But the biggest supporting player in the film isn’t even a person. Tarantino has once again assembled a stellar ensemble cast that includes several veterans of his past films like Kurt Russell - who occasionally provides jarring and unearned narration that comes across like a narrative cheat - and great new additions, such as scene stealers Mike Moh as an egotistical Bruce Lee and Julia Butters as a precocious child actor Rick meets on the set of a potential comeback role. in Hollywood and its characters never quite register as strongly as many of Tarantino’s other films and protagonists. But emotionally speaking, Once Upon a Time.
That may be enough, intellectually, for those who want to ruminate on the film industry, past and present. In the end, you’re left wondering what Tarantino wanted audiences to feel about them or his film save for leaving with an appreciation for Hollywood’s yesteryear. Rick’s travails and Cliff’s side story are enjoyable but it’s nevertheless tough to fully connect with them. Indeed, that’s the biggest drawback of Once Upon a Time. While she may get short-changed here in some ways, Sharon still gets one of the film’s more emotionally engaging sequences, one that registers on a far more intimate level than some of the scenes featuring Rick or Cliff. Tarantino seems more interested in the idea of Sharon Tate than he necessarily is in exploring who she really was. She’s more a symbol of Hollywood dreams than she is a flesh and blood protagonist like Rick and Cliff. Margot Robbie plays her with a free-spirited vivacity, but the character of Tate herself is not well developed (Robbie has much less dialogue than nearly all the other leading characters). Portrayed here as Rick’s next door neighbor, Sharon Tate, of course, was a real person whose brutal death - slain while pregnant by followers of cult leader Charles Manson - has overshadowed her brief film career. This is no A Star is Born-esque showbiz drama, however. The third pivotal character here is actress Sharon Tate, a beauty whose star is on the rise even as Rick’s is on the decline. Cliff is in many ways a more interesting and complex character than the narcissistic and fragile Rick, but DiCaprio and Pitt share a breezy, boozy chemistry that makes them great foils for one another. Cliff may project a Zen-like chill but there’s a coiled intensity lurking under the surface that speaks to the violence he’s capable of committing. Rick is deftly played with feverish desperation and crumbling vanity by Leonardo DiCaprio, while an almost transcendently cool Brad Pitt delivers his best performance in years as Cliff, whose sun-kissed appearance belies the inner darkness that’s cost him everything but the affection of his dog and Rick. Tarantino largely focuses his story - which is primarily set over three days in Hollywood circa 1969 - on washed-up actor Rick Dalton and his best pal, former stunt double-turned-flunky, Cliff Booth. Perhaps it’s because he’s set a retirement goal for himself with his tenth film that Tarantino leans so heavily into nostalgia here, staging a last hurrah for a breed of aging Hollywood types out of step with their times. There’s still an undeniable coolness -there’s that word again! - exuded throughout this film, but like an older man, it moves a bit slower, is more contemplative and mindful of the end being nigh, and struggles with things not being the way they were back in the day.
The movie reflects the sensibilities of an older and possibly more thoughtful filmmaker than the indie bad boy who stormed the industry back in the ‘90s with his “cool criminal” fare like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
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