How much time was supposed to have elapsed in this film? An awful lot goes on, and it never explicitly states how much time passes between segments of the film. Is it all in the same year? Why is he never actually at school besides the opening scene?
shareThere are a couple developments late in the film that imply more than two years have elapsed since the opening scene. By the end Gary is finished with high school and pursuing his own ventures full time.
It probably doesn't linger on his time in class because that element is not integral to the story. Gary's aspirations lie outside academia.
The movie plays a bit fast and loose with time.
It ends in June, July, or August of 1973 -- because the movie on the marquee in front of the theater reads: "Roger Moore in Live and Let Die." That James Bond movie was released in late June 1973 and was still first run in July and August.
Gary is 15 when he first meets Alana. When the cops grab him, he swears he won't be 16 for another month (the murder suspect is evidently 16). When Alana and Gary have their big fight over his shift to pinball machines and she says she won't drive him anymore, he says "I can drive" -- and does. So he is 16 at the end of the film and it is the summer of 1973.
Two things are wrong with that timeline: Gary and Alana watch President Nixon on TV talking about the oil embargo and that speech was evidently given on TV in November of 1973. The gas lines were more of a 1974 thing.
And: on the jet to NYC, the soundtrack has Stumblin' In. That song was from way out in 1978.
And I wonder: are school photos taken in the fall at the beginning of the year, or in the spring near the end? Because Licorice Pizza begins with the school photos being taken.
So PTA played pretty fast and loose with time, but I'm not sure he went a whole 2 years. Maybe a year? Long enough for Gary to turn 16 from 15 -- a year closer to legal.
I'm guessing that Gary skipped a lot of school for his ventures, and the finale is during summer.
Thank you as I was wondering the same. Its a good film nevertheless. And although there is a 10 year age difference between the two it never feels or seems like they are different in terms of maturity. Gary is very mature for his age so it works. I am not even sure why PTA felt it was needed for the story other than her reluctance to commit to a relationship with him. Even a minor difference such as him still being in high school and her out of high school would have been enough of a social stigma to provide that motivation. That being said it would have worked as a straight up romance/love story.
shareIts a good film nevertheless.
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It is a VERY good film. A true love story "from the heart" and with a kind of "art film" sensibility on the one hand, yet very human and relateable on the other. The detail in the script is incredibly rich.
Here is an example:
When Gary asks Alana for her phone number, she at first resists(the "age thing," one suspects, just feels wrong to her.)
Gary: If I asked for your phone number, would you give it to me? (Notice his "roundabout" way of asking -- no pressure.)
Alana: Why should I give you my phone number? (Worried about a dating relationship.)
Gary: So I can call you. (Again...no pressure.)
Alana: I don't know, Gary....(still resisting)
Gary: Why not?
Alana (changing the subject) How are you going to remember it?
Gary: (Warmly) Its only seven numbers.
Alana: 758-4686
Gary: 756-4686.
Alana: (Alarmed, a little angry) NO!..you got it wrong.
Gary: (knew it all along) 756-4686.
Alana: (Realizes he knew it all along) Alright, Don Rickles (a comedian very much of 1973.) Don't call me all the time, OK? ..we're not boyfriend and girlfriend, remember that.....We're....(trails off.)
Gary: I know.
The scene has the two of them walking side by side (after their first "date") with very gentle, kindly music that will return for the film's finale.
But this is key: When Gary seems to misremember the phone number, Alana panics(in her tempermental way) "NO! You got it wrong."
She WANTS Gary to have that number. She WANTS him to call, to be in her life, some way.
The connection has been made. And Alana will fight against it for the duration of the movie. She really DOES want Gary, I think.
The phone number pays off a later when Gary calls it (as "Lance" to sister Este who picks up) and goes silent when Alana comes on, leading to Alana's silence and a great scene that couldn't happen today -- we can trace back caller ID.
CONT
And although there is a 10 year age difference between the two it never feels or seems like they are different in terms of maturity. Gary is very mature for his age so it works.
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That's key, too. PTA establishes that Gary's father is long gone, that Gary is "the man of the house" helping to support his mother and lovingly caring for his little brother. He's an experienced child actor and he has profitable business ideas. He's already pretty much "a man."
