MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The film catalogue of Paul Thomas Anderson is already impressive for a director only in his early 50s. He’s already created some of the most impressive films of the past two decades, including Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, and Magnolia. For someone so accomplished, the challenge is to top what he’s previously done and not be content with those old accolades. Anderson seemingly does that once again with his latest flick in Licorice Pizza.
In 1973, 15-year-old former child actor Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) meets photographer’s assistant Alana Kane (Alana Haim) while getting ready to have his yearbook picture taken in the San Fernando Valley. He flirts with the girl 10 years older than him, although she generally rebuffs his attempts.
They develop a friendship so close that, when Gary’s mother can’t come with him to a press tour that he’s cast to perform in New York, Alana agrees to be his chaperone. Alana ends up dating Gary’s friend Lance (Skyler Gisondo) instead but they break up after an awkward dinner with Alana’s very Jewish family ends with Lance stating that he’s an atheist.
Business-minded Gary starts a waterbed company after hearing that it will be the next big trend. Alana works there for a time until a gas crisis eventually causes the business to go under. Alana thinks about getting into acting and Gary gets her an audition. She even volunteers in the mayoral campaign of Joel Wachs (Benny Safdie) as she looks for something more significant to do.
Gary then puts up a pinball arcade business, still looking for success that will impress Alana. Along the way, Gary and Alana get close, get caught up in strange circumstances with some celebrities, and fight. Gary keeps pining for Alana while the latter seems to keep pulling away because she believes he’s too immature for her.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s return to the 1970s proves victorious even though he’s dealing with something lighter than the porn industry like in Boogie Nights. Licorice Pizza is Anderson’s “lightest” to date as the subject matter has an innocence and wholesomeness to it while his previous films were decidedly more serious.
In Cooper Hoffman, Anderson cast the son of one of his frequent collaborators, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his first screen role. Because he’s so new, the younger Hoffman plays Gary with an earnestness and truth that an experienced actor might not have been able to. Although he wasn’t a child actor or raised in the limelight despite his famous father, Hoffman doesn’t feel forced or trying too hard in the role.
Opposite him is Alana Haim, someone who is very used to performing. As one-third of the popular rock band Haim, Alana and sisters Este and Danielle have become global superstars over the past decade. They’ve frequently collaborated with Anderson for some of their videos, which led him to cast her in Licorice Pizza.
For such an experienced and established director to entrust his film to two complete movie neophytes took a lot of guts, but Anderson had the cache and the track record to pull it off. Not only were Alana’s rock star sisters also cast in the film, but so are her parents to complete her family. The family dynamic in their scenes together feels even more genuine because they’ve likely had some similar conversations and situations like these in real life.
The over-the-top situations that Gary and Alana end up in give Licorice Pizza a dream-like quality although it is rooted in the San Fernando Valley of the early 1970s. Placing big name actors like Sean Penn and Bradley Cooper in smaller yet ridiculously surreal roles don’t take away from the central story around Gary and Alana. They actually play them so big that they’re a stark contrast to the sweetness between the main leads.
It’s almost a crime for the Haim sisters to be in a movie yet not perform a single song. But that’s alright in the case of Licorice Pizza because the music used in the film is firmly from that era. Whether it is ambient music that the characters are listening to or emanating from radios or TVs around them, the soundtrack captures life during that period perfectly.
It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that Anderson’s ninth turn in the director’s chair has gotten rave reviews and award buzz. Both Hoffman and Haim were nominated for Golden Globes for their performances while Anderson was nominated for Best Screenplay and the film for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The British Academy Film Awards and the Academy Awards have also nominated Licorice Pizza for Best Picture and Anderson for both Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay.
Even as the accolades for Licorice Pizza keep piling up, let them not take away from the simple joy of watching the film and taking it all in for what it is. A tale of youth in perhaps a more innocent time with themes that resonate close to five decades after that period.
