Photo: Andre D. Wagner / Universal Pictures
There’s been a ton of talk about how Quentin Tarantino plays with history in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But the thing about the movie that most fascinates me its structure: it is, quite frankly, kind of bizarre.
As the film starts, you’re waiting for the drama to hit — but it never really does. You just keep waiting and waiting, and eventually, you realize, that’s what the movie is: just a long, slow series of moments with these characters as we get to know them. We all know where this is heading, the film seems to be saying, and it makes you wait for it all to pay off.
I’m not sure of anything else quite like it, other than maybe a book. Tarantino has always worked with novelistic techniques like chapters and flashbacks, so that’s…