P.resented to Cannes with a big parade of stars including of course Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Of Quentin Tarantino airs tonight on first tv at 21.25 on Rai 2.
The title with a fairytale flavor contains exactly the essence of the film that, through the events of a declining actor and his stunt double intertwines fiction with the story of Sharon Tate: massacred from the sect of Charles Manson in Los Angeles of 1969.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the plot
Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio), actor protagonist of the western tv series Bounty Law, would like to make a quantum leap. In Hollywood, the western is no longer so fashionable e the man begins to worry; the parts proposed to him are secondary.
Even Cliff (Brad Pitt), Dalton’s stunt double and best friend, he is unable to work as he would like; looking forward to better ago the Dalton factotumincluding driving his car around the city.
But Rick has a hope, to meet the prestigious neighbors: Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Which in the meantime receives the visit of a certain Charles Mansonwho shows up at the front door in search of the previous owner.
Months later, returned from Italy where he shot a few movies of evenings B, along with Cliff is located at face the Manson sect. Come to perform the infamous ritual of violence and blood in the equally infamous Cielo Drive.
The dark side of the hippies and the tragedy of Cielo Drive
Mixing all the themes that have always been part of his cinema – the representation of violence, cinephilia, the historical revisionism and the structure from fluvial novel -, with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Quentin gives maybe his most moving and accomplished work. Regarded as the third part of an ideal trilogy dedicated to history.
And in this sense the director chooses a period that marked an epochal turning point for pop culture, politics and society. Not just American. 1969’s Woodstockof the moon landing, of thehippie utopia and a new way of making cinema, no longer linked to the powerful studios. But done with few means and emerging actors.
And it is right in this perfect world about to collapse that move Rick and Cliffmarginal characters of a change seen from the sides. “Fantastic” elements of a sort of Tarantinian metaverse which mixes imaginary events with real events.
With the usual visual and writing masteryQuentin Island one historical element among many thanks to the character (and the tragedy) of Sharon Tate – the beautiful 26-year-old actress wife of Roman Polanski killed 8 months pregnant along with some friends at his home on Cielo Drive.
Which for the director represents the quintessence of all the beautiful and the good of the counterculture of the late 60s, a symbol of peace and brightness that is “turned off” by the dark side of the peace & love philosophy. Or the black soul of Charles Manson and his family, responsible not only for the massacre of Cielo Drive but also for having overshadowed the dawn of an age where everything seemed perfect.
A tribute to the power of cinema
The filmmaker, however, as already happened for Inglourious Basterds, change the rules of the game and, in a shocking and almost splatter ending, rewrites the pages of history. Immersing yourself in a “What if …?” which is none other than one fairy tale with a happy ending where Evil is defeated.
A conclusion (not to be revealed) that, when the film was released in 2019, sparked a series of controversies on the extreme freedom that Tarantino wanted to allow himself.
But, luckily for us, Tarantino is one of the few directors out there who firmly believes in almost thaumaturgical power of cinema. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in fact it is a declaration of love to the Seventh Art almost three hours long, the great dream of a “romantic” directorin the deepest sense of the term.
That despite everything continues to believe that, thanks to cinema, everything is still possible.
What happens to Rick Dalton?
Far from revealing the film’s ending, a “prayer” expressed by the director in numerous interviews, Tarantino jokingly revealed what happens to the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio after the end of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Rick in fact, just before using his flamethrower in the epilogue of the film, has just returned from Italy where he shot some spaghetti western low budget and a couple of heist movie Italian style. And according to the director’s statements, now his career is at a turning point.
“The incident with the flamethrower had resonance,” Quentin revealed, “no one really knows how heinous it was, but it was still something big. So, Rick Dalton is starting to be in demand again and now he’s being offered a couple of roles in low-budget but still Hollywood-made films. ‘
But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, Tarantino has always revealed that have already thought of a series inspired by Bounty Law, the “fictional” western TV series of which we see some scenes within the film. And it seems that the director already has proposed to Netflix to make it happen.
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