Is there much left to say about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Every industry loves a bit of navel gazing, and no-one gazes at his own navel as much as Quentin Tarantino.
I watched this at home on New Year’s Eve with family and friends and we hadn’t realised it was so so so long. Which made it a good way to make sure we stayed awake until midnight. It looks gorgeous (like all Tarantino films). It sounds gorgeous (like all Tarantino films). The acting is generally excellent (like all Leonardo di Caprio films). But I don’t think it’s more than the sum of its parts. It’s a great way to watch Brad Pitt and Leo have fun and both are excellent, but in creating an immersive authenticish reproduction of Los Angeles in 1969 it starts to feel as sprawling as the LA suburbs.
Once Upon a Time… feels like a movie for insiders, which is fine, but it comes at the expense of a tighter, driving storyline. But then Once Upon a Time in the West is very slow-moving and I absolutely love it! Overall though, OUATIH is good but not great. 7/10
I do recommend this half hour “making of” video, which shows the lengths QT and his team go to to recreate the vibe of the late 1960s: