Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood came alive for me with one notably poignant scene. It was twilight in tinsel town when suddenly, on cue, the neon-lights lit up one by one. Neons, it seems to me, are shorthand for Americana – along with hot dogs, Cadilacs, Wurlitzer jukeboxes and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. Among the early evening’s electrical illuminations one sign, in particular, caught my eye: the Vine cinema’s hoarding for Romeo and Juliet (in its eighth month). This would have been Franco Zeffirelli’s Academy Award nominated 1968 version. The inclusion of the Vine would not have been a random decision from Mr Tarantino. Located on the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street – the cinema shares its location with the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Fame and infamy being a major motivating factor for this idiosyncratic and audaciously brilliant director.
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