A wise choice to compare these two films. Overall, I find Once Upon a Time in Hollywood much more enjoyable. They both very long but in Tarantino film I didn't feel the time at all. That alone, in my opinion, is enough to pass the victory to Tarantino. Both films have some fine and memorable scenes but I find QT win at this area also.
I also feel they both lean heavily into untrue narratives to accomplish their agendas so again equal footings.
Curious to know what agenda exactly both films have in your opinion, you left that part a little vague. One thing for sure, the hippie scene in QT was a rare criticism of the dark sides of the flower children in the 1960s. Not sure what was the narrative of the overall movie.
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TandyMan (10395)
a year ago
You actually nailed a problem a I have with both films. Which are both overly long. Just utterly BRILLIANT scenes sandwiched between wall to wall trash.
The agenda of QT I think was to "polish" Hollywood's history. His "what if" glammy approach to actual history was indeed a love letter. In this film, it felt more like white washing the fence. As if to say to the world, yes we were decadent horrible people, but we learned to be better!
Paint vs varnish or whatever. IDK. I'm not a master of film or woodcraft. But I liked the world presented in both films, and as child I used to worship Hollywood. Before learning all its secrets. I will always be enamored by it.
The shots in this movie though. With mulitple soundstages and a thousand actors... It was incredible. It was stunning.
And it was no mistake why France liked it so much. Filthy buggers.
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Boromir (9712)
a year ago
Uneven is the best way to describe it.
I take back what I said about Tarantino in the memorable scenes department, I think it's more a tie, and Babylon win with the dancing in the bar scene (at least for me). I found Margot mesmerizing in this scene. Remind me a little the scene from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn.
And yeah the shots are really amazing.
In this film, it felt more like white washing the fence. As if to say to the world, yes we were decadent horrible people, but we learned to be better!
Interesting point. Maybe Singing in The Rain supposed to reflect these changes. The answer must be somewhere in the last scenes. Other option can be the director wants us to understand there's magic between all that mess. Whatever the answer, he failed to convince me.
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