Number 9

In a far, far away land in California

Upon seeing a trailer for Once upon a time…in Hollywood, my mom asks me what that movie is about. So I, as the film critic of the family, say “well, it’s a movie—about making movies. And Sharon Tate and Charles Manson are there for reasons that I guess I’ll just have to see the movie to understand.”

It turns out I was mostly wrong as this movie is a celebration of the 1960s as a whole. Not just in its films, but its television as well. It is seen through the eyes of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a soon to be washed up actor and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), both of whom give quality performances both in-universe and out.

Once upon a time…in Hollywood is a talky movie. Yeah, no duh, it was made by Quentin Tarantino. What I mean by that is that it’s practically nothing but talking. Usually, there’d be a lot of talking, followed by something, often violent, happening so that you’re not just left thinking there’s nothing but talking going on.

Do you know who doesn’t get to talk in this movie much? Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). I can undoubtedly say that Robbie has enough screen time to justify being billed third, though she doesn’t do much in the film during that time, especially in comparison to Pitt and DiCaprio. I could count the number of lines she has on one hand.

It was at the Cannes Film Festival where a female journalist had that same reaction and asked Tarantino why Robbie didn’t have more lines. To which he responded, “Well, I reject your hypothesis.’ Robbie responded to that question by saying how all the wonderful sides of Tate were adequately displayed without speaking. That the character was explored through her interactions with others and that she appreciated the exercise of working without dialogue. Okay, they say actions speak louder than words. Plus, A Quiet Place and the Buffy episode “Hush” also shows that a lot about a character can be conveyed without dialogue.

I can see that during this one scene where Tate goes and sees one of her movies, which is an adorable moment where we see her smiling as the audience laughs at her character’s funny bits. Which also tells you a lot about the character. She enjoys bringing happiness to people. Other than that, nothing else really comes to mind.

According to Tarantino, all the little, everyday stuff we see her do in the movie is intentional done to show her goodness and kindness. Not by furthering the plot, but going about her day so that the audience can think of her as more than just a victim. Which I kind of agree with, though I still believe that he could have done some Sharon Tate slice of life stuff that gave Robbie something more substantial to work with.

If I’m honest, Tate could probably have been removed from the film entirely, and nothing would change, which leaves me still wondering what she’s doing in the movie. Almost as much as I find myself wondering about Manson.

Once upon a time…in Hollywood isn’t a happy go lucky film by any means, but every scene relating to Manson and his family comes with some substantial tonal shift that’s almost like watching another movie. One standout scene is where Cliff goes to the family’s ranch and decides to investigate after noticing something not quite right here. Which of course, comes with this whole ‘oh God, what’s going to happen next’ tension.

The only explanation I can come up with is that Manson is there as part of one of the landmark elements of the ‘60s. Show the bad along with all the good. Though if that were the case, it should also be noted that this movie doesn’t delve into any of the uglier aspects of the time beyond what happened to Tate. So maybe Tarantino was just like ‘hey, I’m Tarantino, the audience is expecting a certain level of violence in my movies.’

The cast of this movie is crazy. Beyond all the big names that are in the opening credits, there’s a shitload of other recognizable actors in the film. Danielle Harris shows up for a hot second. Maya Hawke is in this movie too, which I found a little surprising after Tarantino nearly killed her mom. Clearly, they’re both much more forgiving than I ever would be. 

Then there’s the ending of the movie. [spoiler] Okay, so, what happens is that Manson’s followers end up deciding to switch targets from Sharon Tate to Rick Dalton, which leads to Rick and Cliff killing all of them in these cartoonish over the top ways. If that wasn’t enough, Rick also gets the validation of being recognized and invited to hang out with Tate and her friends when all is said and done.

Inglorious Bastards, a previous film from Tarantino, also flies right in the face of human history (spoilers/NSFW). Except there that just took me right out of the movie. Here, I was more okay with it because I was not looking forward to what happened in real life. Plus, having once upon a time in the title suggests that it’s supposed to be a fairy tale. [/spoiler]

While my feeling about how Tarantino handled Tate and Manson may be conflicted, I’d still recommend watching this movie. Tarantino’s next film is also going to be his last and is supposedly going to be something with Star Trek. Though since he has a history of starting and never finishing projects (still waiting on Kill Bill Vol. 3), I’d take that with a grain of salt. Though if he does end up making a Star Trek movie, I’m looking forward to learning how you say the you know what word in Klingon.