REVIEW: “Licorice Pizza” (2021)

December 6, 2021 by Keith Garlington

In the world of cinephiles and movie critics, a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie is kind of a big deal. As with other seasoned filmmakers with well-defined styles (think Wes Anderson, the Coen brothers, etc.), PTA (as his fans affectionately call him) incites a high level of enthusiasm among his tight-knit faithful. A quick gander at the ever vocal Film Twitter and you’ll get a good sense of what I mean.

In what may be deemed sacrilege by some (friends of mine included), I’ve always been lukewarm on Anderson’s body of work. To his credit, I loved his last film, 2017’s “Phantom Thread”. And 2007’s “There Will Be Blood” remains one of my favorite movies of all time. But several of his other features, including the beloved “Boogie Nights”, “The Master”, and (to a lesser degree) “Inherent Vice”, are well made movies with enough cracks to leave themselves open to some criticism.

Now four years since his last film we get “Licorice Pizza”, a coming of age dramedy (I hate that word, but it fits) set in Anderson’s old stomping ground, the San Fernando Valley. Considering my history with PTA’s work, I went into our press screening wondering where his latest would land with me. To be honest, I’m still trying to sort that out.

Right off the bat you can’t help but notice its almost startling change of pace from the bulk of Anderson’s other films. This one’s breezy, free-spirited, and dare I say tender (a word rarely associated with PTA’s movies). At the same time, it’s not a movie without its issues including one big one that it mostly avoids until it doesn’t. More on that in a moment.

The film’s quirky title is taken from a former chain of Southern California record shops that were popular in the ’70s and ’80s. You won’t find a reference to them anywhere in the movie. No one utters the words “licorice” or “pizza” at any point. But according to Anderson, the two words together capture the vibe of his film. He’s not wrong.

The entire story (written by Anderson) revolves around the relationship between 15-year-old Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, the son of Anderson favorite the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) and 25-year-old Alana Kane (Alana Haim). The movie opens with the two meeting at Gary’s school. He’s a student and she’s an assistant with a photography business on campus to shoot class pictures. Alana immediately catches Gary’s eye, and he’s certain he’s met the girl he’ll one day marry.

Anderson doesn’t put much effort into bringing the two together. Basically they meet at the school, Gary turns on the charm, Alana gets a kick out of him, he asks her to meet him at his favorite restaurant for a date, she laughs him off reasonably noting their age difference, and then she shows up anyway without much of an explanation why. From there, the rest of the movie plays out like ’The Adventures of Gary and Alana’, highlighting their various ups and downs both in business and in their fun-to-borderline queasy relationship.

That may sound like a slight, but I actually enjoyed Anderson’s free-wheeling storytelling. He bounces his two charismatic leads from one escapade to the next, showing their journey together yet also giving each time on the own. The film’s best scenes are when Hoffman and Haim share the screen. We see their flirty enthusiasm as they start up their own waterbed enterprise (older readers will remember that craze), and in my favorite sequence involving a movers truck, no gas, and an unhinged Bradley Cooper. All show a playful side to PTA‘s storytelling that gives the movie its heart.

But I also like that Anderson explores how their significant age difference sometimes pulls them apart. It creates a needed tension although it sometimes sends the story into less interesting directions. Such as Alana’s sudden zeal to work on a young councilman’s mayoral campaign and Gary’s foray into the freshly legalized pinball business. There’s nothing wrong with those storylines themselves. In fact they give PTA a chance to play around in his early 70s setting (which he exquisitely recreates on screen). They’re just hampered by a surprising lack of narrative detail – an issue that pops up throughout the movie.

For instance, how is a 15-year-old able to open up a waterbed store and pinball arcade seemingly on a whim (yes, there are references to him being a hustler and having a keen business sense, but come on)? Or what about Alana’s funny quirk of repeating everything twice which suddenly vanishes after a couple of early scenes. Taken by themselves, these are all little things. But when taken together they become more noticeable.

But then there’s the bigger more nagging issue – the budding romance between a 25-year-old and a 15-year-old. Anderson tries to have it both ways. There’s clearly a line he wants to straddle. But while he succeeds in hugging it for most of the way, he ends up crossing it on a couple of glaring occasions. Some may appeal to the honesty of Anderson’s depiction of Alana and Hary’s relationship and there’s truth to that defense. But as a father of two kids who fit right into that younger age range, I can tell you how I feel as a parent. The movie’s lack of conviction is a bit troubling.

