Paula Fay

I loved Tarantino's love letter to the lost cinematic world of his youth. If you're of his generation/s, you'll get those in-jokes- the (always) beautiful little female child who starred in the Western tv series & brought a catch to the throat of the most hardened gun-slingers. This film is all about those memories & he weaves a story around them just as much as the more famous sub-plot around Sharon Tate's tragic end. Di Caprio genuinely surprised me - he was superb. Not afraid to play old, grizzly, fartacious & a bit ugly. His roaring at himself for his boozing was a tour-de-force & any boozer will recognise a little bit of themselves in the maudlin self-pity veering to furious denouncement vering back to pious self-justication. Pitt didn't have to much except be Brad Pitt- avuncular. There is a fascinating back-story to his character- a question left hanging by Tarantino. As all the best films do- Once Upon A Time in Hollywood asks more questions than it answers. It's a fairy tale where Tarantino gets to 'kill' real characters that many of us will have wished had been killed before they managed to carry out their truly evil 'mission'. In this sense, Tarantino is like a kid of 14, playing at 'saving' Tate but in a way that resounds with love across the years. We see Tate herself, & Robbie playing Tate, watching the real Tate in a 'Matt Helm', Dean Martin lost 60s' caper-comedy. There is something really rather moving about these scenes, seeing Tate emerge into a world that quite rightly loved her & knowing as we do her fate- the pathos is almost unbearable. All fans of the magic of cinema, should do themselves a favour & go see this film.