Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
RATED R
When I think of storytelling, I kind of imagine every story possessing some sort of an internal engine, the very element that propels a story, makes it moves, gives it purpose, the reason that it is attempting to connect with the reader, or in this case the viewer.
This does not, however, mean that I think that a story should tell you how to feel or think about it. On the contrary, once the story is set in motion, it is then, essentially given to us to interact with and prescribe an interpretation that is meaningful to each of our individual selves. But for every story creator, it is up to them to provide that engine and whatever kind of engine it may happen to be, whether straightforward or something that takes more effort on the part of the receiver.
As for the films of Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson, his entire oeuvre has always contained their storytelling engines within his collective of characters rather than standard plot structures. Yet, what has evolved with his films over the last 25 years has been a gradually move away from the visceral to the cerebral, as if extending from the multi-layered gut felt energy of Robert Altman to the multi-layered esoteric qualities of Stanley Kubrick. I believe his finest merging of the two sensibilities arrived with his mountainous "There Will Be Blood" (2007), an experience that was as visceral as it was ethereal, as the performances by Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano captured a furious intensity that only intensified yet filtered through an advanced audio/visual aesthetic that allowed sound and vision to carry the narrative as powerfully as the dialogue, story and characters.
And for me, and regardless of the steady stream of critical accolades and awards PTA continues to receive, I personally do not feel that he has reached that creative peak ever since.
With his subsequent films, which include "The Master" (2012),"Inherent Vice" (2014) and "Phantom Thread" (2017), despite the always excellent performances, the astounding cinematography, lushly complex and innovative music scores from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and again, the continuous critical acclaim, for me, what was once housed inside of Paul Thomas Anderson's films which made his stories run blindingly white hot, have now become cooled to the point of being frigid, unreachable, and unknowable. And in the case of "Inherent Vice," that was an experience which felt to unravel before my eyes.
And for me, and regardless of the steady stream of critical accolades and awards PTA continues to receive, I personally do not feel that he has reached that creative peak ever since.
With his subsequent films, which include "The Master" (2012),"Inherent Vice" (2014) and "Phantom Thread" (2017), despite the always excellent performances, the astounding cinematography, lushly complex and innovative music scores from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and again, the continuous critical acclaim, for me, what was once housed inside of Paul Thomas Anderson's films which made his stories run blindingly white hot, have now become cooled to the point of being frigid, unreachable, and unknowable. And in the case of "Inherent Vice," that was an experience which felt to unravel before my eyes.
Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms about how Paul Thomas Anderson chooses to tell his stories, therefore, which engine he wishes to place inside of them. I just question if he is trying to place engines into his films at all anymore because he has seemingly decided that his films take on a more plotless, and therefore, even shapeless quality, that for me, makes connecting with his films exceedingly more difficult to the point where I am not certain if I wish to continue making the effort.
His latest film, "Licorice Pizza," continues upon this path, despite how much it has going for it (as well as the stream of rapturous reviews it has obtained). Anderson has delivered a narrative that possesses all of the ingredients that are in my wheelhouse as it is a coming of age/first love story set during the early 1970's and is anchored by two startling strong performances by the film's leads. Yet, once again, and especially for a story that is inherently fraught with burgeoning motivations, complexities and emotions, the film floats by upon its own breeze or better yet, m ore like a cloud, something with grand impressions but is ultimately and always untouchable.
Set in the San Fernando Valley circa 1973, Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" stars Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) as 15 year old Gary Valentine and Alana Haim (of the band HAIM) as 25 year old Alana Kane. The twosome meet on Gary's high school picture day where Alana is working as a photographer's assistant. Gary, a child actor overflowing with confidence, instantly strikes up a conversation upon meeting and pursues Alana, who continuously, vehemently rejects him... yet, inexplicably turns up to meet him for dinner.
What follows is a mosaic of events during which Gary and Alana are immersed in harebrained get-rich-quick schemes, involving a self-created waterbed company followed by a pinball arcade plus encountering a near rogue's gallery of characters, including a racist hotel entrepreneur (John Michael Higgins), a drunken actor/motorcycle enthusiast (Sean Penn) and his wildman film director (Tom Waits), an aspiring Mayoral candidate (Benny Safdie), a clearly insane Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) and more.
A friendship, and budding romance, such as it is, ensues.
