‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, Tarantino’s Most “Tender” Film, Gets An Intriguing New Trailer
According to early reviews, the film is a nostalgic tragedy.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, the ninth film from arch provocateur Quentin Tarantino, stirred up some controversy before it even started shooting.
For Tarantino critics, of which there are are many, felt the fact that the new flick featured Manson cult murder victim Sharon Tate was reason enough to start getting outraged. Speculating about Tarantino’s trademark, let’s call it glib, handling of material, such critics felt like it was inevitable that Tate was going to be used as a splash of lurid pop culture paint.
But in another lesson proving that it’s bad to judge a film that you haven’t actually seen (who’da thunk it?) it sounds like such critics are way off the mark — according to those who saw the film at its Cannes Festival debut overnight, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is the flashy director’s saddest, most tender film; a far cry from the bedlam of Django Unchained or the cruelty of The Hateful Eight.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: the end of an era. Review to come.
— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) May 21, 2019
#OnceUponATimeInHollywood turns out to be Tarantino's most tender film. Who'd have thunk. #cannes2019
— Magdalena Miedl reicht's. (@mmiedl) May 21, 2019
Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood is so gloriously, wickedly indulgent, compelling and hilarious. The film QT was born to make. The world is a more colourful place in Quentin Tarantino’s twilight zone. Round two, please. #Cannes2019
— Joe Utichi (@joeutichi) May 21, 2019
Not that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood has got uniformly excellent reviews out of the festival, mind you. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair admitted to being straight up bored, perhaps a first for Tarantino. And even the positive reviews have been tempered by descriptions of the film’s elegaic, slow motion tone; Charles Bramesco of Birth. Movies. Death says the film sees Tarantino “indulge every nostalgist whim.”
But hey, this is Tarantino we’re talking about — mixed reviews are the name of the game here, and most of the man’s masterpieces have gotten tempered reviews on first release. And some critics are already calling the work one of his boldest and most uncompromising film’s yet. “Quite simply, I just defy anyone with red blood in their veins not to respond to the crazy bravura of Tarantino’s film-making,” says Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian in a five star review.
In any case, you can make your own mind up when the film drops on August 15. In the meantime, here’s a brand new trailer.