Licorice Pizza - 2021 - Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson - Drama, Comedy, Romance - R- 2h 13m
Estimated Reading Time: 2 mins.
Paul Thomas Anderson throws out traditional story structure in his latest film, Licorice Pizza. It’s an almost freeform portal into a sliver of 1970s San Fernando Valley where our main characters float through vignettes that don’t even necessarily build on each other, and they don’t have to. It’s a tour of various era-appropriate themes. Sleazy Hollywood, the oil crisis, sexual harassment, casual racism, the personal struggle of political optics — they all make appearances and fuel some of the best scenes. But no matter what happens, it always finds its way back to the relationship at its core — and that might be its weakest point.
Gary, played by Cooper Hoffman (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son), is an “aging” 15-year-old child actor and opportunistic entrepreneur, starting mildly successful businesses out of the latest fads. With annoying stubbornness, he manages to snag a date with Alana, an aimless 25-year-old photographer’s assistant — played with naturalistic perfection by Alana Haim (from the band Haim). Their ages are a big part of the script, and it never becomes easier to swallow. There’s a 10-year gap between the two. And Gary is still legally a child. Let’s be real here. It’s weird.
The film manages to wiggle out of this taboo area a few times. There’s a great moment when a horrified Alana watches from a distance, as Gary and his friends perform mock sexual acts on each other using gas cans. And another scene where she blatantly asks her sister if it’s weird that she’s hanging out with a bunch of 15-year-olds. Alana is self-aware enough to be appalled by the idiocy of youth, but her lack of purpose keeps her coming back to wallow in its energy. On the flip side, Gary is still a child in many ways, but plays himself up as an accomplished adult. They meet somewhere in the middle of this twisted Venn diagram.
They don’t change much throughout the film either, and the awkward romantic tension between them never evolves. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold, and a lot of times jealous — the “Will They or Won’t They” dynamic echoes itself over and over and over again, until you realize that this must be by design. Anderson is content to sit with his characters in this repeating cycle, stretching their relationship like taffy through a bigger world that is swirling around them, while they loop in endless adolescence.
If you can get onboard with that relationship, the film will take you on a cozy ride through a time long gone. It is a beautiful and meticulous recreation of the 1970s. Anderson wanted to capture the mood of the era, and he does so with an exacting eye. The production design, the music, and the use of authentic 1970s camera lenses all caramelize into lush nostalgia, capturing a freeze frame of time — a time when youth met adulthood, and life was full of possibilities.
Licorice Pizza is playing only in theaters.
P.S. If you enjoy Flow With Film, I also recommend subscribing to JoeWrote. Joe looks at how TV and films reflect American society. His most recent piece looks at the social dynamics portrayed in The Expanse and can be found here.
P.P.S If you’re looking for more newsletters to expand your mind, check out Refind and The Sample, where they’ll help you discover fresh newsletters curated to your tastes.
I have not seen this film, but love PTA. It sounds par for the course with the rest of his filmography, and hopefully the meandering will be enjoyable. Thanks.