A young man and a young woman grow up, run around, and fall in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. A film by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie.
LICORICE PIZZA
Paul Thomas Anderson
(2021)
Teenager Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a 15-year-old former child actor, is captivated by Alana Kane, a photographer’s assistant ten years his senior. Gary quickly asks Alana out to dinner, but she initially dismisses him. She views him simply as a kid, and the decade-long age gap makes her reluctant to pursue anything romantic with him.
When Alana asks him how he’d even pay for dinner if she agreed to go, since she doubts a teenager would have his own money, Gary reveals that he’s a child actor who’s appeared in several films. This piques Alana’s interest, and she eventually agrees to meet him at the restaurant. After that, the two begin to develop a friendship.
Gary’s mother, Anita (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), is preoccupied and cannot take him to New York for an appearance on The Jerry Best Show. Seeing an opportunity, Gary invites Alana to fly to New York with him as his his chaperon. However, the trip goes awry when Alana meets Lance (Skyler Gisondo), another young actor who starts pursuing her. This causes a rift between Gary and Alana.
Eventually, Alana breaks up with Lance and returns to work for Gary, who has started a waterbed business that becomes hugely successful.
Gary sees Alana’s acting potential and introduces her to his talent manager, leading to an audition for a film starring Jack Holden (Sean Penn), a famous actor.
Written and directed by American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA is a coming-of-age drama, starring Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana Haim of the band HAIM (whose family members also appear in supporting roles) in their feature film debut. Both actors are perfectly cast and have excellent chemistry together, especially in the opening scene with its nearly 5-minute conversation where Gary pursues Alana. It’s charming and feels incredibly natural.
The title Licorice Pizza comes from a now-defunct record store chain from the 1970s. The director wonderfully captures the details of 1970s America. I particularly love the 1973 oil crisis scene, which simply shows Gary running down a street lined with cars waiting for gas, set to David Bowie’s “Life On Mars?”
Licorice Pizza was a prominent Southern California record store chain founded by James Greenwood in July 1969 in downtown Long Beach. It expanded rapidly to 34 locations across the region, known for its knowledgeable staff, all-request sound systems, early access to new releases, and free licorice giveaways, with a memorable logo featuring a smiling Depression-era woman presenting a steaming vinyl record platter. By the mid-1980s, amid scandals like counterfeit merchandise and shifting revenue to video rentals, Greenwood sold the chain in 1985 to Record Bar, which was absorbed by Musicland and rebranded as Sam Goody by 1986. Music producer Kerry Brown revived the brand in 2021 with a Studio City store on Ventura Boulevard (formerly We Are Hear), adding a vinyl pressing plant, record label, online radio, and merchandise.
The 1973 oil crisis in the United States began when Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo in October 1973 in response to U.S. support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This embargo drastically cut oil production and exports to the U.S., causing oil prices to jump from $2 to over $11 per barrel by 1974. The sudden quadrupling of prices led to fuel shortages, long lines at gas stations, and a 40% increase in gasoline prices, triggering widespread economic disruption. The crisis contributed to a recession, inflation, and forced the U.S. government to impose measures such as fuel rationing and reduced speed limits to conserve energy. Although the embargo ended in March 1974 following diplomatic efforts, the event marked a significant shift in the U.S. economy and energy policies, highlighting the nation’s vulnerability due to its reliance on foreign oil and spurring a push towards energy conservation and diversification of energy sources.
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
‘Cause Lennon’s on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It’s about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man, look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man, wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
LICORICE PIZZA received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 26 November 2021, before expanding wide on 25 December.
