"Once upon a time … in Hollywood": Cannes Review | view

Dir / Scr Quentin Tarantino. WE. 2019. 158 minutes

The fact that Once upon a time … in Hollywood did not concern Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie) and the Manson family. Its author / director Quentin Tarantino would like the public not to know exactly how; and he is right, because this knowledge would greatly reduce the viewing experience of his ninth film. But, as a true bedtime story, Once Upon A Time … is not really a question of this kind. There is staging, detours, getting lost, coming back, finding a happy ending. But it's mostly a love story – between two best friends (a TV star, Leonardo DiCaprio and stuntman Brad Pitt), and between Tarantino and the Los Angeles of his youth, which he wants to revisit and rebuild.

all the keys' Tarantino-esque & # 39; from action, jokes, violence, constant references to the film, there is a real trade at stake here

For Tarantino, it's about a film almost at the heart tender, although it cracks more than a few heads along the way. It's always fun, with excellent performances by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, which gives it a potentially greater appeal than some of the director's more recent and more violent works (though, by themselves, they may disappoint unconditional fans). There is even an excellent dog. We can and will criticize the occasional loss of concentration of Tarantino; The vignettes he tells are all perfectly formed, but they are long and can exhaust the impetuosity of the film. But it is without a doubt the "independent" commercial response of cinema at Marvel: big stars, big screen, big money.

In two cheerful acts, the two best losers of Pitt and DiCaprio provide us with an entry into the world of television and cinema in the 1960s. The two stars are extremely enjoyable to watch here during their first couple, with DiCaprio in full swing as an unsafe actor who has seen better days and Pitt as a former stuntman and driver / driver at the bizarre and current job, skillful with his fists.

But make no mistake: Tarantino is in no hurry to finish this particular story, while Rick Dalton, at DiCaprio's channel, learns his aftershocks. prepares for a western Sam Wanamaker, meets a Hollywood agent (Al Pacino) who offers him to work on the Spaghetti westerns and has repeatedly collapsed on the fact that his success on television as a bounty hunter registered well in the past. . (The crumbling of the star system and the rise of television shown here echo the seismic changes that occur in Hollywood today.)

Meanwhile, Pitt's faithful sidekick, Cliff Booth, Go home in his caravan, feed his dog, rat-flavored food, Bruce Lee in a flashback, and have a meeting with the hippy child Pussycat (an amazing performance of Margaret Qualley) that leads him to Spahn's film ranch and the encounter with The Manson Family (an unexpected cameo from Lena Durham here). [19659006] The public already knows that this is where Tarantino surrounds himself: by a stroke of luck, he invested in a property at the time, Rick lives on Cielo Drive where he witnesses the whereabouts of Sharon Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski. Hollywood stars, unlike the envious Rick). Tarantino also usefully provides a sequence in the Playboy Mansion where Tate and Polanski dance with Mama Cbad and Michelle Phillips while Damian Lewis, as Steve McQueen, explains their story and explains how Tate is still adored by her ex-fiancé Jay Sebring (Emilie Hirsch)

Once upon a time … in Hollywood is beautifully realized. Beyond all the nuances 'Tarantino-esque' of action, jokes, violence, constant references to the film, it is a real art at stake here. You can see it in close-ups – it's very close to the faces of its main actors – and when it's moving to take a long view of the ranch with the family stuck in a panic of goose bumps. There are bidding sequences where Hollywood neon lights are lit sequentially, which testifies to the skill of acting in an extended narrative of attempts to Rick to make sure his lines are right for Wanamaker. Even in the very first scene, a model of a special Hollywood backstage film, there is real skill there. tendency to reject Once the opon A Time … in Hollywood like pastiche. But it's more than that: it's love. A quarter of a century ago, Quentin Tarantino had premiered at Cannes Pulp Fiction it's a fresh start for the filmmaker. And the heat is welcome.