Year of Release: 2021
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Christine Ebersole, John Michael Higgins, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Este Haim, Danielle Haim, Maya Rudolph, Harriet Samson Harris, Ryan Heffington, John C. Reilly, Joseph Cross, Emma Dumont, Yumi Mizui, James Kelley
Genre: Drama, Romance
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review:
Like many of the most recent crop of Paul Thomas Anderson's films, this is another feature that lingers on, forcing one to think about everything that his narrative is packing, across many different layers. "Licorice Pizza" focuses its narrative in two central characters: a teenage actor by the name of Gary Valentine, who has been acting since he was a child, and the young adult Alana, whom we first encounter working for Tiny Toes, organizing the process of taking photos of high school kids in the 1970s. When these two meet, Gary is smitten with Alana, who is considerably older, and clearly indicates that to him, making sure he understands nothing will ever happen between the two of them. As Alana becomes a guardian or partner of sorts, they're soon involved in a business of selling water beds together, a business that doesn't last for very long, but gets them to meet the charismatic Jon Peters. As Alana sees herself surrounded by teenagers and wants to move on, she sets her sights in assisting a young candidate to the mayoral position of LA, bringing Gary along for shooting commercials. As their relationship goes through their ups and downs, they both come to the realization of the bond that ties them together.
While I've always been an enormous admirer of Paul Thomas Anderson, and continue to be so, this film feels to me like the first in all of his films thus far, where the narrative arc of whatever is happening on screen seems to be somewhat over indulgent and chaotic (and not necessarily a controlled chaos). It's a film with much to admire, since the characters are vivid, authentic, and even the ones who briefly appear in the film, inject something memorable in it, particularly the ones embodied by Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Benny Safdie. However the core of the film, the relationship between Alana and Gary, seems to be made of an unresolved tension, but also from what they collectively experience from a series of episodes that don't necessarily have a sensical continuity between them. While the film is successful at placing us squarely in that area of California in the 70s, Gary's schizophrenic lack of focus, which includes jumping from acting, to salesman, to pinball owner, from immature teenager, to someone looking to connect with the woman he wants, all these narrative threads seem to be all over the place, and not necessarily in a structured manner, the same going for Alana. While the universe in which these characters live is so vivid and memorable, this lack of grounding for the central characters, erodes much of the attention and power the central relationship holds (sometimes less is definitely more, case in point, "Punch Drunk Love", where the central relationship was beautifully rendered, in a much more economical manner). Albeit all of this, the film features a solid performance from Alana Haim, with excellent hilarious support from Bradley Cooper, and great cameos from Maya Rudolph, Harriet Samson Harris and John Michael Higgins. The cinematography from Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael Bauman is beautiful, as is the score from Jonny Greenwood, and costumes from Mark Bridges. Worth watching even if it's not quite as potent as some of his earlier work.
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