Cinephile № 795 “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”

Recommendation: 3/5 Stars, STREAM

Plot: “A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.” -IMDB

Review: To call “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” a movie about the movie industry would be simplistic. Yet, trying to figure out what to call it is the slightly frustrating part. On one hand, it is a story focused on a television star, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is beginning to see the sunset on his career. Then there is his trusted stunt double, played by Brad Pitt, who is trying to figure out his own life beyond the shadow of his friend and business partner. On the other hand, this is a story about Charles Manson and the brutal murder of Sharon Tate, played by Margot Robbie. The lengths we must go to see these two storylines intersect is what moved me from calling this a great film to an average effort.

Stylistically, this is a Quentin Tarantino movie and serves as an ode to the Hollywood which has inspired much of his career. Choosing to tell a story about what happens behind the camera was a risky move that left me searching for a character in which I would emotionally invest. For the first half of the film, my energies were focused on Rick Dalton’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggle with…