I haven’t been to the movies in a while. The last film I saw
in a theatre was Godzilla King of the Monsters, which I was so disappointed in,
so I haven’t bothered to go see anything else since. I was planning on catching
Spiderman Far From Home but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe I’ll catch
that next.
As for other films, only Quentin Tarantino’s latest appealed
to me enough to get to a movie theatre and catch it. I’m glad I did. All the
positive reviews it’s been given are dead on. This film is great! Tarantino
rarely disappoints; then again, he’s only done 9 feature films since the early
90’s, so he’s clearly a filmmaker who takes his time and makes what he wants to
make.
The story takes place in Los Angeles 1969. It follows Rick
Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) as a former television superstar and his stunt
double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Dalton is struggling with the reality that he’s
slowly becoming a has-been, relegated to bit parts as bad guys on TV shows,
and Booth is his faithful buddy, who sticks along with him for the ride. Also,
Dalton lives in a big Hollywood home and realizes his next door neighbors are
Roman Polanski (fresh off his success with Rosemary’s Baby) and Sharon Tate
(Margo Robbie).
For a film whose running time is close to 3 hours, Tarantino
does a fantastic job of allowing the story to breeze along nicely, it never
once sags or dulls. In addition to his fantastic script, credit also goes to
DiCaprio and Pitt, who play the shit out of their characters. Brad Pitt is one of
those actors who can come off as generic, but with the right role, he can
deliver wonderfully, and here, he does just that. His character Booth is all
calm and cool on the outside, but underneath the chill, there’s a tendency to
deliver serious, brutal ass kickings if rubbed the wrong way. There’s also a
backstory about how he allegedly killed his wife years ago, and I love how
Tarantino leaves the audience hanging on whether he did or didn’t.
DiCaprio has always been a great actor, and he’s wonderfully
hilarious here. Scenes where his character has meltdowns are both funny and sad
as he accurately captures the emotional rollercoaster of someone who’s seeing
the sunset of his career inching closer and closer.
I really like how Tarantino wrote Sharon Tate. She comes off
as just a sweet, happy-go-lucky person who always treats everyone she meets
with kindness. Margo Robbie does a good job showing that pure sweetness.
The film comes to a head on that fateful August night of
1969, where members of the Manson family murdered a pregnant Tate and some of
her guests at her home while Polanski was away filming. I won’t reveal anymore,
but suffice to say, I absolutely LOVE how Tarantino handles this. I came away
thinking that he must’ve really hated what happened to Tate, and this was his
way of releasing that anger. The final scenes in this film are worth the price
of admission alone.
And just like all Tarantino films, music plays a major role.
Here, Paul Revere and the Raiders are prominently showcased. The music, along
with the sets and costume design, capture 1969 wonderfully. The film is filled
with wickedly hilarious humor, terrific performances, gorgeous cinematography,
great songs that compliment the scenes, and moments of vicious, brutal
violence. In other words, the usual Tarantino stuff. He delivers a powerhouse
of a movie, and come award season, I expect this film to get several
nominations, especially from DiCaprio and Pitt.
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