Lara Pop’s review published on Letterboxd:
#OnceUponaTimeinHollywoodisfinallyreleaseddammit
*SPOILERS*
Seriously, who else makes movies about Leo and Brad cruising through the Hollywood of 1969, arriving home and an awestruck Leo seeing Roman Polanski for the first time and saying in amazement that the director of 'Rosemary's fucking Baby' is his next-door neighbor?
Or Leo and Brad sitting on the sofa drinking and Brad tripping out while watching an old action tv series and commenting the whole thing?
Or Leo sitting on a mattress in the middle of his swimming pool rehearsing his lines as the bad guy in some western flick for next day's shooting?
Or Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski going to a party that has Steve Mcqueen and Michelle Phillips too and just dancing and having a good time?
Seriously, who else but Tarantino?
Really, the details got me so bad. The movie posters, the scenes from old TV series and advertisements, the spaghetti westerns, the neonlights, the soundtrack, Bruce Dern saying the hippies loved him, The Great Escape easter egg and Steve Mcqueen, Dean Martin, Bruce Lee, the many names and references, Al Pacino imitating Rick Dalton shooting, the Inglourious Basterds easter egg with Leo shouting 'Burn, you Nazi bastards!'...
They created an atmosphere that is impossible to describe, where every moment is perfect rapture and every scene pure bliss.
The Easy Rider vibes are undeniable and I positively freaked out when Sharon was in the theater and the movie was actually shown for one fleeting moment. Until that I was sitting calmly amidst the audience in my Jack Nicholson T-shirt but that moment did it for me.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is NPPA, aka 'No Plot, Pure Atmosphere' and it worked perfectly for me. 'The perfect blend of all my styles'' in Quentin Tarantino's words. 'A homage to Hollywood', in DiCaprio's.
And it is.
As an afterthought I just want to add that I really hope Leo DiCaprio will be nominated for Best Actor.
