As we celebrate the work of the singular Quentin Tarantino this month at the Wasteland, like many of the site’s other contributors, I’ve been thrust into a retrospective of his movies. His stamp on the last 30 years of film is undeniable. His influence felt across the cinematic landscape.
It seems he’s caused more controversy than anything else in recent years. Most of it around the prospects of his upcoming 10th film, which he has loudly declared needs to be his last due to some absurdly held notion that no filmmaker has made an interesting movie in their 11th project or beyond. This bizarre self-imposed restriction has turned one of the most exciting and refreshing filmmakers of his time into an annoying crotchety old timer who does more yapping than moviemaking.
Time for Once Upon a Time
Which brings us to his most recent release, 2019’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.
Side bar: One of these days, we will collectively figure out how the title should appear. Where does the ellipsis go? Should there be one there at all? Who the hell knows? I’m just going to refer to it as OUATIH for ease and clarity.
At the time, OUATIH received mostly glowing reviews. It tickled the fancy of many QT enthusiasts. His adoration of movie history, cleverly snappy dialogue, and thirst for over-the-top and violent revenge catharsis are all present.
I was as excited as anyone to see what QT had up his sleeve. I was there on opening day to see what OUATIH had to offer. However, I walked out incredibly disappointed. The movie didn’t click for me. I couldn’t find anything to latch on to. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on what didn’t work for me.
A few months later, I gave it a rewatch. Still nothing. Total dud. Completely flat. It was all quite puzzling.
I typically love hangout movies. Getting to chill with cool characters in fun environments is more than enough to draw me into something. That seems to be the main appeal here. Why the hell wasn’t it working for me?
I chalked it up to a wash. OUATIH just wasn’t for me. And that’s okay. Sometimes you find a movie boring that everyone else seems to vibe with. I didn’t need to explain myself beyond that. That was the reality of my relationship to this movie.
Then I tried it again, a few years later. And it finally clicked. Not the movie itself. I still thought it was bad.
But I finally realized WHY I think it sucks! A real eureka moment for me.
Punk Rock Cinema
Tarantino’s early films are mostly defined by an anti-authority swagger. This guy was counterculture. His movies were punk rock. He made cheap, semi-DIY films that didn’t follow the rules. He represented everything young film fans and aspiring filmmakers wanted out of the medium. He was our guy.
Non-linear storytelling? Hell yeah! Heightened and stylized violence? Let’s get it! Pop culture and meta movie references? This guy is fully speaking my language!
Tarantino’s earlier works opened my eyes to a new world of cinema; a new world of possibilities. I explored international movies, genre flicks, and older movies that weren’t on my radar without Tarantino’s work.
I found the movie brats partially in thanks to Tarantino. His De Palma influence always felt very apparent. The New Hollywood sensibilities seemed to inform so much of his work. In my mind, he was drawing from that rebellious nature born in the late ’60s and carried into the ’70s. I saw him as a crucial figure in the indie scene of the ’90s and its connection to what New Hollywood accomplished in its own time.
The Real Villains
Which brings me back to OUATIH. Tarantino’s 9th film throws all of the preconceived notions about his work out the window. Following Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth, who are relics of Old Hollywood, Tarantino reveals a fascinating peek into his psyche.
This movie is a love letter to Old Hollywood. But beyond being a love letter, it’s also a damning dismissal of what comes after Old Hollywood. In OUATIH, the main villains are hippies, particularly the followers of Charles Manson. However, it’s interesting that Manson’s “family” serves as a stand-in for all of hippie culture. Like the Nazis in Inglourious Basterds or the slave masters in Django Unchained, the hippies of OUATIH are a wholly evil entity in their presentation.
While modern audiences generally agree that Nazis and slavers are indefensible groups, hippies can be slightly more nuanced in their societal standing. The counterculture, anti-authority mindset of hippie communities is ostensibly in line with Tarantino’s early work.
As horrific and upsetting as the Manson murders were – especially the murder of Sharon Tate – they served as an inflection point in our transition from Old Hollywood to what would become New Hollywood.
OUATIH rejects anything that comes with the murders or with hippie culture at large. Our heroes are guys aging out of a changing world. Interestingly enough, the characters are offered opportunities to adapt to that changing world. When Cliff and Rick go to Italy, Tarantino opens up a possibility for some character development for the two protagonists. Instead, he snaps back and throws them into the bombastic revisionist history climax, where they get to stop the murder of Sharon Tate.
As a Tarantino fan, the whole thing sort of hurts. It hurts my brain, and it hurts my heart. I wonder if he switched up on us along the way. I know people grow older, and we change. Understandably, an artist is going to evolve over time. The content and form of their work can’t remain the same throughout the years.
Conclusion
Which brings me back to the 10-movie rule Tarantino has made for himself. If we count Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2 as two movies (I personally still see no reason not to), then he’s already hit his 10. In many ways, OUATIH is the perfect punctuation for his career if he chooses to stick to his stated guns. The guy who shook everything up with Reservoir Dogs neatly puts everything back into place with OUATIH. In a weird way, he’s come full circle.
Tarantino used to be the guy leading the charge against The Man. In OUATIH, he becomes The Man. Now a defender of the status quo. Averse to anything that pushes the art form.
Rather than continuing to pave the road for the next Quentin Tarantino, he scolds anyone who dares to step into that lane. It’s antithetical to everything Tarantino has ever meant to us as a filmmaker. That’s why Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is easily his worst movie.