Alana, on the other hand, is still very much a "girl." At 25, she lives in the same house with her very strict father(who still hassles her about where she's been at night), mother, and two older sisters. She's in a dead end job, and doesn't know what to do with her life. She's very sheltered(as are her sisters, evidently, it is an Old World Jewish house; Dad has a strong accent.)
So basically in "psychological age," Gary is 25 and Alana is 16! They even out. They also don't LOOK much apart in age. If we were not TOLD their ages, I think we would guess them much closer together(even as, in real life, Alana Haim was about 28 and Cooper Hoffman 18 when the film was made.)
CONT
I am not even sure why PTA felt it was needed for the story other than her reluctance to commit to a relationship with him. Even a minor difference such as him still being in high school and her out of high school would have been enough of a social stigma to provide that motivation. That being said it would have worked as a straight up romance/love story.
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PTA wanted it this way, and Licorice Pizza ends up a bit controversial(maybe a LOT controversial) because of it. But he is an art film maker, an "auteur" who, I suppose, could not be expected to give us a "traditional" love story. If they were both teenagers, it would have been "the usual teen romance" that Hollywood makes (for teens) all the time. (I think this movie is pitched as nostalgia for adults as well as current teens.) If she were " a little" out of high school, it might have still been an issue...but PTA makes it a BIGGER issue this way.
PTA has a specific excuse: the premise comes from PTA witnessing, FOR REAL, a teenage boy hitting on an older girl for a date ...while he was in line for his school photo! PTA thought "what if the boy got the date? Where would things go from there."
PTA also knows that the great movie love stories in history work because there has to be a MAJOR OBSTACLE to the romance. Here, he makes it the age difference ("on paper") but shows us over and over again that the age difference shouldn't MATTER with these two. They are right for each other. That's the story.
The film's producer notes that the couple never have sex(in the story as we see it.) Gary is 16 at the end, he can wait two years to be legal. In any event, I personally knew many "chaste" young couples as I was growing up. Religion or "saving it for marriage." In any event, this is a movie about love and finding your soulmate . Most romance movies of the 30s , 40s, and 50s didn't have sex in their love stories, either.
She loves him right away. He wins her love in the very first scene. No doubt about it. Everything else is her trying to achieve societal convention, doing what is expected. It really is a great love story. I dare say they complete each other. Hes the optimistic showman entrepreneur and she is the pragmatic fact based reality checker. The oil discussion scene is the perfect example. He has no idea his waterbed business is about to collapse and she informs him.
shareShe loves him right away. He wins her love in the very first scene. No doubt about.
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Yep. A GREAT scene, perfectly written. Notice that though she keeps insulting him, she could walk away at any time, but she sticks with him, on the line(ignoring her job), right up to when he gets his photo taken and on out to the door. She's as smitten as he is.
And lest we think Gary is just a "pick up artist" (and he is, we see, with other girls), one scene later Gary tells his little bro "I've met the girl I'm going to marry...and you're gonna be my best man." So he's SERIOUS. It relaxes us.
Their dinner date is two great, funny scenes, but PTA leads it up to the soon famous point:
Alana: You're going to be rich and famous in a mansion at 16, and I'm still going to be helping kids get their school pictures taken at 30. You'll never remember me.
Gary: I'm not going to forget you. And you're not going to forget me.
PTA then holds on a long, silent shot of Alana considering this...and you know she's falling more in love.
Its really a great movie, something we have not had in awhile on the screen... a real love story.
PS. PTA makes sure to "pretty up" Alana Haim in her first scene at the high school. He introduces her from behind, sexily walking, and backlights her face in the sunshine, filming her at an angle that doesn't emphasize her nose and DOES emphasize her great smile and great hair. But as the film goes on, PTA gives Alana a few close-ups that show the plainness of her face too and we realize -- one reason Alana KANE is open to this romance is she's not quite gorgeous enough to get her way in life. Its touching.
Everything else is her trying to achieve societal convention, doing what is expected. It really is a great love story. I dare say they complete each other.
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They DO complete each other, and in this movie, its shown, not said.
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Hes the optimistic showman entrepreneur and she is the pragmatic fact based reality checker. The oil discussion scene is the perfect example. He has no idea his waterbed business is about to collapse and she informs him.
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That's heartwarming, too. Both of them are trying to at LEAST continue on as "business partners"(they don't really want to be apart), and they are GOOD business partners. Not only does Gary come up with the ideas, but Alana diligently works hard to achieve them and refine them.
