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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood...
Aug. 17th, 2019 10:42 pmI don't really want to talk about the movie... just the ending.
As you all know, I've been having a hard time lately. It's not going well. I won't go over the particulars, because it's just a pain to go over them again. Let's just say it's the type of situation that will bring out the hidden cracks in a family.
My wife and son are upstate visiting a family friend. This was planned out weeks ago, and there was no reason to cancel. To be honest, I think they need a break from me. I'm not great company right now.
So, when all my business for the day was done, I decided to take in QT's latest.
(Spoiler alert, but I'll try to be as vague as possible.)
Tarantino has gotten into the habit of slipping in a little "alternate history" into his narratives, to give his audience a sense of satisfaction and payback in situations where that would be impossible. So you have the Jewish resistance fighter roasting Hitler and his generals in Inglorious Basterds and Django destroying the plantation in Django Unchained.
I'm not sure how I feel about this tactic. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, the Inglorious Basterds wiener roast came off as cheap wish fulfillment with a bit of egomania attached. "Hey Nazi victims! Don't sweat it--Quentin's got your payback for you."
Well, in this movie, he does it again.
And I loved it.
I'm not going to be specific about the incident he changes. Suffice to say it's one of the most infamous tragedies of late 1960s Hollywood. I think what makes this work when the others don't is that Tarantino has foreshadowed it for the entire movie, and the last 30 minutes of the movie is the night of the tragedy. He's steadily ratcheted up the tension in the midst of what's generally a relaxed kind of movie, so when things don't play out as pre-ordained, it's a release.
The revised event plays out in a way that is very true to the characters DiCaprio and Pitt have been playing throughout the film. So, despite the weird left turn and the extreme violence, it felt very true and organic. And it was extremely funny. I laughed and laughed hard during those final scenes. It was the first good laugh I'd had in a while. And I finally felt good enough to post here.
Take care folks.
As you all know, I've been having a hard time lately. It's not going well. I won't go over the particulars, because it's just a pain to go over them again. Let's just say it's the type of situation that will bring out the hidden cracks in a family.
My wife and son are upstate visiting a family friend. This was planned out weeks ago, and there was no reason to cancel. To be honest, I think they need a break from me. I'm not great company right now.
So, when all my business for the day was done, I decided to take in QT's latest.
(Spoiler alert, but I'll try to be as vague as possible.)
Tarantino has gotten into the habit of slipping in a little "alternate history" into his narratives, to give his audience a sense of satisfaction and payback in situations where that would be impossible. So you have the Jewish resistance fighter roasting Hitler and his generals in Inglorious Basterds and Django destroying the plantation in Django Unchained.
I'm not sure how I feel about this tactic. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, the Inglorious Basterds wiener roast came off as cheap wish fulfillment with a bit of egomania attached. "Hey Nazi victims! Don't sweat it--Quentin's got your payback for you."
Well, in this movie, he does it again.
And I loved it.
I'm not going to be specific about the incident he changes. Suffice to say it's one of the most infamous tragedies of late 1960s Hollywood. I think what makes this work when the others don't is that Tarantino has foreshadowed it for the entire movie, and the last 30 minutes of the movie is the night of the tragedy. He's steadily ratcheted up the tension in the midst of what's generally a relaxed kind of movie, so when things don't play out as pre-ordained, it's a release.
The revised event plays out in a way that is very true to the characters DiCaprio and Pitt have been playing throughout the film. So, despite the weird left turn and the extreme violence, it felt very true and organic. And it was extremely funny. I laughed and laughed hard during those final scenes. It was the first good laugh I'd had in a while. And I finally felt good enough to post here.
Take care folks.
