Licorice Pizza

LICORICE PIZZA

A film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, takes us to the 70's .

We follow the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) as they grow up and maybe fall in love in a very strange time period.

Two people meeting each other and not knowing their lives..in that moment will change for the better and sometimes the worst. Gary is over confident almost annoyingly so. While Alana is unstable and lost. Together they strangely work. They are kindred spirits.

This film reminded me a bit of The French Dispatch. Where it takes little vignettes/stories and pieces them together using one base. In the French Dispatch it was glued together by the magazine itself. In Licorice Pizza all these stories are glued together by Alana and Gary. The difference here is Alana and Gary are walking into true or based on true Hollywood stories that Paul Thomas Anderson have heard about.

The acting here is spot on...

Sean Penn playing Jack Holden (William Holden)

Bradley Cooper playing Jon Peters

Tom Waits playing Rex Blau

John C Reilly as Fred Gwynn

Christine Eberrsol as Lucy Doolittle (Well Lucille Ball)

Lets not forget the leads...

Cooper Hoffman with his first acting role. He did not want to follow in his dads footsteps at being an actor. Anderson was so persistent with him, he gave it a shot and he is wonderful in his first role.

Alana Haim in her first role. She is part of the singing group Haim, with her sisters. In fact her sisters in the movie, are played by the Haim sisters!! In fact her father and mother are her Mom and Dad!! Alana is in almost every scene, and she plays her role on a tightrope, awkward; confident; and slightly embarrassed she is hanging with this 15 year old.She is a marvel.

The look, and it is what Anderson does great, he works time periods real well:

Gas shortages

Waterbeds

Polyester suits

Pinball machines

Smoke filled restaurants

Its the 70's

There are some negatives:

 The age difference bothered me, I mean he is 15. Still you have to tell yourself this is the 70's. As the story goes on he is 16 and...that was okay in California. Still odd, but they are just friends, but are minds are meant to go somewhere else. It all seems somehow real.

The ending. I hated it. It was just there. Maybe, these characters did their job taking us through these other stories and they were done. Still Alana and Gary's story was, it just..it ended flat!

This is one of these films you either hate or love. I kinda loved it. I have seen it twice and the 2nd time..I loved even more. It is a "Talkie" ,it is a story. No special effects no green screen..its a story and its kind of nice.

The elephant in the room is Jerry Frick played by  the very funny John Michael Higgins. Well Asian groups are saying ignore this movie because he is insulting to Asians. That is bullshit. Jerry Frick has an asian wife, he cant speak asian and later on he has another asian wife. The humor is him!!! He is an idiot!! He is an embarrassment!!That is what is funny, not the asian women. It is him. People don't get dry humor. 

Well anyway 4 out of 5 stars for the sweet and wonderful Licorice Pizza. It's an acquired taste. Barbra Streisand. Sand. Sand Like the SAND

From the shadows thanks for your time.