There is no question that Paul Thomas Anderson is a born filmmaker and every time he releases a new work it is an event! As always PTA has delivered a sparkling film, filled end to end and top to bottom with the A level performances for which his Directorial reputation has been built. Both Cooper Hoffmann and Alana Haim are effortless in their roles and they do leap off of the screen with verve and charisma from the moment we see them and regard their undeniable chemistry.
As for the film as a whole...well...
Just as it has been for me during Anderson's last few films, "Licorice Pizza" is an experience that works in fits and starts and never does it ever add up to anything cohesive. Moments work extremely well. Images captivate. Certain scenes and sequences in and of themselves are entertaining, funny, seductive and the way that he films the characters of Gary and Alana often in a state of running, either together, or towards each other, or even to or away from some event or place, it often feels like the sensation of flight. There is so much about this film that is good to great that it is almost maddening to me to me to reach the film's conclusion, which arrives with a certain sense of majestic romantic triumph, that my response to it was nothing more than being perplexed by the entire enterprise.
Just as it has been for me during Anderson's last few films, "Licorice Pizza" is an experience that works in fits and starts and never does it ever add up to anything cohesive. Moments work extremely well. Images captivate. Certain scenes and sequences in and of themselves are entertaining, funny, seductive and the way that he films the characters of Gary and Alana often in a state of running, either together, or towards each other, or even to or away from some event or place, it often feels like the sensation of flight. There is so much about this film that is good to great that it is almost maddening to me to me to reach the film's conclusion, which arrives with a certain sense of majestic romantic triumph, that my response to it was nothing more than being perplexed by the entire enterprise.
This is where we get to this concept of the "engine" that I began this posting with. I do not need or want Paul Thomas Anderson to tell me what to think or how to feel about his story. I do, however, wish to have a feeling that even he knows what he thinks of his own material. Again, the engine is not about plot, per se, for none of the movies in Paul Thomas Anderson's filmography really possess or are even driven by plots. His characters are the engines. His settings are the engines. The motivations that rest within the characters and how they relate to each other and their settings are the engines.
In his earlier films like "Boogie Nights" (1997), "Magnolia" (1999) and even "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002), the approach and effect was bracing and visceral. In his recent films, again bringing about the aesthetic comparison to Kubrick, the effect is more cerebral as if Anderson is taking a bird's eye view of his subject matter rather than swimming in the guts of them. Frankly, I am missing the PTA of old for the current one and I are just not matching up like we used to.
And it is a shame as "Licorice Pizza" feels to be the next phase in tales of sun drenched California on the cusp of change in the at the dawn of and during the early 1970s. In fact, this film could be on a mythical triple bill with Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000) and Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood" (2019), especially as Anderson's film feels to align more strongly with the drifting tone and deliberate pacing of Tarantino's film, as "Licorice Pizza" often feels like a dream or a memory that is too difficult to recapture.
In doing so, the engine of young, wayward adolescence and potential love carries a surprisingly lack of weight, turbulence, restlessness and urgency, despite how strong Hoffmann and especially Haim actually are. It so often feels like Gary and Alana have a romance solely because the script says they are supposed to and for no other reason. It was confounding to believe.
Yes, there have been questions about the age differences between the characters, and therefore, the appropriateness of their romance, as Gary is again 15 while Alana is 10 years older. Understandably, it is easy to fathom why an excitable15 year old would desire a 25 year old woman. But why on Earth would Alana, for all of her rejections of his advances, keep returning to Gary? This is a compelling element of the character of Alana Kane but I honestly question if Paul Thomas Anderson entertained that question at all and it is a shame as well as a disservice.
With Gary, he felt to be a variation fall of the adult male characters, he and Alana engage with throughout the film, as they are all hustlers, and lascivious ones to varying degrees. He is their past and they are his future. Why Alana, who feels to be (or wishes to be) bursting with independence, over and again, falls into stagnation around various men and Gary? She obviously desires to be out from under the influence of her family (as portrayed by seemingly the entire Haim family) but she is often paralyzed through domineering and sometimes, nasty male influences, which always seem to lead her back to Gary. Is Anderson musing on female arrested development, an impenetrable patriarchal structure just this far from Hollywood, or really anything else? I honestly do not know and I would be hard pressed to think that Paul Thomas Anderson knew or even much cared. And so, if he didn't, then why should I?
Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" is beautiful to regard, luxurious in its hazy, meandering tone. But, really, what was the point? If it was just an opportunity to work with friends and put on a show, then fine, have at it.
That doesn't necessarily mean that it is just as fun to witness.
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