Licorice Pizza

 Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Paul Thomas Anderson

Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring:  Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie

Running Time:  133 minutes

Genre:  comedy drama

San Fernando Valley, 1973:  15 year old high school student Gary Valentine (Hoffman) balances a successful career as a child actor with a number of entrepreneurial schemes.  One day he meets 25 year old photographer's assistant Alana Kane (Haim) and becomes instantly smitten with her.  Alana, however, is intrigued by Gary's chutzpah but considers him far too young for him.  Despite this the two forge a tentative friendship.

Paul Thomas Anderson is arguably one of the most important American filmmakers working today, as well as one of the most infuriating, but with Licorice Pizza, a tender, romantic comedy drama set in early '70s Los Angeles based on part on Anderson's own youthful experiences as well as those of his friend, producer and actor Gary Goetzman.  Cooper Hoffman, who is the some of the late, great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who appeared in several Anderson films, makes his film debut as Gary, and delivers a great performance making Gary romantic, infuriating, admirable and funny, often all at the same time.  Alana Haim, of the rock band Haim, pretty much steals the movie as Alana Kane, and, as with Hoffman, this was her debut film.  The way their relationship plays out is fascinating and moving.  Despite being a teenager, Gary appears more self-confident and assured, he is a fairly successful actor and he is always coming up with money-making schemes.  He walks into his favourite restaurant, and basically owns the place.   Despite being ten years older, Alana works a miserable job, where her boss slaps her butt as she walks by him, and doesn't really know what she wants from life.  She is also more idealistic than the cynical Gary.  The film features Sean Penn, as a self-obsessed ageing actor based on William Holden, Tom Waits, sounding more than ever like an elderly Dalek, as a drunk director, Bradley Cooper delivers a hilarious performance as real-life producer Jon Peters, and Benny Safdie, one half of the filmmaking Safdie Brothers (directors of Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2919)) plays real-life politician Joel Wachs.  Alana Haim's two sisters and Haim bandmates Danielle and Este turn up as Alana Kane's sisters, along with their parents, Moti and Donna. Incidentally Anderson directed several of Haim's music videos, and Donna Haim was Anderson's art teacher at school.  This is not really a plot based film.  At times it feels more like a tour through a photo album of the sights and sounds of the period.  The fact is that this never gets wearying.  It may at times feel too loose, there are lots of interesting elements that don't really go anywhere, but such is life.  At the end of the film I was left so invested in the characters and their lives that I wanted more, and there can be no higher praise for a film than that.  It has a great seventies soundtrack too.

Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza
    

The Dead Don't Die

Year:  2019
Director:  Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay:  Jim Jarmusch
Starring:  Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Selena Gomez, RZA, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits
Running Time:  103 minutes
Genre:  Horror, comedy

The small American town of Centerville is experiencing a series of bizarre events:  It gets dark either far too late or far too early for the time of year, animals are behaving out of character or disappearing, and electronic equipment is behaving very erratically.  Things get much worse when the dead start to come out of the grave and feast on the flesh of the living. 

This marks the second time that acclaimed indie director Jim Jarmusch has entered horror territory, following acclaimed vampire movie Only Lovers Left Alive (2013).  This did not get the same positive reception on it's release.  The humour is very deadpan, police officers Bill Murray and Adam Driver seem to sleepwalk throughout the entire film even before the zombies appear, and is full of bizarre touches, such as Tilda Swinton as an eccentric, samurai sword wielding Scottish mortician (with a frankly extraordinary accent), and Murray and Driver's characters seem to be aware that they are characters in a film, and the film's theme song becomes a recurring in-joke throughout the film.  It's also full of references to other horror films.  This isn't really scary at all, and at times it is too self-consciously cool for it's own good, and the characters are too "hip" and quirky to really feel realistic.  it also hammers home it's political message a little too bluntly at times.  Personally though, I did find it consistently funny.  The zombies themselves are effectively designed, "bleeding" clouds of black ash, and drawn to the things that they loved when they were alive.  It boasts an impressive cast, who all seem to be having fun.

Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny and Adam Driver face off against zombies in The Dead Don't Die

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Year of Release:  2018
Directors:  Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Screenplay:  Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Starring:  Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson
Running Time:  133 minutes
Genre:  Western

This is an anthology film consisting of six unconnected short stories set in the Old West:  A singing gunslinger (Nelson) meets his match; A condemned bankrobber (Franco) tries to escape his fate; An elderly impresario (Neeson) and his artist, who has no arms and legs, scratch out an existence travelling from town to town; A prospector (Waits) dreams of riches as he searches for gold; Following the death of her brother, a young woman (Kazan) undertakes an arduous journey in a wagon train; and a group of travelers in a stagecoach encounter a pair of bounty hunters en route to a strange destination.

This film is funny, dark, profound, violent, occasionally lyrical and often beautiful.  As with all anthology films, some segments work better than others, although they are all impressive, well-written and well-performed.  The Coen Brothers are no strangers to the Western genre, and here they make full use of their gift for dialect and witty, absurdist dialogue.  The first story is the most traditionally "Coen-esque" being a violent and funny take on the "singing cowboy" genre.  The second story starts as a simple hold-up tale before becoming something much more poignant.  The third story is a dark tale of cruelty, with a disturbing conclusion.  The fourth story which is almost entirely a single-hander, featuring a great performance by Tom Waits, is dramatic and beautiful.  The fifth story, which features a powerful performance from Zoe Kazan, is possibly the most traditional, until it's heartbreaking conclusion.  The sixth story marks a turn almost into "weird west" territory with a strange and ambiguous tale set in a stagecoach to a surreal town.  This film had a limited theatrical run before being released onto the Netflix streaming service.  Personally I loved it, and hopefully it will to another revival of the Western genre.     

Tim Blake Nelson saddles up for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs