Thursday, July 28, 2022

Licorice Pizza (2021)

IMDb plot summary: The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, and Sean Penn.

Licorice Pizza is Paul Thomas Anderson's latest movie, a sprawling coming-of-age story that follows a teenage child star with an entrepreneurial and the college-aged woman he befriends. Anderson's work... seldom fully resonates with me. I don't connect with most of his characters in a way that helps me see or understand their throughlines, and while I may enjoy individual scenes, they don't cohere the way I want them to. At best that means I end it somewhat puzzled, at worst it means I think, "Why did I even watch this?" This was unfortunately more the latter for me, since I was not bored by the ending but actually strongly disliked it. I felt like whatever I'd gotten out of it must have not been what Anderson intended to end it that way and found a bit like the whole experience had been wasted on me. I also very much FEEL the long sprawlingness of this film and while that's not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, it meant for me that that wasted time felt like a bigger, more frustrating loss. I know, I know, I know, people love Anderson and his work -- he's just very seldom for me, and this one is way down my list.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Licorice Pizza < Ripley's Game
Licorice Pizza > Where to Invade Next
Licorice Pizza > I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore
Licorice Pizza > Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Licorice Pizza > Molly's Game
Licorice Pizza < A Walk on the Moon
Licorice Pizza < The Prince and the Pauper (2000)
Licorice Pizza < All the Money in the World
Licorice Pizza < The Lighthouse
Licorice Pizza > Vivo
Licorice Pizza > Unbroken
Licorice Pizza < The Baby-Sitters Club
Final spot: #1927 out of 3639, or 47%.

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