Licorice Pizza - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Licorice Pizza



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Whenever I see one of these “Anderson” movies I always have to double check and make sure I know WHICH director I’m viewing before going in. If it’s action/horror and dumb as all getout I know it’s Paul W.S Anderson. BUT, if it’s a coming of age or esoteric style of film by the trailer I have to differentiate between Paul Thomas Anderson or Wes Anderson. Wes is usually a hit for me as I love his style of quirky humor (and 95% of the time it will star Bill Murray), but Paul Thomas Anderson is hit or miss for me. I love some of his stuff like There Will Be Blood, or Punch Drunk Love, but there will always be stuff like The Master or Inherent Vice that just miss the mark completely for me. The man is an auteur for sure, but an acquired taste that can vary from project to project (the vast majority of his work is Music videos and shorts). As such, I never can tell whether I’m going to like a movie of his until I’m completely done with the film and have time to digest it for a while.

Licorice Pizza was nominated for over 180 awards at various film festivals and awards show, and fans of his have stated that they believe it’s one of his best works. With that in mind I went in cautiously optimistic that I would love the film as much as I did There Will Be Blood, being that Anderson has a firm grasp of coming of age films. End result in the TLDR version, I liked it, but the movie had almost as many misses in it as it does hits, making it a film I can appreciate the style and great acting, but really not connect with the material at all.

The story takes place in 1973 whee young Alan kane (Alana Haim) is sort of won over by 15 year old high school student Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) in the San Fernando valley. Like every coming of age story revolving relationships, it’s a matter of taboo. Alan is a 25 year old, and Gary is a 15 year old kid smitten with a depressed and lost older woman. But instead of taking the highly sexualized Mrs. Robinson route for the storytelling, Anderson deviates straight into fantasy. The premise alone is MOSTLY fantasy were an acne ridden nerdy 15 year old has a shot at a cute 25 year old (although to be fair, with the creepy stuff showing up in the news these days about bizarre teachers, maybe I should rethink that), but Gary is mature past his age. He’s not just a nerdy kid mooning over the hot 25 year old. He’s got a hustle and work ethic that means he’s every bit her equal and wants to make a life.

Hustling is Gary’s middling name, and as the two of them try and make their way through the awkward stages of a forbidden relationship, Gary is off to the races starting not one, but TWO successful businesses (again, at age 15, hence the fantasy element). This sort of “closing the gap” in the personality and maturity level is what makes Licorice Pizza fascinating, and one of the biggest draws. The audience is fully aware of the ludicrous dichotomy at play here. On one hand this is a teenager’s fantasy come to light (albeit minus MOST of the stuff that plagues every 15 year old’s mind 24/7, as PT Anderson wisely steers clear of that element), but at the same time it’s fascinating to watch the two people from drastically different ways of life forming an emotionally intimate bond. Some people BLASTED the film for what they considered explotation of minor attraction, but after watching it several times and chewing through the special features I can see where they were coming from at first glance, but if you pay close attention Anderson is more interested in using the shockingly odd age difference as a framework for his "people from two worlds" scenario plays out. We're all in on the joke within the first 15 minutes. This is a fantasy story structure and playing within those bounds it makes sense, allowing the character development to occur, but if you look at it as a straight forward love story you can see where some could take the "creepy" angle. One of the reasons PTA decided to make them "friends without benefits" was to create a very obvious nod to audience that the relationship is the focus of his surreal teenage fantasy, and not anything lascivious. It doesn't always work, but I kinda get what he was going for. Especially since this is more of a reverse coming of age story, focusing on Alana more than Gary. You can ask yourself "why would she want to hang out with teenager?", only to realize that it's SHE who has some growing up to do, and this juxstaposition is the kick in the pants that she needs to work through her own childishness that she hasn't gotten over, as well as the realization that people out there in the "outside" world are narcissists and unappealing (such as Bradley Cooper's character). Looking at Gary as the shocking opposite of that personna allows her to find out what she truly wants in life Unfortunately the movie doesn't really go anywhere and the ending sort of fizzles out and leaves the audience wondering what Anderson was thinking, despite setting up a lof of chracter development for Alana

However, things go off the rails about 40% of the way through the movie as we introduce a bunch of side characters (including a hilarious scene with Bradley Cooper and a weird one with Sean Penn) that feels like a revolving door of side quests and stumbling blocks for the story. Personally I felt that the narrative lost it’s intensity and focus at that point, and the vignettes that drive them to a more solid bond just start blending together after a while. At 2 hours and 13 minutes the movie just runs REALLY long, and with about 20-25 minutes of trim I feel it could have been a better movie.




