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Sunday, December 26, 2021

LICORICE PIZZA (2021)

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson has gone soft on us.  And, after some increasingly cold-blooded films, it turns out to be a good thing.  His third helping of ‘70s L.A. (born 1970, PTA too young to bring personal memories to BOOGIE NIGHTS/’97; INHERENT VICE/’14 or this), the new film is, comparatively, a walk in the park.  Make that a run in the park as dashing either to or away from wanted or unwanted connections the main visual motif in charting the youthful blossoming of a mismatched couple who just ‘fit.’  HIM: 15, growing past professional acting in kid roles, if still unable to get that ‘flip’ out of his hair; HER: 25, looking for a way out at home and nearly as self-motivated/entrepreneurial as he is.  (Vocational tries include acting; pioneer waterbed salesman/installation; political organizer; pinball arcade operator/owner.)  Together and separately, many close calls and capers, some tinged with Hollywood celebrity backgrounds (featuring current Hollywood celebrities Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, all out for comic blood).  The film takes a reel or two (shot on 35mm so it really is a reel) to hit its stride, but it soon sneaks up on you.  (Like indigestion after eating an Oki’s Dog pastrami burrito . . . only pleasant.)  Tone, texture & period details just right.*  Stylistically, very California New Wave, with a deceptively loose feel to what's actually tight & tidy construction (subliminal rather than overt), a melding of Leo McCarey & Hal Ashby, two sui generis L.A. players miles apart in attitude & generation.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Well, not all the details.  The grown up who’s roughhousing the pinball machine would have immediately hit TILT.

DOUBLE-BILL: The film is set in 1973, the year AMERICAN GRAFFITI asked ‘Where Were You ‘62?’  It’s the movie everyone in here would be lining up to see. 

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