Once Upon a Time... In a Tarantino movie

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood was directed by Quentin Tarantino, but it is not a "Tarantino movie." It's better than that: great comedy, fine acting, and a late 1960s Hollywood review that counts as a declaration of love.

It does not mean that Once Upon a Time... is conformist or just nostalgic. It's also all that, but it brings a broad re-reading of reality, which the movie calls a fairy tale, but we could call it subversion.

This undermining can be seen clearly in the relationship between the two male protagonists, a decaying Western TV icon, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his stunt, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). They have in common an unconditional love relationship, of the kind existing only in fairy tales, or as stated in the movie, Cliff is "more than a brother, but less than a wife".

The movie is set in 1969 and, in addition to the male protagonists, it brings back to life the actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), under a much more romantic vision than the real Sharon, victimized by a tragedy. Here, she falls in love with Los Angeles, goes to the movies to watch a film in which she made an appearance.

The plot follows its own rhythm, which may explain its 161 minutes. Several side stories overlap, but they never get to be what we expect of them, with thriller scenes falling apart without anything happening.

It's not a movie about actors' stories. It's a movie about making movies and acting in movies. The agent Marvin Schwarzs (Al Pacino) convinced Dalton to leave the TV industry, and go to Rome to make spaghetti westerns. Booth splits between his duties at the friend-boss-brother's mansion and the trailer, where he lives with his pitbull Brandy.

When at last the so-called "Manson family" enters the scene to carry out their crimes, it is not a big moment, but an extra set, which follows its logic, and here, a Tarantinesque sense.

In the end, those who died in real life receive Rick Dalton for a drink and talk excitedly. Like people who leave the cinema.