What to watch this week
Action thriller. With Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Director: Quentin Tarantino. 18DLV. IT’S 1969 in Hollywood and actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) is forced to return to TV when his movie career fails to take off. Crippled by selfdoubt and alcoholism, Rick is propped up by his army veteran stunt double, Cliff Booth (Pitt). Meanwhile, glamorous starlet Sharon Tate (Robbie) moves in next door to Rick and creepy young hippies start hanging around the neighbourhood.
Director Tarantino’s ninth movie pays homage directly to the actors, directors and stunt performers who worked in ’60s Hollywood. This he combines with a look at a horrific event that many dubbed the end of the peace-and-love hippie era: the murder of heavily pregnant Sharon Tate by members of the Manson Family cult.
If you’ve seen any of Tarantino’s films, you know this won’t be a realistic true-crime drama. Like in Inglourious Basterds (2009), he inserts fictional characters into a historical setting, letting them run wild and audaciously influence real events.
DiCaprio and Pitt easily carry the film with their movie-star charisma and it’s great seeing two actors of such calibre playing off each other so well. Robbie doesn’t have as much to do, but she’s a shining, endearing light throughout the film. Also keep an eye out for many famous faces in cameos.
Once upon a Time . . . is particularly long and might test your patience, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller, look elsewhere. But viewers searching for a surprising, imaginative, thoughtprovoking experience should give this a try.