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Pizza Licorice received three nominations Oscar 2022 including: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The director and screenwriter of the work is Paul Thomas Anderson – who received a total of 11 Oscar nominations. Among the films that defined Anderson’s age and filmmaking style, Pizza Licorice is a very personal job.

‘Licorice Pizza’ – youthful love energy

The idea of ​​a love story between a 15 year old boy and a 25 year old girl stems from Anderson’s personal experience. Set in the 1970s in the San Fernando Valley (USA), during a school photo shoot, acne-faced actor Gary Valentine (played by Cooper Hoffman) meets photography assistant Alana Kane (Alana Haim). Alana later agrees to have dinner with Gary but says the relationship is just friends.

While accompanying Gary to the press conference of the film he is participating in, Alana meets and falls in love with Lance – Gary’s co-star. However, the two were only together for a short time. After that, Gary started a waterbed business, Alana returned to work as his assistant. Their relationship became closer, but only at the level of colleagues. Both have jobs and brief relationships with other people, before realizing their true feelings.

In their first roles, the two main actors Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim made an impression thanks to their natural acting and good interactions. The main character of Cooper Hoffman is the son of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman – Anderson’s close associate and friend. The actress who plays Alana Kane is the youngest member of the HAIM group which consists of three brothers. He scores points while performing difficult scenes. Usually, the scene of a truck speeding downhill. Based on Hollywood ReporterAlana spent weeks learning to drive a truck to do this scene herself.

The characters are inspired by real real life characters the director knows. Sheet Los Angeles Times calling Pizza Licorice is a “family friend project” because in the cast there are many of Anderson’s relatives or friends. The image of the main character Gary Valentine was inspired by Gary Goetzman – Anderson’s friend – who is a young actor who started a waterbed business and a video game shop.

The side characters also have an interesting appearance. The Haim members appear as parents and three sisters – one each in real life. Anderson has directed 10 music videos for HAIM, and is considered a family friend. The character Lucille Doolittle (Christine Ebersole) is inspired by actress Lucille Ball, Jack Holden (played by Sean Penn) from actor William Holden, Jon Peters (played by Bradley Cooper) is based on Jon Peters – the hairdresser himself. , husband of singer and actress Barbra Streisand. Anderson’s four children including Pearl, Lucille, Ida and Jack participate in the scene featuring the quote Under one roof. Sasha Spielberg – daughter of director Steven Spielberg – plays the female lead co-star. George DiCaprio – father of actor Leonardo DiCaprio – as a waterbed salesman.

The love story between Gary and Alana is impressed by the youthful energy. In an interview with Variation, Anderson said that when he was younger, he was walking past Portola High School and saw a teenage boy flirting with a young female photographer during a school photo session. Combining this memory with a story told by his friend Goetzman, Anderson builds a line that develops the relationship between the characters Gary and Alana.

Interaction between characters is shown at a fast tempo, lots of dialogue and sometimes a little childish. The highlight of this expression is the running scenes of the two main characters, which are deliberately repeated. Usually, it’s the scene where Alana is running from the fair to the police station when Gary is wrongly arrested, or the scene where Gary is running across the golf course when Alana is thrown from the car. These scenes are integrated into another walking scene at the end of the film, generalizing the duo’s process of togetherness and love. The catalyst between the two characters is presented in a natural, everyday style. There are very few romantic moments in the film, instead there is outspoken action, creating a subtle sense of humour.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson skillfully builds a contrasting image between generations of characters in the film. Gary’s generation, Alana is young but wants to do great things like business and politics. Mature and successful characters sometimes act impulsively and cowardly. The character of Jerry (played by John Michael Higgins) japanese accent to tease his wife or character Joel tries to hide his gay girlfriend for fear of affecting his career. This contrast provides a deeper story, and is also a factor that drives the characters to realize true love.

Camera angle is a factor supporting the story’s energy. Filmmakers use a lot of tracking images when they perform action sequences. These sequences are often quite lengthy, making the long time impressive. For example, in the opening scene, when Gary meets Alana at a photo shoot, it takes more than two minutes. Filmmakers often move the camera smoothly between characters in the same scene. In the scene where Alana and Lance argue, the camera angle keeps moving back and forth between these two characters. The film was shot on 35mm film, using a lens from the 1970s to create a nostalgic image quality.

The work does not follow the usual three-act structure. The film is divided into chapters, with each chapter representing a related event such as a photo shoot, a trip to New York, Gary opening a waterbed shop… The relationship between Gary and Alana has a major role in the story. , which links the chapters together. In each chapter, the supporting characters appear as highlights. The character of Jack Holden with the usual image of a Hollywood golden age movie star – romantic and prosperous. Or like Jon Peters with his strange and wild way of speaking and acting.

The filmmakers have clearly re-created the Hollywood scene of the last century. There are many activities related to film and art in the film. In an interview with VariationAnderson said he chose the film’s title as Pizza Licorice because it reminds me of my hometown. Pizza Licorice also the name of a record store chain, also slang for LPs – popular music at the time.

The work, which was released in November last year, received rave reviews from critics. This film has a score of 90/100 from Metacritic and 91% score “fresh” in Rotten tomatoes.

Minh Duong

at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here