Review of Licorice Pizza (2021) by Km123 — 17 Jul 2023

Easily one of the best movies I've seen in the last 5 years. A masterpiece in building a sense of time and place, and is even shot and lighted like it was actually made in the 1970's. Oozes atmosphere and period detail. You can tell the director made this with love and care. Ultimately your enjoyment will come down to how much you want to inhabit this world and hang out with these characters though, because that's what you will be doing for the not-insignificant runtime.

I enjoyed the two central characters and their tumultuous relationship. The acting was great especially as these were effectively newcomers. Complete nepotism hires by the director, but good is good. It was refreshing to see lead characters who actually look like real people, flaws and all, visible pimples and questionable DIY makeup. To those recoiling at the 15/25 age gap, this was obviously deliberate. You aren't supposed to know how to feel about this, or know for sure whether you should be rooting for them to end up together. You will go back and forth between being put off by the ick factor and thinking that maybe there is some way these two can make it work. The leads really pulled this off through genuine chemistry. You're supposed to be uncomfortable: that's the central conflict. Can a boy who is 15 going on 25 and a girl who is 25 going on maybe 17, just split the difference? Are adolescence and adulthood about more than just numbers?

Along the way a lot of random stuff happens. Some of it is amusing, some of it poignant, and some of it just happens. Kind of like life. You follow these characters through numerous vignettes that they navigate together, and track the ups and downs of their unusual relationship. Kind of like real life, with the sense of wonder and weird magic you experience when you fall in love. Plot wise, sure you could wipe out like half the movie, but the destination isn't really the point.

Refreshingly, this movie doesn't hit you over the head with a tiresome 2020's "woke" agenda. Shoehorned unrealistic diversity is kept at a minimum, which is a relief these days. At the same time, the film has a major undercurrent which effectively criticizes the outlandishly entitled behaviour of every adult character depicted with even a modicum of power - realistically for the time all of them white and male. This is fair criticism of 1970's America and done in a way that doesn't patronize the viewer. The fact that none of these louts get punished or even called out on their behaviour is also realistic. The depiction of Asian stereotypes by a white character was just one example of this, and serves to criticize the casual racism of the time. Reviewers offended by this are being tone deaf.

I went into this with zero expectations and found a marvellous hidden gem, and contender for the best film of the Covid era.