Rating:

Rated R for language, sexual material and some drug use.




Video:

As with pretty much all Paul Thomas Anderson efforts, Licorice Pizza is shot using a mixture of 35mm and 70mm film and it looks GORGEOUS. He’s got the pastel and slightly pink and brown hues that we associate with the 1970s, with plenty of fine detail. I mention it In my summary below, but Anderson did very little brush up to the people in his film, and you can see EVERY fiber of hair, and every pimple, mole and fold in their skin without feeling like you’re watching Hollywood models. It gives the movie a very organic feel, and with the burnished and pastel blended hues it feels very period piece accurate. The black levels are really well done, as some of the night time shots are dimly lit and showcase a white suit against a black background, or simply Alana sitting in the dark with a cigarette but lighting her. There’s some mild banding going on in the dark, but otherwise this is a fairly impeccable looking film .







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is rather nice, filling in the mains and center channel with a ton of dialog. Surrounds get some moderate usage with the score, as well as the more immersive areas like inside the arcade, or with the fair that Gary gets arrested at. As you can probably guess, this is a very talky film, and the dialog is spot on perfect. But surrounds and low end aren’t always kicking as hard as other films. Not a big deal as that is simply how it’s recorded, and it ticks off plenty of check marks for an excellent mix.












Extras:

• Camera Tests
• The Handman Scene
• Fat Bernie’s Commercial
• Behind-the-Scenes

Final Score: ​

Licorice Pizza has a HUGE cult following behind it in the indie scene right now, and I really wanted to love it more than I did. I loved what Paul did with comedic actor Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, but I had a difficult time really connecting with this fantasy. Too many things felt TOO surreal and too ridiculous for even me to suspend disbelieve. Even though I was honestly fascinated by how raw and real Anderson portrays his characters. Nothing is air brushed or polished. Alana and Gary look like REAL people. Pimples, moles, and skin imperfections untouched. It’s a fun movie that hardcore fans of Paul Thomas Anderson fans are probably going to love, but for your average movie goer I would definitely give it a rental first as it's not going to be for everyone.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper, Joseph Cross, Anthony Molinari, Sean Penn
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French (Canada) DTS 5.0, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R
Runtime: 133 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: May 17th, 2022

Recommendation: Rental

 

[Todd Anderson]

Wow, hot take! I never would have guessed this would fall outside of your wheelhouse, so to speak. Like you referenced, this flick has received heaps of praise. I just assumed it was a sure-shot watch!

Hmm... this might end up being a straight pass for me.

 

[Michael Scott]

Honestly this was frustrating as I wanted to like it more. It's not bad, but it lacks some focus.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

We watched this last night on Kaleidescape and I really loved it. Reading through the "Did You Know" section on IMDB made me love it even more. It would seem that almost every scene is based in some form of reality, whether its a documented event or a Hollywood tall tale. Cameos were fantastic.

Didn't experience any banding at all on the K-scape HD encode (couldn't rent this title in UHD), and the film grain was absolutely glorious. While not a heavy surround mix, the music sounded incredible - such a great soundtrack, and I love when a movie can incorporate classics like that and mix in a way that can make them sound new and not simply 'overly processed' to fill the surround field.

Quirky is the perfect word for Wes Anderson. I've always felt that if he spent a little less effort on the Wes Andersonification of his films, I would probably enjoy them more. The quirk factor is just too much for me most of the time.

PT Anderson, however, I've enjoyed pretty much everything.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Throwing a little curveball, there, @thrillcat! Sounds like I need to rethink my rethink!

 

[Michael Scott]

Glad you like it thrillcat! It's gotten a lot of praise so it definitely has an audience

I think my personality comes from the opposite end. I love 99% of Wes Anderson, but am 50/50 with Paul Thomas Anderson lol

 

[mechman]

I have this one on my watchlist but haven’t found time to get around to it or Belfast. May have to watch Belfast first.