Licorice Pizza

Few films are so enveloping that as soon as the credits roll, you want to do it all over again. You almost get a high being inside the world of Licorice Pizza. And as soon as it’s over you spend the next week just thinking about how great that high was.

It really only hits you how true that feeling is on a rewatch. I can’t think of many directors whose films only get aggressively better after every rewatch. I liked almost every PTA movie just fine on the first watch, but it isn’t until a rewatch that I “got” it (aside from “There Will Be Blood”). By the time the third watch comes around, I finally understand the masterpiece moniker that the real heads have already given it. He’s just a genius at what he does. The more you rewatch his stuff the more you come to realize why PTA is most middle aged men’s film version of a “Roman Empire”.

As for the film itself, it is such a sweet ode to the complicated time of being 15-25 years old. You either want to be an adult, but you aren’t quite there yet or the world tells you that you are an adult but just aren’t ready to be. The juxtaposition between that with Gary and Alana is done so masterfully.

Speaking of Gary and Alana, I think it’s a bit weird that so many people are hung up on the age gap between them. I believe the answer on “why is there such an extreme age gap” is found in how every other man in the film treats Alana. They all solely want her body & either manipulate her to try and get it or use their power over her to get it. They are essentially all predatory. Which is why the movie is so smartly making you realize that technically what the older men are doing to her is theoretically legal (and maybe even normal at the time). Yet, it is far more creepy than the “relationship” between Gary and Alana (even if that is not technically legal). It’s a real clever way to flip the age gap on its head.

None of that means Gary is in the clear. He is using Alana as well, but he is more interested in using her to feel like an adult. Which still makes him a flawed person, but not predatory like the other men. And just like Gary is using Alana, she is using him to get what she wants out of life. Even if they weren’t together initially for the right reasons, a connection forms between them as they roam the San Fernando Valley. It’s why I interpret the ending not as Alana and Gary are going to be together forever. In fact, I bet they don’t last two weeks after the credits role. Instead, it is Alana getting to the point as a person where she realizes how screwed up most adults are (think about how racist the restaurateur is, Sean Penn’s character is a drunk, John Peters is a maniac, Benny Safdie’s character is hiding who he really is) & that Gary may be the most genuine of them all (although he is still very flawed). It’s her symbolically no longer suppressing her “child-like” tendencies or feelings. She suppressed those when she pursed the career in politics that she thought she always wanted. To me, it’s not about a “happily ever after” and more about Alana moving towards what Gary represents symbolically.

Shoutout to Alana Haim for a legendary first onscreen performance & shoutout to PTA for another classic. So many memorable moments that stick with you forever. Have a strong feeling that I am one more rewatch away from a 5 star rating!