Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)

I decided to take a free afternoon during my vacation. And I sort of regret the decision, with all the deadlines piling up... + other issues. I wonder if it's normal to not have "vacations" without deadlines?... I guess the last one where this didn't apply, more or less, was in 2014. Anyway, moving back - I did regret also because I lost around 2.5 hours of that afternoon with the latest Tarantino movie - "Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood". Don't get me wrong. Let's not get hasty here. Maybe the movie is not bad, but it can be hard for you to decide on that.

The film follows about half a year of Rick Dalton's life, an actor going through a career downfall at the end of the '60s in Hollywood, partnered by his stunt double, Cliff Booth. Both fictive characters, who are placed in a context with plenty of side stories, enough of them to not really know if there's a main one. But... :) long story short - to get something from this movie you need at least one thing: to have a vague idea about the Manson family and the tragic ending of Sharon Tate in 1969. Wikipedia offers enough info, which is far from being a pleasant reading... but unfortunately without knowing any of this the final credits might stun you with some sort of a "what did I just watch here?..." reaction. Even with having this background, there are many parts that you might probably won't get over the course of the 2 hours plus. Probably a solid culture in respect to the '50s-'70s cinema can help. I got a couple references, but unfortunately I can't brag with a "solid culture", so there are most probably plenty references I missed.

You shouldn't expect something Tarantino specific. Soft spoiler: the movie is much more, let's say... "comforting" compared to the reality, and probably that's what you can appreciate here. Or at least that was desired and it works. As a proof, I guess it's the most non-violent movie of all he directed. Stuff which adds more to the "once upon a time" = "fairy tales are nicer" = "what if?..." but I said it's just a soft spoiler ;) Bottom line: if you want something action packed this is not a good option - it has a very slow pace. But for a couple hours to break out from the daily stress it might work - although it happens often to not know why it takes some course and this might bore you, which can make your brain move back to the daily stress ;)...

Rating: 3.5 out of 5