Licorice Pizza

I'm not going to forget you. Just like you're not going to forget me.

I love it when a writer/director makes a film based on a time and place they know well. If they are talented enough they can perfectly capture the feeling of a time and place. Paul Thomas Anderson does that for 70s LA in Licorice Pizza.

Fifteen-year old Gary is a child actor and entrepreneur. He meets twenty-five year old Alana on his school photograph day and asks her on a date. To both of their surprise she turns up and so begins a series of misadventures as the pair form a close friendship which may or may not develop into something more romantic. 

I loved the central relationship of this story. Whilst there is an element of will-they-won't-they it's really just two people who get on really well. In many ways Gary is much older than his fifteen years and Alana is perhaps a little younger than her age so they are not as far apart as one might imagine. It helps that both leads, both making their feature film debuts, are superb. Alana Haim is especially fantastic and it feels inevitable that we're going to see so much more of her. 

It's really interesting to tell a story about a relationship of which the parameters are unclear. Certainly for most of the film they are friends but they are closer than that at times. Both Gary and Alana have other partners, or potential ones at least, during the course of the film. It's like they are learning what being in a relationship means but no-one provides them with the same feeling as each other.

There's a certain absurdity about this film. The main plot is always about Alana and Gary growing closer or further apart at various times but they have various misadventures along the way which are often hilarious. My personal favourtie was an encounter with film producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) who is just wild and hilarious. The film manages to carefully tow the line between ridiculous yet believable.  

All in all, I just thought this was really charming. It's stakes are pretty low, which is unusual for Anderson's films, but that makes it all the more watchable. Like the characters, I felt myself just sitting back and waiting to see where this relationship would go and enjoyed the ride as it is explored. It's brilliantly well made with a great cast and a great soundtrack. It's the sort of film which I didn't want to end.