that so much happens but so little seems to happen at the same time when you actually try to think about it. But when it gets to the ending, man, does stuff happen. 

But with every modern Tarantino movie (okay, I still need to watch Inglorious Basterds and Hateful Eight to really confirm this) seems to come an ever-increasing focus on his foot fetish. Look Quentin, we get it, you like feet, but we don’t need to see a close-up of dirty feet on a windshield that takes up three-fourths of the screen during a dialogue scene or another close-up of Sharon Tate’s (played by a criminally underused Margot Robbie) feet during a scene when she goes to the theater to watch one of her movies.

Although for laughs, I wish a director would parody this and pick a random body part to fetishize. Like elbows. I want to see a movie where for some reason, during a diner scene; the camera focus would be on the elbows. Talking? Focus on the elbows. Waiter shows up with food? Focus on his elbows. Okay, maybe not an ENTIRE movie of that, but maybe a comedic sketch. SNL, you can have that one for free. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this. I like the look back at old school Hollywood, showing legends like Bruce Lee on the set of Green Hornet, and cowboy flicks being the lead moneymakers. The chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt makes me want to see more flicks with them together, especially with Pitt’s brand of humor making him the jokester to DiCaprio’s straight man. This will be available for home release soon so give it a watch.