“Licorice Pizza” won’t be for everyone. It’s a movie that doesn’t really go anywhere and it doesn’t have all that much to say. It’s more of an easygoing trip down memory lane, full of nostalgic callbacks and needle drops. But for some, their enjoyment may ultimately come down to their ability to overlook the ickiness that simmers underneath the central relationship. I’m guessing PTA will mostly get a pass (we tend to do that with filmmakers we really admire). But there’s enough there worth wrestling with, even if the movie never really does. “Licorice Pizza” is now showing in limited release and opens wide on December 25th.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

REVIEW: “King Richard” (2021)

December 3, 2021 by Keith Garlington

(CLICK HERE for my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Will Smith makes his bid for an Oscar nomination in “King Richard”, a sports biopic about Richard Williams , the father and coach of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. For some folks (including myself), the description ‘sports biopic’ comes with its own baked-in expectations. Both sports movies and big screen biographies have a history of following all too familiar formulas and relying on the tried-and-true rather than offering something new. I’m not sure “King Richard” offers anything new, but it does tell its story well. And when you have such captivating subjects, sometimes that’s all you need to do.

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green and screenwriter Zach Baylin present Richard Williams as a man driven by the scars from his own painful past. It’s what motivates him to push his daughters harder than most; to raise them in their home and off the streets; to encourage them to pursue their dreams and overcome adversity. He preaches conviction, humility, and hard work. He’s determined that his girls will succeed where he didn’t and that they’ll have the father he never had. It’s an obsession born out of love, but an obsession nonetheless.

With the girls in school, Richard hits country clubs around Los Angeles trying to convince local tennis pros to coach his daughters. After class, he practices with Venus and Serena on a rundown city court in a gang-infested part of town. He then ends his day working nights as a security guard. Lost in Richard’s aggressively up-front bravado is his wife Oracene (wonderfully played by Aunjanue Ellis), a stabilizing behind the scenes force who was crucial to the Williams sisters’ success.

Green and Baylin do a good job moving the story forward, and even at 138 minutes, the film never drags. It tracks Venus’ path to tennis stardom that takes the family out of Compton and to West Palm Beach, Florida. It covers their close relationship with renowned tennis coach Rick Macci (a terrific Jon Bernthal). It shows Venus’ decision to turn pro at only 14-years-old. And the movie doesn’t shy away from the inescapable racial component that simmers under the surface. It’s deftly handled by Green whose calculated restraint lets us sense it and feel it ourselves.

I don’t mean this as a knock, but I wasn’t prepared for how good Will Smith is in this. Grizzled and hunched, the star vanishes into the title role, delivering one of the very best performances of his career. Smith thoughtfully channels Richard’s confidence, his eccentricities, and his deeply buried bitterness in ways that never resemble mimicry. He’s helped by the warm and organic chemistry he has with Sydney and Singleton (both great). Meanwhile the film’s secret ingredient is Ellis who (much like her character) often sits in the background but speaks with strength whenever something needs to be said.

“King Richard” doesn’t quite avoid all of the sports movie trappings. Take the final 20 minutes or so which are spent on one long, overdramatized tennis match. It’s something sports movies love to end with – the big match, the big game, the big race, the big fight. Yet this film still maintains enough nuance to separate it from other feel-good crowdpleasers of its kind.

In the end, it’s hard to watch “King Richard” without being inspired, not by the money and fame, but by the fact that Richard Williams’ preposterous plan actually worked. It shows that any family, who’s full of love and deeply committed, can overcome their circumstances and do something great. Of course having two of the greatest athletes of all-time in your family probably doesn’t hurt. “King Richard” is now showing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Petite Maman” (2021)

December 2, 2021 by Keith Garlington

French filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to her highly acclaimed “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” isn’t the big audacious next film you might expect after a big success. In fact the beautifully intimate “Petite Maman” couldn’t be more different. With its small scope and Sciamma’s delicate touch, this warm and aching fable examines coping with loss and mother/daughter bonds in a voice that should speak viewers to all ages.

The movie opens in a nursing home with an eight-year-old girl named Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) walking from room to room saying goodbye to each of the elderly residents. As she enters her grandmother’s room near the end of the hall she sees her mother (Nina Meurisse) removing pictures from the wall. We learn that Nelly’s grandmother has passed away and they’re there to collect the last of her things.

Sciamma wastes no time earning our empathy as we watch this young girl try to process everything she’s seeing. You can practically see her mind at work as she quietly lays on her grandmother’s bed or as she watches her parents’ sorrow-drenched embrace. And then we get one of the film’s most beautiful scenes as the camera hones in on Marion’s sad face as she’s driving down the road. A little hand from the back seat comes into the frame and feeds her a chip, then another. The hands return with a juice box and finally a warm heartfelt embrace. It’s a sweet child’s effort to comfort her hurting mother.

