Another film I was trepidatious about is Quentin Tarantino’s newest opus. Tarantino is an acquired taste, one which I have never fully accepted. I know he is revered but his style-first melodramatics are hit or miss with me. Tackling one of the darkest moments in Hollywood (and American cultural) history, I wondered whether I would truly regret spending more than two-and-a-half hours in his revisionist world.

Quentin Tarantino’s film recreates certain events leading up to the Charles Manson-ordered killing of Sharon Tate and several other people in 1968 — but it does so blending fact and fantasy. The prime characters are born in Tarantino’s imagination: western actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), as they navigate the pitfalls of a changing Hollywood and the demise of westerns. Lots of film-business details and insights form the background as Rick and Cliff head toward an intersecting path with Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and the crazy people who would do her harm.

This movie could stand to be much more tightly edited; I could cut a half hour of Cliff driving around Los Angeles and not lose any dramatic power. It got so tiresome that I was bored during the middle section. And then Cliff visits the Spahn ranch and a palpable sense of dread sets in. I’ll say this for Tarantino’s script — it surprised me, twice at least, as the story closes in for the kill, and in good ways, perhaps brilliant ways. The last half hour or so is vivid, harrowing, remarkable alternative history. I had been dreading the inevitable conclusion, and yet when the movie was over, I had to admit that Tarantino has produced a truly thought-provoking finale, one which made me think about the whole film in a higher regard.

I’m not at all sure I buy the way the writer-director melds fiction into this tale of Hollywood history, or the way certain stars are treated (Bruce Lee and Sam Wanamaker among them). On the other hand, certain things work really well, such as Sharon going to see herself in the movie theatre, or Rick Dalton’s interactions with the precocious child actress (Julia Butters). Fans of old western television will appreciate all the in-jokes and references to those shows, and, thankfully, Tarantino does not deign to give Manson much of a screen presence at all. This may be his most personal film to date, but it’s still an odd work of art, one that should be seen more than once to fully appreciate. And it may well be better than the rating I am giving it; I’m just not sure. ☆ ☆ 1/2. 27 September 2019.