Yeah good points. It also really captures the nature of young love’s ability to conquer all adversity. Ive watched it a couple times and it gets better and has more meaning everytime I do. Its very much like Punch Drunk Love, which I also like very much, another unusual love story by PTA. I have always been a huge PTA fan but I havent liked anything hes done since There Will Be Blood as much as this. Even so, his misses imho are better than 99.5% of anything else. I have forgotten The Master, I have forgotten Inherent Vice, I have forgotten Phantom Thread but this stays with me.
shareSPOILERS (I guess):
PTA has quite of list of films and has earned his "auteur" status. Each of his films is worthy of special consideration.
But honestly, this one is different from the others, I think, because it is really a happy, positive experience -- at the end, after some trauma getting there. Boogie Nights is a great film, and made the splash needed to launch PTA's career, but it is at heart a depressing movie about damaged people and ends in bloody death for a few of them.
Not THIS time.
I think practically every scene in Licorice Pizza is entertaining (interestingly, I was less impressed by the star cameo scenes than the ones that stuck to Gary and Alana directly.)
Licorice Pizza may be a more "small and slight" movie than Magnolia or There Will be Blood, but its something special - a total surprise in heart and tone from a otherwise tough filmmaker(even Punch Drunk Love swarmed its romance with weird music, menacing sounds, art film abstractions, and Sandler's innate violence.)
I was hooked by Magnolia to PTA. One point of disagreement in regard to Punch Drunk Love, I found the music to to be another character in the story, it was integral to Barry’s growth and maturity. Had he not found the harmonium abandoned on the street the rest of the story would not have been possible. Additionally PTA used the music and sound as an active component to not only enhance the story but to move it forward. I very much respect him for using the sound as a supporting character and in a way I have never before experienced. It was a rather bold and misunderstood choice.
With regard to Gary and Alana (Cooper and Alana) I found their performances to be excellent, genuine and authentic. An amazing feat for novice actors especially Cooper, since Alana has entertaining and performance experience, but hardly a surprise for such a great director, PTA.
I would encourage you to take another look at Punch Drunk Love. I find the Alana and Barry characters to be very similar. Both outsiders searching for love, purpose and meaning. And honestly there is only one scene of violence in PDL and its an act of defense.
I was hooked by Magnolia to PTA.
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Oh, Boogie Nights brought me in -- hey, the porn world is nothing if not "interesting" -- but Magnolia did seem to be mounted on a much more epic and expansive scale. It was truly "something else."
I suppose if PTA had stuck to his "tales of Los Angeles" (mainly The Valley but also the seaside setting of Inherent Vice), I'd be a total fan.
But his three other ones (TWBB, The Master, Phantom Thread) have that intellectual and astringent quality -- perhaps TOO arty -- and I know they are great, but I don't get the warm fuzzies from them. That's what shocked me about LP -- I DID get them (even though Alana is one hell of a tempermental rager through most of the film -- will love conquer all?)
CONT
One point of disagreement in regard to Punch Drunk Love, I found the music to to be another character in the story, it was integral to Barry’s growth and maturity.
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That's an interesting insight. I wasn't AGAINST either the music or the weird, menacing sounds -- I just noticed them as being in "the art form tradition" -- very much "in the way" of everything and indeed -- a character. Now I may be off as to which is the music and which is the noise. Probably need another showing.
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Had he not found the harmonium abandoned on the street the rest of the story would not have been possible.
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Very good -- THAT's the music?
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Additionally PTA used the music and sound as an active component to not only enhance the story but to move it forward. I very much respect him for using the sound as a supporting character and in a way I have never before experienced. It was a rather bold and misunderstood choice.
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Yes...also the occasional cuts to abstract colored lights as a VISUAL motif...I felt that returned in Licorice Pizza via all the shots of lights casting all colored lens flares.
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CONT
With regard to Gary and Alana (Cooper and Alana) I found their performances to be excellent, genuine and authentic. An amazing feat for novice actors especially Cooper, since Alana has entertaining and performance experience, but hardly a surprise for such a great director, PTA.
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I suppose that's one reason he is up (tomorrow) for Best Director even as his actors did not get nominated for their work. Alana is clearly a "pro"(not just on stage, but in tons of interviews she has done with her sisters; plus "dance classes" they taught on YouTube during COVID.) Cooper has great genes, but I don't believe that's enough. Perhaps he had acting lessons, perhaps PTA gave him extra guidance ...perhaps even telling him HOW to read his lines sometimes.
