Movie Review - Licorice Pizza

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Maya Rudolph, Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Benny Safdie
 
Description: The story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) growing up, running around and going through the treacherous  navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.

Review: “Licorice Pizza”, the latest film by director Paul Thomas Anderson, is a nostalgic portrait of California in 1973, very loosely told through a story about a teenage boy and the twenty-something he fall in love with.

Anderson broke through with movies like “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia”. He has a very recognizable editing style, camera work and the specific way he uses pop music.

“Licorice Pizza” consists largely of loose anecdotes and scenes surrounding the lives of Gary and Alana during one summer. For a long time, it’s not entirely clear which way the film is going or what to expect. Anderson takes the time for all sorts of sidetracks and side events, which don’t take the story from A to B, but do contribute to the development of the two main characters and to a nostalgic portrait of the San Fernando Valley in California in the 1970s., an area bordering Los Angeles and Hollywood where Anderson grew up.

The natural acting of lead actors Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim is entirely appropriate to this approach. Hoffman is the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who often worked with Anderson. Alana Haim is one-third of the pop-rock trip HAIM. Her sisters (the other two-third of the band_ and their parents play her family. Alana and Cooper both make their film debut and immediately leave an open, natural impression.

“Licorice Pizza” is one of those films that you cannot really sum up in one sentence. It is fairly long, which bothered me a bit. It dragged at times. And although “Licorice Pizza” is a very strong film, I would most likely never watch it again.

Rating: 3,5/ 5