Rated R

Minor spoilers about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the ninth film by the legendary director Quentin Tarantino. The movie catapults audiences back into 1960s Hollywood, focusing on the fictional actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth. We get to follow how the pair’s careers evolve in the film industry and the important events that have occurred during their time in Hollywood. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is one of the top movies I was waiting to hit theaters in 2019, and I was ecstatic that I finally got to see it this month and leave the theater so content with yet another amazing Tarantino film.

You could probably head to see this movie just on the basis of seeing the insane cast – to list a few, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Luke Perry, Dakota Fanning, Austin Butler, Bruce Dern, and many more appear throughout the movie. Now, while the cast is large and full of people you and I might easily recognize and enjoy, you will definitely want to stay for DiCaprio’s impeccable performance as Rick Dalton. His performance in this film stands out by far. He excels by portraying his character in a way that only a seasoned and critically-acclaimed actor can. DiCaprio transitions brilliantly from acting as his character, Rick Dalton, to acting as Rick Dalton acting out another character (there’re that many levels to this!). I really enjoyed the personal ticks DiCaprio gives Rick to make him come across realistically as an actor during the ’60s. Make sure you keep a look out for the pep talk Rick gives himself after faltering with some lines – what a memorable scene to add to DiCaprio’s neverending Oscar-worthy collection!

Something I would advise people to do, especially younger ones who aren’t familiar with Charles Manson and the Manson Family, is to do your homework about them before you go see this movie; otherwise, you’d be as confused as I was in pivotal moments of the film. Tarantino’s plot in Once Upon a Time does something similar to one of his previous movies, where it warps reality with fiction to warrant a different ending than what actually happened in real life. In Once Upon a Time, Cliff Booth, Brad Pitt’s character, comes face to face with members of the Manson Family on the Spahn Ranch, and I didn’t completely understand how monumental that scene was until I went on Wikipedia after the movie (trust me, I know what you’re thinking – what a millennial/GenZ-er). Reading about actress Sharon Tate and how she was the target of a Manson Family murder also helped me place the references in the movie and understand which events Tarantino changed to retell the story differently. I thought it was excellent on Tarantino’s part in choosing to tell her story and allowing viewers to see what a budding talent Sharon Tate was and the exceptional, young actress she could have been.

This film definitely comes with some of Tarantino’s key signatures. The focus on feet, the difficult-to-watch gory moments, and the unique storytelling order. I find his storytelling to be refreshing and original because it doesn’t follow a distant chronological timeline like most movies tend to do. We get to jump from event to event and digress to other storylines, as you would if you were hearing someone tell the story right in front of you. You get to know the three main characters deeply, due to how character-driven Once Upon a Time is, and you get to feel as if they transcend fiction to become real people. It saddens me to think about how Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino’s second-to-last film before he retires from filmmaking, but at least the world can look back on it and his filmography forever.

This movie is a gem and one that I can truly go on and on about to whoever will allow me to, and I’m all too excited to watch it a second time soon. Go check it out for yourself, and be prepared for a memorable experience full of laughter, maybe a couple of tears (hopefully from laughter), and lots of breathtaking visuals.