But it is natural. I'm a straight guy so my attention goes to Alana, who is compelling and sad and sexy even with rather unattractive facial features. But on re-viewings, I've found myself studying Gary and seeing how his confidence and enthusiasm manages to get him not only Alana(on a "limited basis") but other girls with ease. Plus he's just plain likeable -- he tells his brother he loves him, and he always unlocks the front seat and pulls it forward, so the kid can get out of the back. A less loving brother would leave the kid on his own. These "character touches" help Hoffman deliver the likeable performance. He's also tall and fairly handsome under the baby fat(more handsome than his late great father.)
Alana just can't quit him. They will work it out.
CONT
I would encourage you to take another look at Punch Drunk Love. I find the Alana and Barry characters to be very similar.
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After I first saw Licorice Pizza a few months ago, I rented Punch Drunk Love. It had been years since I saw it, and, for whatever reason, its not on cable to watch "for free" like some of the other PTA works. So I paid for it.
The connection to LP is indeed quite strong -- they are both love stories with happy endings but weird premises. Why Adam and Emily even run into each others arms and fall down just like Alana and Gary (an auteur's motif?)
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Both outsiders searching for love, purpose and meaning.
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Yes, you could say that Emily comes at Adam as unconditionally as Gary comes at Alana -- except Gary (weirdly) gives Alana the cold shoulder when she comes on to him (finally) at the waterbed store. I don't quite understand that scene.
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And honestly there is only one scene of violence in PDL and its an act of defense.
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That's a great scene and one that "true Adam Sandler fans" were waiting for. If you look at his "dopey comedies" (which made him a BIG star) you'll see that Adam Sandler plays pretty tough guys who like to get in fights and generally win them (even with 100 year old Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore.) Here, Adam takes on bad guys who hurt his girl. That's it. Nothing "art film" about it.
I think I am thinking of the scene at the phone booth outside in Hawaii. His (unseen) sister won't give him Emiliy's Hawaii room number and his verbal explosion is filled with menacing, profane rage, including "give me that number or I'll f'in KILL you!" and with Adam Sandler going ape, you believe it (by the way, I don't REALLY think he will kill his sister, but his verbal violence signals a man with no anger management skills. Hey he was in a movie about that with Nicholson, yes?)
CONT
If I like Licorice Pizza better than Punch Drunk Love(and for now, I do) I think it boils down to: Adam Sandler. He's a better actor than folks think(he's made Uncut Gems for the guy who played the City Councilman Joel Wachs in Licorice Pizza) and very much a movie star , but his "thing" is a bit too goonish and childish for me.
I can't see Adam Sandler pulling off the cool conversation that Cooper Hoffman has with Alana Haim in their first scene in Licorice Pizza. Its just a matter of different actors, different characters, a different VIBE this time around.
But Punch Drunk Love is very nice -- the woman loves Sandler no matter what, and that's nice. I also love the use of Harry Nillson's "He Loves Me" from Popeye as the love song of the film (by Olive Oyl as voiced by Shelly Duvall.)
I'd say that Licorice Pizza and Punch Drunk Love are the "happy" PTA movies. Though both Boogie Nights and Magnolia end on upbeat notes and the hope of love for ...some.
I'm thinking that we saw a whole relationship in a fevour dream. They are old people by the end who have spent decades together.
Im not going to attempt to figure it all out. Its like trying to figure out a David Lynch film, but with a feel good glow around it.
I'm thinking that we saw a whole relationship in a fevour dream. They are old people by the end who have spent decades together.
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That's a fascinating take! It certainly feels like a "disconnected" art film from time to time -- like the whole police station thing and how they run away in happiness.
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Im not going to attempt to figure it all out. Its like trying to figure out a David Lynch film, but with a feel good glow around it.
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I keep thinking "David Lynch" when I see PTA give these calm, quiet interviews acting like his movies are straightforward tales -- when they aren't really. At all. This one is NOT a typical tale of young love. The age thing stands as an obstacle from start to finish that is dealt with in a very "art film" way.
Film timeline probably starts near beginning of school year, maybe September or October 1972. They are getting pictures for their school ID.
No idea about chaperoning to Under One Roof. Maybe after winter holidays are over.
Teenage Fair was early April, the radio said so. The waterbed stuff would have happened in the following weeks and months.