These small but meaningful touches can be found all through Sciamma’s swift and compact 72 minutes. Her simple yet full-hearted mothers-and-daughters story may have death as a central ingredient, but it blossoms into a beautiful and poignant blend of reality and fantasy. This fully comes into focus when Nelly and her parents travel to her grandmother’s rustic country home for the unenviable task of clearing out her things. After a couple of days it becomes too much for her mother who suddenly heads back to the city. That leaves Nelly and her father (Stéphane Varupenne) to finish things up.

While walking in the nearby woods, Nelly notices a little girl about her age dragging a large tree limb. She asks Nelly for help and two carry the limb to a hut the girl in building. The next day Nelly heads back into the woods where she meets the girl again. They strike up a conversation and we learn the little girl’s name is Marion. That name is significant, but I’ll let you discover why for yourself. Sciamma soaks us in the girls’ budding friendship, offering a number of charming scenes that are sweet and tender on the surface, but that also explore their deeper relationships with their mothers.

It’s hard to say much more without spoiling the film’s low-key yet enchanting twist. The movie itself doesn’t wait long to show its cards, but it’s still better left for you to discover on your own. Me? I was swept away by the genuineness of its emotions which range from heartwarming to heartbreaking. The simplicity of Sciamma’s storytelling and her unfussy presentation may not stand out in a crowd. But they serve this story perfectly and show us a filmmaker with a grounded, true-to-life vision – one that penetrates your soul and sticks with you for days after watching.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “7 Prisoners” (2021)

December 1, 2021 by Keith Garlington

Brazilian-American filmmaker Alexandre Moratto turned several heads at this year’s Venice International Film Festival with the world premiere of his piercing new film “7 Prisoners”. Set mostly in the backstreets of São Paulo, Brazil, the film sees Moratto and his co-writer Thayna Mantesso delving into the darker corners of the city and country to tackle some real-world issues that should shake us to our cores.

“7 Prisoners” is a tough-minded movie with a very no-nonsense approach to its subject matter. At the same time, Moratto makes sure that the human element remains firmly front-and-center. He does so through the character of Mateus played by the charismatic Brazilian newcomer Christian Malheiros. Mateus’ story is a painful and (hopefully) infuriating eye-opener that pulls back the veil on the abhorrent practices of slave labor, sweatshops, and human trafficking. These are horrors we tend to turn a blind eye to, mainly because they all too often contribute to our comforts. Moratto sets out to wake us up to the realities of what’s happening in São Paulo and across the world.

The film opens in the rural Brazilian countryside where Mateus lives with his mother and two sisters. They are a loving group but they’ve had a hard life, doing their best to survive with what little they have. Mateus’ mother has labored to provide for her children, but years of low-paying farmwork has taken its toll. So 18-year-old Mateus jumps at the opportunity to go the city and do some contract work to support his family. In the film’s most tender and sobering scenes, Mateus’ mother gives him a new shirt for his trip. It’s hardly anything fancy, but its worth a month’s groceries to them. A van comes by to pick up Mateus and, along with three other area boys, he’s taken five hours away to São Paulo.

Moratto does a great job putting us in the shoes of these four young men. Not only by showing us where they’re from, but also during the van ride through the city. Their wide-eyed excitement as they’re driven through the bustling São Paulo sets us up for the unsettling reality that awaits them.

The driver drops them off at an inner-city scrapyard ran by a man named Luca (played by an excellent Rodrigo Santoro). The shady and evasive Luca gets the boys settled and gives them money to go out and enjoy themselves before their first day of work. But when he collects all of their IDs the next morning, we know this isn’t going to go the way the boys anticipated. In fact it’s much worse. Mateus and his friends find themselves caught in the gears of a modern-day slave system, one that’s driven and protected by people with enormous power.

Moratto’s pacing is near perfect, shrewdly moving the story from point to point while pausing at just the right moments to uncoil the crumbling emotions of his characters. Mateus is especially compelling, caught in a no-win situation and eventually forced to make impossible decisions that will have painful repercussions regardless of what he chooses. To stress the point of his film, Moratto slyly gives us the occasional shot of the city’s bustling streets full of citizens freely walking about their normal days. It offers a sharp contrast to the cruel forced labor happening right under their noses.

