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- 2021
- R
- 2 h 13 m
- 2021
- R
- 2 h 13 m
Summary Licorice Pizza is the story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film tracks the treacherous navigation of first love.
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
- 2021
- R
- 2 h 13 m
- 2021
- R
- 2 h 13 m
Licorice Pizza
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary Licorice Pizza is the story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film tracks the treacherous navigation of first love.
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 55 Critic Reviews
90
95% Positive
52 Reviews
52 Reviews
5% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 55 Critic Reviews
90
95% Positive
52 Reviews
52 Reviews
5% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The film, which is structured as a series of set pieces that Alana and Gary stumble into and out of, is far too strange and specific and sometimes cringey to simply be made up, even by someone with as fertile an imagination as Anderson.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 313 User Ratings
6.6
65% Positive
202 Ratings
202 Ratings
17% Mixed
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
19% Negative
59 Ratings
59 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 313 User Ratings
6.6
65% Positive
202 Ratings
202 Ratings
17% Mixed
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
19% Negative
59 Ratings
59 Ratings
Easily one of the best movies I've seen in the last 5 years. A masterpiece in building a sense of time and place, and is even shot and lighted like it was actually made in the 1970's. Oozes atmosphere and period detail. You can tell the director made this with love and care. Ultimately your enjoyment will come down to how much you want to inhabit this world and hang out with these characters though, because that's what you will be doing for the not-insignificant runtime.
I enjoyed the two central characters and their tumultuous relationship. The acting was great especially as these were effectively newcomers. Complete nepotism hires by the director, but good is good. It was refreshing to see lead characters who actually look like real people, flaws and all, visible pimples and questionable DIY makeup. To those recoiling at the 15/25 age gap, this was obviously deliberate. You aren't supposed to know how to feel about this, or know for sure whether you should be rooting for them to end up together. You will go back and forth between being put off by the ick factor and thinking that maybe there is some way these two can make it work. The leads really pulled this off through genuine chemistry. You're supposed to be uncomfortable: that's the central conflict. Can a boy who is 15 going on 25 and a girl who is 25 going on maybe 17, just split the difference? Are adolescence and adulthood about more than just numbers?
Along the way a lot of random stuff happens. Some of it is amusing, some of it poignant, and some of it just happens. Kind of like life. You follow these characters through numerous vignettes that they navigate together, and track the ups and downs of their unusual relationship. Kind of like real life, with the sense of wonder and weird magic you experience when you fall in love. Plot wise, sure you could wipe out like half the movie, but the destination isn't really the point.
Refreshingly, this movie doesn't hit you over the head with a tiresome 2020's "woke" agenda. Shoehorned unrealistic diversity is kept at a minimum, which is a relief these days. At the same time, the film has a major undercurrent which effectively criticizes the outlandishly entitled behaviour of every adult character depicted with even a modicum of power - realistically for the time all of them white and male. This is fair criticism of 1970's America and done in a way that doesn't patronize the viewer. The fact that none of these louts get punished or even called out on their behaviour is also realistic. The depiction of Asian stereotypes by a white character was just one example of this, and serves to criticize the casual racism of the time. Reviewers offended by this are being tone deaf.
I went into this with zero expectations and found a marvellous hidden gem, and contender for the best film of the Covid era.
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Un 6.7 es una puntuación demasiado baja para una película tan bella y encantadora.
Desde el momento en el que Alana y Gary se conocen crean un vínculo instantáneo con el espectador, empiezas a formar parte de su historia y te vuelves a merced de sus acciones, crean una complicidad que es compartida, a veces no entiendes el por qué, pero es una sensación adictiva e hipnótica. Definitivamente Licorice Pizza fue una de las mejores películas del 2021 y posiblemente de la década, aunque pienso que Alana Haim merecía mas reconocimiento como actriz y ser incluida en las nominaciones al Oscar.
Larga vida a esta película, las emociones quee transmitió no las sentía desde hace muchos años
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With Licorice Pizza [Anderson] has sifted through a haze of wildly embellished tales and half-forgotten memories — and pieced together something that feels more concrete, more achingly, tangibly real, than just about any American movie this year.
Licorice (the title, never once mentioned or explained, remains a happy non sequitur) is a love letter to an era, and more than that a feeling: a tender, funny ramble forged in all the hope and absurdity of adolescence, one wild poly-blend rumpus at a time.
A warm and loving Valentine to the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s, it never allows nostalgia to overwhelm narrative, although there’s plenty of the former to go around.
It’s a lively, messy coming-of-age story which turns the clashing elements of its title into reflections of a certain youthful folly and daring, a penchant for base gross-out humor and big, revolutionary thinking.
That's a movie.
How I miss good movies, those that make us immerse ourselves in the story being told, that are made for entertainment and exercise the ability to watch a story, regardless of the physical characteristics of the characters. Hollywood, please stop staring at your own belly button, make art. Nobody is interested in your political agenda, look for a rally and be happy on your own.
For more movies like this, for art, for true entertainment, for beauty. Thanks, PTA!
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Licorice Pizza is a cute, enjoyable movie but also -probably- a movie that I won't remember in the future. The movie only proves that P.T. Anderson is a fantastic director and master at period movies. If I could remember the movie one day, somehow, the reason will be Alana Haim. On the other hand, there is nothing to remember, mostly soap bubbles.
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I came away from director Paul Thomas Anderson's latest heaving a big "So what?" This alleged coming of age romantic comedy set in the 1970s fails on virtually every front. I never laughed once during this tedious, meandering overlong saga, primarily because none of the supposedly funny bits landed successfully enough to bring out the chuckles. As for the romance, I didn't buy it for a minute, both in terms of its believability and the utter lack of chemistry between the overhyped leads. What's more, the narrative is merely a string of nostalgic anecdotes (many of which stretch credibility) that bear little relation to one another and often seem to come out of left field, shining a bright light on how poorly written this offering's screenplay truly is. How this cinematic mess has captured all of the accolades that it has thus far is really beyond me. And, at more than two hours in length, this release is a genuine waste of one's time. That was surely true for me when I found myself checking my watch after only 25 minutes into it. I can't say I know how PTA has lost his way as a filmmaker, but that's very much been the case with his last four productions, which have progressively gone from bad to worse. As for this picture in particular, all I can say is that, having lived through the '70s myself, they were definitely a lot more fun than this film is.
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Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),
Focus Features,
Bron Creative,
Ghoulardi Film Company
Release Date Nov 26, 2021
Duration 2 h 13 m
Rating R
Website
https://licorice-pizza.jp/
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 4 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
St. Louis Film Critics Association, US
• 3 Wins & 9 Nominations