Gary turns 16 in May, since he told the cops he turns 16 next month.
Jack Holden storyline was probably Sep or Oct as it builds toward Yom Kippur war and subsequent oil embargo into 1974.
Jon Peters is early 1974 as oil shortage is in full gear and Joel Wachs campaign is in progress (hence the campaign signs).
Alana volunteers for Joel Wachs campaign and Gary’s subsequent pinball venture is during summer when kids can run around all night like that. Movie ends on opening night of Fat Bernie’s Pinball Palace.
No idea how Gary or his 15 year-old friends get away with what they do. They might all be latchkey kids.
That's a very good timeline. It fits. (I missed the April reference.)
I suppose throwing the "Live and Let Die" marquee into the mix at the end was just PTA sort of thumbing his nose at his own timeline(putting a 1973 movie in 1974) But then some movies DID play into another year back then, or they came back. "Stumblin' In" was a 1978 song.
Kids were a lot more independent in the 70s, even non-latchkey kids. In my hometown groups of teens hung out in shopping center lots until late at night, then the local cops would come and they’d scatter off to some other lots to drink beer, smoke pot. Little kids would ride their bikes all over the place for hours on end. Then street crime surged and that sent 80s teens indoors to arcades and malls.
shareA lot of the criticism and moral outrage over the film assumes Gary is 15 the whole time. But by any timeline he is well past 16 when their first kiss (and what ever comes next) occurs at the end.
16 is the age of consent in many states, and you can get married in CA at that age with parental permission. So the idea that he was an innocent groomed and corrupted by an older woman is silly. Pretty Baby this is not!
PTA should have made it clearer he turned 16, maybe a birthday party scene.
The age difference didn't bother me in this movie, what bothered me was how much older Gary sounds than the other characters in the movie.
He talks like he's 30 years old and acts more mature than Alana. I still think it's a solid film but not great.
As was noted by others, Alanna’s immaturity and Gary’s over-maturity are what makes their pairing plausible. It probably also explains why his friends are so willing to help him out, and even his mom’s behavior around him.
A lot of movies require some suspension of disbelief to work. The unusualness of this story is what makes it interesting.
I suppose that's a difficult one for me, its hard for me to give high ratings to films that require a suspension of disbelief. When I see something in a movie that doesn't quite add up, I have to deduct points when giving it a rating.
I understand that liberties need to be taken when making films but it's hard for me to excuse it because there are so many great movies and average ones out there that have very few glaring over-the-top sequences in them. So, if others can do it, why not everyone else?
I know its probably too much to ask for but I just can't let it go. lol...
Gary and Alana's relationship works to some degree but it was just hard to buy into because of the advanced dialogue coming out of Gary's mouth. But then again, for someone like him, he probably needed to sound this way for what PTA was going for. So, it's no one's fault per se, I just think several things about the movie could have been slightly different. As is, I can only give LP a 6.2 out of 10.
16 is the age of consent in many states, and you can get married in CA at that age with parental permission. So the idea that he was an innocent groomed and corrupted by an older woman is silly. Pretty Baby this is not!
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That's exactly right. The movie makes a rather continual point -- these two are made for each other from the get (as Gary says "I'm not going to forget you, and you're not going to forget me") and so we find ourselves rooting for them to get together all the way through -- the "other people" in their lives just don't compete. Example: the older, hipper young male actor who takes Alana as a girlfriend early on just has too smarmy a face and manner for us to prefer him to Gary for her -- even as he is polite and straightforward about his atheism(before Alana's deeply religious family) and towards her.
And Alana has strong support for the Gary relationship from sisters Danielle(vocally) and Este(quietly in the background.) Danielle can see the obvious.
For his part, Gary connects with various young girls easily over the course of the movie - and reconnects with an old flame right in front of Alana -- BUT, Alana -- in all her exotic, half pretty/half not explosive and deeply caring glory -- makes the rest of the girls fade away. Look how Gary, in the company of compliant young girls at the Tail of the Cock, is still transfixed on Alana over there with "Jack Holden." She's just more alluring. He's hooked.
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PTA should have made it clearer he turned 16, maybe a birthday party scene.
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Perhaps. When he surprises Alana by revealing that he can now drive(her reaction is a hurt/outraged "BIG MAN!!"), that's the "tell." But maybe more should have been said.