Released on January 5, “Licorice Pizza” by Paul Thomas Anderson was particularly well received by the French press, with an average of 4.5 / 5 on AlloCiné (for 30 reviews).
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
1973, in the Los Angeles area. Alana Kane and Gary Valentine get to know each other on the boy’s high school class photo day. Alana is no longer a high school student, but tries to find her way while working as the photographer’s assistant. Gary already has acting experience, which he hastens to tell the young girl to impress her. Amused and intrigued by his extraordinary self-confidence, she agrees to accompany him to New York for a television show. But nothing goes as planned…
Licorice Pizza Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
With Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie …
WHAT THE PRESS THINKS …
According to Le Parisien:
“A romantic comedy as crazy as it is tender, freewheeling by a filmmaker who handles melancholy like no one else,” Licorice Pizza “is one of those films which leaves a curious bittersweet impression on leaving the theater …” 5/5
According to Les Inrockuptibles:
“Less intense than Phantom Thread, less unstructured than Inherent Vice, less crazy than The Master, Licorice Pizza is undoubtedly the most ethereal, the most charming and the most trivial of all PTA films.” 5/5
According to Première:
“Licorice Pizza will therefore be a film of pure pleasure, far from the sometimes intimidating metaphysical puzzles of which its author had ended up making a specialty, a seventies stroll giving the impression of having been shot with your hands in your pockets, a smile dreamy to the lips. “ 5/5
According to Le Monde:
“In a twirling feature film, Paul Thomas Anderson tells the love story of two teenage boys, worn by dazzling actors.” 5/5
According to La Croix:
“A hymn to childhood and to an America of all possibilities, this virtuoso film thwarts all the conventions of the genre to take us on a poetic and fanciful stroll with tenacious nostalgic charm.” 4/5
According to Le Journal du Dimanche:
“A bubble of good humor and frenzied optimism born from the imagination of a filmmaker who has accustomed us to more gravity and darkness. All this in an atmosphere marked by a beautiful nostalgia.” 4/5
According to Télé Loisirs:
“Paul Thomas Anderson rediscovers the ardor of his early works with this charming introductory tale, sumptuously staged and wonderfully embodied by two novice actors, including the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.” 4/5
According to Le Figaro:
“Licorice Pizza has the ardor and innocence of a first film. Paul Thomas Anderson had not accustomed us to this candor, to this optimism.” 4/5