As many people know, Quentin Tarantino is pretty popular for his eccentric yet twisted film style. So when  I heard that Tarantino had written and directed “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” it was a given that I had to watch and review it.

Originally, this was going to be a review filled with juicy spoilers; but after watching the film, I realized that would completely ruin the point of the movie.

If you watch the trailer and read the description of the movie, you’ll see that it’s about an old western actor, Rick (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), and his stunt double Cliff (played by Brad Pitt), living their lives in Hollywood during the 60’s. Nothing is ever that simple with Tarantino, though, is it? Similar to his other films, this one has a twist as well. While these actors were showing us what it was like to live as an insecure western T.V. star in the 60’s, Tarantino also slipped in a few encounters between the inseparable duo and some wildly flirtatious “hippies” from the Manson Family.

For a movie that has so many underlying twists, it is unbelievably easy-going. I’d almost go as far as to say that it was a feel good movie. That’s right. A feel good movie. I left the theatre in a happy and calm mood, regardless of the amount of drama that took place during it. How Tarantino managed to make me feel 50 different emotions, and leave happy during a movie that involves the Manson Family, is beyond me.

I do, however, feel like that was Tarantino’s point. Most of his films take on light-hearted, and sometimes even comedic, approaches to dark and twisted tales. Speaking of tales, the title suits the movie perfectly. Let’s be clear, this is a fiction movie. While it does have some truth to it, you should not go in expecting every detail to be perfect. In my opinion, Tarantino gathered the research he had done, on both the 60’s and the Manson Family, and made his own tale out of it. Hence the title “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.”

During this almost three-hour long movie, you witness some darn good performances from DiCaprio, Pitt and Margot Robbie (who plays Sharon Tate). What made this film even more enthralling was that these actors and actresses were playing the roles of other actors and actresses from the 60’s. It was truly interesting to watch the performance of a performance.

Now, let’s discuss the ending. The end scene is what led me to make this review as spoil-free as possible. I believe every audience member left the theatre thinking something different.

Personally, I enjoyed this movie more than “Pulp Fiction,” which might be a big deal to some of the die-hard Tarantino fans out there. Normally, a tale of some 60’s Hollywood stars would bore me, but that wasn’t the case here at all. In fact, my attention was completely consumed by Tarantino’s intricate details and imagination.

At the end of the day, I’d rate this movie a solid nine out of 10.

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