With a bold and clear-eyed perspective, “7 Prisoners” offers a brutally honest challenge to a society’s apathy towards some well-documented abuses. Alexandre Moratto does a good job pulling us into his dark and ugly world that’s made all the more troubling by the fact that it’s very, very real. Great performances from Santoro and Malheiros anchor this revealing feature that’s not only a good pickup for Netflix, but a great opportunity for an important story to be told. “7 Prisoners” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

First Glance – “The Outfit”

November 30, 2021 by Keith Garlington

The upcoming gangland movie “The Outfit” sees Academy Award winner Mark Rylance in yet another role that seems custom made for him (I beg you, please forgive the gruesome pun). The film is the directorial debut for Graham Moore who won an Academy Award himself for writing 2015’s “The Imitation Game”. Here Graham and Rylance team with Zoey Deutch to create what looks like a tense and confined thriller. The first trailer gives us a good taste of what we can look forward to.

Rylance plays an English tailor named Leonard who leaves London’s renowned Savile Row for Chicago following a personal tragedy. There he opens up a shop making finely tailored suits for those who can afford them. In his case, most of his clients happen to be gangsters. But as the trailer shows, Leonard finds himself caught up in the middle of a mob squabble and he’ll have to use his smarts if he wants to survive the night. I like everything about this. I looks to mostly take place in a single location and brimming with suspense. Sign me up.

“The Outfit” is set to release February 25th, 2022. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Review: “Silent Night” (2021)

November 29, 2021 by Keith Garlington

Camille Griffin’s “Silent Night” is a movie built around a compelling premise and with a great ensemble cast to see it through. Sadly, it’s a movie undone by some needless creative choices and a script that channels its ending well before the final act.

Griffin writes and directs this acidic dark comedy set predominantly at a remote country estate where a group of old boarding school friends come together for Christmas dinner. The weekend festivities are put on by Nell (Keira Knightley) and her husband Simon (Matthew Goode). They have three boys, the rude and dour Art (Roman Griffin Davis of “Jojo Rabbit”), and twins Thomas and Hardy (Gilby and Hardy Griffin Davis). Interestingly, the three boys are the director’s real-life sons.

Within the first few minutes friends start to arrive. There’s the flirty and pointedly snobbish Sandra (a really good Annabelle Wallis) and her aggressively boring husband Tony (Rufus Jones). There’s James (Sope Dirisu) and his young American girlfriend Sophie (Lily-Rose Depp). And there’s the least interesting couple, Alex (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and Bella (Lucy Punch). “Tonight is all about love and forgiveness,” Nell proclaims with both trepidation and uncertainty. Wishful thinking.

It doesn’t take long to realize that this gathering won’t be a joyous occasion. In fact, this is a dismal and toxic bunch whose friendly greetings quickly curdle into tactless insults and impudence. They would actually be fascinating to watch if Griffin’s writing didn’t handcuff them with her strange approach to dialogue. Every character (and I do mean every, including the children) spit profanity like they’re auditioning for a Tarantino movie. I’m not on a high horse, I just can’t figure out the point of it. The movie itself even makes an effort to reference its crude language more than once so it’s clearly an intentional decision. The problem is it feels intentional rather than natural and quickly becomes a distraction.

While the movie sets itself during Christmas, the holiday is nothing more than a plot device to get everyone together. A couple of ungainly gags and the strangely out of place Christmas music is really all the Yuletide allusions you can expect. Instead there’s something far more ominous behind their get-together. It turns out that they’ve gathered on the eve of the apocalypse. A noxious storm full of life-killing poison gas is sweeping across the globe. Scientists warn that inhalation is unavoidable and will lead to an excruciating death. As a result, the world’s governments have sanctioned a pill that will ensure a pain-free demise. It’s all part of their “Die With Dignity” campaign.

As you can tell, the premise leaves plenty for Griffin to explore: moral questions, existential questions, sociopolitical questions, etc. Themes of mortality, government, science, and parenting just scratch the surface. It’s such fertile ground to dig into. Sadly, we have to wade through a lot of upper-crust bickering over petty nonsense to finally reach the point where the movie has something concrete to say. Yes there’s the occasional laughably one-the-nose conversation such as Simon talking to Art about immigration. But for the most part, it takes waiting for the final act to really get into the interesting stuff.

To the casts credit everyone gives it their all. Despite being handed mostly one-dimensional characters, there’s not a bad performance to be found. Knightley, Wallis, Dirisu, and Depp are especially good. But they can only carry so much of the load. While Griffin’s direction is savvy and efficient, her script is full of confounding choices that underserves the characters and squashes the film’s potential. It’s yet another example of a movie that left me wishing for what it could have been rather than enjoying what it actually is. “Silent Night” is set to release December 3rd.