Quentin Tarantino plays revisionist history in his supposedly penultimate feature, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which has an impressive 89% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Set over three days in 1969, the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Al Pacino puts a fairy-tale spin on what would be the murders of Sharon Tate and others by followers of Charles Manson. Four takes:
- It delivers some of "the most relaxed and elegant filmmaking of Tarantino's career. Also the most personal," according to NPR's Chris Klimek. While "Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate is present here more [as] a set element than a character," DiCaprio gives a "career-best" performance as fading TV star and next-door neighbor Rick Dalton, notes Klimek, who also highlights "the most suspenseful scene in a movie this year."
- Pitt "especially brings a sly knowingness to the subtleties of playing second banana" in his turn as Dalton's stunt double, while Tarantino manages to "indulge his penchant for horrific brutality—especially against women," Ann Hornaday writes at the Washington Post. And yet "at its most sincere and touching," Once Upon a Time in Hollywood "rescues [Tate] from the tabloid headline she never deserved and reminds audiences of what a beautiful, gifted comedian she was," Hornaday writes.