Young love, bitter life lessons, and the glory of the hustle reigns supreme in Licorice Pizza, a coming-of-age somewhat romantic comedy in which Paul Thomas Anderson takes us on a surreal trip through 1970s Los Angeles with a masterwork display of filmmaking.
Proving again that truth is stranger than fiction, several key moments in Licorice Pizza are based on true events. Paul Thomas Anderson’s “muse”, in a loose use of the term, is producer Gary Goetzman (Where the Wild Things Are), whose adventures as a young actor in 1970s Los Angeles included getting mistakenly arrested for murder and opening the first pinball arcade in L.A. Much like Boogie Nights and The Master beforehand, Anderson is inspired by real life figures who he uses as a launching pad to develop his own stories. It’s a blend of reality and fiction that Anderson combines with his filmmaking wizardry, and what a mesmerising spell Licorice Pizza casts.
Playing this fictional version of Goetzman is Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. He portrays Gary, a 15-year-old child actor and helpless romantic who has a gift-of-the-gab and an entrepreneurial spirit. When he meets photographer’s assistant Alana (Alana Haim) he falls head over heels in love. The problem is she’s 25 and does not reciprocate the same feelings. Nevertheless, a friendship is formed that often manifests in numerous business opportunities, and an undercurrent of romance that threatens to consume them both at any time.
Anderson has his coming-of-age love story play out during a 1970s in which the kids were often out late, and the adults found themselves lost in the fog of the post-60s haze. Licorice Pizza feels very much like a time capsule not only in the look, sound, and feel of the ‘70s California aesthetic, but also in the way people consumed culture and communicated. To “hang out” was the only way to socialise, and a telephone call meant everything. Sex became even more intertwined with marketing, especially during an era that would embrace pornography.
Specific to Licorice Pizza is the constant merging between the middle-class lives of its protagonists and the celebrity of Hollywood. Gary uses his minor celebrity to cultivate a life of some reputation, often on a first name basis with talent agents and owners of restaurants.
One scene where Gary accompanies Alana to an interview with his agent Mary Grady (played brilliantly by Harriet Sansom Harris) is hilarious thanks to Mary’s intense nature towards the most miniscule of details, including her admiration for Alana’s “very Jewish nose”. This is followed by the introduction of Sean Penn as Hollywood veteran Jack Holden (inspired by William Holden), in which Anderson manages to evoke a surprisingly funny and relaxed turn from Penn without losing that gravitas. Later Bradley Cooper absolutely eviscerates the screen as a cooked-up fictionalised version of infamous producer Jon Peters. Although minimal in screentime, it is one of Cooper’s best turns.
All of this doesn’t take away from the central story of first love in the Valley between a 15-year-old wise beyond his years and a 25-year-old struggling to act her age. While the premise on paper can sound icky, Anderson in no way delivers a story of crass exploitation or dubious moral fibre. What Licorice Pizza does do is deliver a story of young love and bitter heartbreak with al lthe messy emotional turmoil and life changing adventure such strong feelings evoke.
Both Haim and Cooper are perfectly cast and play their roles with sincere raw emotion and undeniable charisma. When together their chemistry is without equal by any other pairing in 2021, a delightful mesh of look and style and personality that is enhanced by the fact that Licorice Pizza marks the film debut for the two. Anderson uses that Midas touch of his to draw out great performances in an exceptional film that is not only one of the best in Anderson’s impressive filmography, but one of the best of 2021.
