Licorice Pizza (2021)

[Eric is Quiet]

Discuss

[TMP]

Captures all the feelings of being in love for the first time so beautifully and distills it into 133 minutes. Can't remember the last time I left a movie feeling this euphoric

[Webslinger]

Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic mastery extends into even wider territory with Licorice Pizza. Here, Anderson shifts his focus to youth and spins a wonderfully natural and lively tale of two young people (albeit with a significant age gap) and their wildly different perspectives on growing up. Much has already been written and said of the wide age gap between 30-year-old Alana Haim’s 25-year-old Alana and 18-year-old Cooper Hoffman’s 15-year-old Gary, and while there is no disguising the fact that the undertones in these characters’ relationship are not always just platonic, their bond allows the film to explore youth, adulthood, and the paradoxes in each in fascinating fashion. For Gary, adulthood is cool and mysterious – even when represented in Alana’s seemingly aimless form – and will allow him to be taken seriously in his endeavors, so he runs toward it. For Alana, adulthood represents a corrupt world where grown men feel no compunction at wronging one another, preying upon the vulnerable, and acting more recklessly than the children around them, so she wants to run away from it and embrace the purer, much more innocent way Gary sees the world as a teenager. With these themes in focus, Anderson glides so fluidly from one brilliantly composed vignette to another, packing each of the film’s narrative threads with entertaining characters, highly effective humor, genuine pathos, and even senses of tension and dread in a few moments. Through it all, newcomers Haim and Hoffman carry the film in remarkable breakthrough performances. Haim is brilliantly expressive and does an excellent job of capturing her character’s naïve nature and difficulty in understanding the behavior of the other adults in her orbit. Hoffman – whose appearances and mannerisms immediately call his late father to mind – also possesses such natural charm, charisma, and poise that his work rarely feels like a debut performance, and he nails the ways in which Gary so clearly wishes to be an adult, yet doesn’t realize that he is not nearly as knowing or experienced as he tries to pass himself off as being. There is also tons of fun, effective small work from various actors, though the highlight is Bradley Cooper channeling pure id to highly amusing effect as notorious producer Jon Peters. Like all of Anderson’s other career highlights, this film looks beautiful, bounces with energy, boasts a soundtrack laden with well-chosen tracks, and soars on the strengths of its characters and performances. On the whole, it’s the best film I have seen from 2021, and Anderson’s best work since There Will Be Blood. 

 

A

[Eric is Quiet]

Liked a lot about it, especially in how it depicts that kind of wanderlust adolescent stage of life, but I probably would have liked it way more if Alana and Gary just had a friendship rather than a romance. You can still get the point across about how the two need each other and find themselves intrigued by what the other doesn't have without the weird age gap stuff.

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

I never saw it as romantic at all. It's a friendship built on seeking moments of manipulated attention and validation. Dependency. Nothing impure happens between them. Nothing consensual and intimate. She rebukes him the entire time. Many instances he only sees her as object of lust to exploit like his businesses. And she sees him as this committed businessman (the image he projects which is far from the case) who will bring reason to her directionless life. They're not a couple. They both remark constantly they're not "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". The movie makes many points about the dangers of nostalgia (the gas crisis, the casual racism and sexism of the era) and underlying threat of danger at every corner (Bradley Cooper's character, the police scene). 

[Eric is Quiet]

12 minutes ago, BestPicturePlutoNash said:

I never saw it as romantic at all. It's a friendship built on seeking moments of manipulated attention and validation. Dependency. Nothing impure happens between them. Nothing consensual and intimate. She rebukes him the entire time. Many instances he only sees her as object of lust to exploit like his businesses. And she sees him as this committed businessman (the image he projects which is far from the case) who will bring reason to her directionless life. They're not a couple. They both remark constantly they're not "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". The movie makes many points about the dangers of nostalgia (the gas crisis, the casual racism and sexism of the era) and underlying threat of danger at every corner (Bradley Cooper's character, the police scene). 

Well I mean they still kiss in the end and Gary even calls her his girlfriend, albeit in a joking manner. But even then, the way they hug and run off together implies they're supposed to be an item to me.

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

1 minute ago, Eric Smith said:

Well I mean they still kiss in the end and Gary even calls her his girlfriend, albeit in a joking manner. But even then, the way they hug and run off together implies they're supposed to be an item to me.

To me, I don’t think the ending is very literal at all. She even calls him an idiot when he announces her as “Mrs. Valentine” at the pinball palace. 

 

And they run off together many times in the movie only to fight and break apart almost immediately after. The movie follows the brief and temporary thrills and cathartic releases they share to escape the stagnancy and depression of their lives. And the movie is pretty explicit otherwise nothing will last. And not just with them. Alana tells her sister hanging out with 15 year olds is weird. He starts a new business every few months, she gets a new job. It’s a repeating cycle. The racist restaurant owner gets a new wife, Wachs has to hide his boyfriend who tells her “They’re all such shits”, etc. 

[CoolioD1]

enjoyed this, thought it had good vibes. it was very cute. probably the most i've laughed at a pta film but also not in his top tier for me. wasn't a big fan of the young hoffman's performance.

[filmlover]

This was absolutely wonderful and among Paul Thomas Anderson's best movies. Anderson does an impeccable job of recreating a particular time and place without reveling too much in nostalgia: it really does feel like we're taken all the way back to the San Fernando Valley of 1973. He also creates a charming little romance that works thanks to the performances from both of his novice leads. Both Cooper Hoffman (clearly showing signs that he's inherited some of his beloved late father's talent) and Alana Haim instantly establish themselves as natural actors, and they have such a fun and believable chemistry that the decade age gap between them is easy to overlook. The whole cast is great down to the smallest of roles (the decision to cast Haim's real family as her fictional one works), with special mention going to Bradley Cooper in a brief but volatile turn as Jon Peters. This is the kind of movie where you just get swept up into its world for a delightful, character-based experience that is becoming increasingly rare at the multiplex. A

[Flopped]

PTA movies are at least always interesting. This is easily his worst. Dull and meandering when it should feel loose and alive, you watch this train-wreck wondering who it was made for, his friends who grew up in the valley? D-