Quentin Tarantino famously taught himself the vocabulary of cinema working at a video rental store in 1980’s LA. The glow from old westerns and kung-fu movies – his celluloid rosetta stone – unlocking the secret language of a medium of which he would soon seek mastery. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, the director’s tenth movie (which he questionably calls his ninth) is both an ode to Tarantino’s cinematic upbringing and an overtly didactic examination of a Hollywood he never experienced, one in the groans of transition, leaving behind the Golden-era glow for something more experimental and hipsterish, filtered through the lens of American political rebellion and the chintzy nature of fame. Read More
