Licorice Pizza (2021) (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

Regarding the owner of the Japanese restaurant, the character is racist.

It is an all-too-common thing that some people with racist leanings will either assume that someone speaking English with an accent can only understand it when spoken back with an accent, or that they simply enjoy mocking someone’s accent.

There’s nothing deeper or more profound to it than that.

I'm astounded at how many people accuse PTA of racism with that character when it's clear the role mocks racists.

The character is a moron who thinks that his wives will understand his English if he speaks in a ridiculous accent.

We laugh at the character, not with him.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'm astounded at how many people accuse PTA of racism with that character when it's clear the role mocks racists.

The character is a moron who thinks that his wives will understand his English if he speaks in a ridiculous accent.

We laugh at the character, not with him.

We do laugh at the character, on the with him part...I'm not sure he thinks the way he talks to his "wives" is funny nor why he is actually doing that.

Is he doing it because he thinks they will better understand him because he is speaking English in a crazy accent? Is he doing it to make himself somehow look more "authentic" to other people in his love of Japanese culture...which according to the ad copy he wants to do. Does he think he is fooling the other people in the room into thinking he is actually speaking Japanese? It is super exaggerated and so when he first started doing it I actually thought he would start speaking Japanese. He also says he does not speak Japanese, so when the first "wife" comments on the ad copy and he translates what she says into the cuisine not being mentioned enough he is inventing that.

However, when Gary's mom reads the second page of copy that mentions the food more, the "wife" seems pleased and it seems like that was actually what she asked for. So, the guy guessed correctly?

He seems to think he is fooling the other people in the room into thinking he is actually communicating with his "wife" which is funny and strange.

Some people think the scene is a provocation aimed at "woke" folk. This is due to the way it does not really have anything to do with what is going on in the story. Other than showing Gary's mom at work and adding another oddball character that Gary interacts with. I mean it explains one thing, how Gary gets tables in these restaurants...he knows the owners from doing the promotional work for them. That's not really central to anything either though and did not need to be explained nor does it help sort out the relationship at the center of the film.

Yesterday, I listened to another podcast with PTA and the guy doing the interview never asked about the Japanese restaurant owner. Another podcast I heard mentioned that the character is based on a real person...a guy that opened the first Japanese restaurant in the valley.

Anderson says the film is based on a bunch of his memories and memories of others. In some cases he makes the stories more interesting by adding stuff to them. As an example the Jon Peters waterbed install story is true, in that his friend Gary had a waterbed company and installed a waterbed for Jon Peters. The real story is that Peters was very nice though and did nothing weird or threatening. So, Anderson added all the oddball Peters stuff to the story and threw in a scene where Peters uses his peanut butter pick-up line...which Peters really did use over and over.

The Jack Holden motorcycle jump scene is based on a story he heard about Evel Knievel. So, not true but a fun take on that story.

I don't think people should see Anderson as a racist because of the Japanese restaurant owner scene either but we live in a time when minor things get blown up into major issues. I was trying to sort out how people felt about it and what they thought when they watched it.

I laughed at how crazy and ridiculous it was. Some people did not laugh. One person I heard comment on it said that hearing white men laugh at that scene in a theater was extremely offensive.

So, in the end you are left with the question, why did Anderson include this scene? I do not believe he threw this scene into a story about young people falling for each other to have a random scene that has a racist overtone to somehow comment on racism. No way that is why that is there.

That makes no sense.

It is definitely there to be funny and wacky. I mean some people seem to think the scene is not supposed to be funny. Does anyone here think that was supposed to be a serious scene commenting on racism and we were supposed to sit there stone-faced thinking "Oh what horrible racism"

I do not in any way believe that was the intent of the scene.

 

[benbess]

"The Media Action Network for Asian Americans condemned the film for scenes involving a white restaurant owner using a mocking Asian accent.
By Jessica Wang December 27, 2021 at 07:41 PM EST
....Guy Aoki, MANAA's founding president, issued the following response to Rafu and confirmed by Entertainment Weekly: "Anderson talks about Licorice Pizza being a period piece and includes racism toward Asian Americans from that time. He certainly would have known about the racism that African Americans faced too. Would he even have dared to include a similar stereotypical scene that insulted African Americans and encouraged the audience to laugh? Absolutely not...."

Asian media watchdog group calls for awards boycott of 'Licorice Pizza'

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans condemned the film for scenes involving a white restaurant owner using a mock Asian accent.

ew.com

"Analysis: A Close Reading of ‘Licorice Pizza’s’ Japanese Wife Scenes
BY REBECCA SUN DECEMBER 31, 2021 6:30AM
....Yet regardless of whether the audience is laughing with or at Jerry (or, as some viewers have reported, sitting in stunned discomfort), Jerry’s accent is identical to the syntax and tone used to mock and demean Japanese, Chinese and other Asian people across the U.S. for the past two centuries. The accent is undeniably grotesque, and its mere presence in a film that takes a rose-colored view of the old days is triggering for some viewers....

Regardless of whether one finds the Mikado scenes offensive, they serve as the latest evidence that the portrayal of anti-Asian expression remains a go-to creative device for American auteurs. Two awards seasons ago, it was Quentin Tarantino’s usage of Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) as a foolish foil for his fictional hero Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino has since continued to double down on his characterization of the real-life Asian American icon, insisting simultaneously that he was deploying narrative license and that Lee was an egomaniac....

These three films have all incorporated Asian signifiers to serve different means, but what they have in common is a disinterest in exploring the interiority of those characters themselves as well as a blindness to the real-world context of the audience receiving their stories...."

Analysis: A Close Reading of ‘Licorice Pizza’s’ Japanese Wife Scenes

Paul Thomas Anderson's 1970s-set awards contender has been accused of racist content.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

"‘Licorice Pizza’ director’s justification of anti-Asian scenes misses mark, critics say
Critics say director Paul Thomas Anderson's supposed well-meaning intentions are insufficient when it comes to representing marginalized communities in a responsible way.
March 23, 2022, 4:04 PM EDT
By Kimmy Yam
"....experts say it’s perhaps most significant that neither of the women are given English subtitles when responding to Frick’s offensive dialogue. The creative decision essentially rendered the only Asians in the film as “voiceless,” interchangeable “props” to a primarily English-speaking audience, Miya Sommers, a member of the Nikkei Resisters, a Bay Area-based coalition of Japanese American activists, said. They have little agency, and are given no elements that humanize their points of view."

'Licorice Pizza' criticism grows ahead of Oscars. Critics say Hollywood still isn't listening.

Critics say director Paul Thomas Anderson's supposed well-meaning intentions are insufficient when it comes to representing marginalized communities in a responsible way.

www.nbcnews.com

‘Licorice Pizza’ made Asians a ‘punchline.’ And the fallout is bigger than the Oscars​

BY JEN YAMATOSTAFF WRITER
MARCH 23, 2022 3:12 PM PT
...“This scene is classic in terms of having an Asian American character serve as a plot device that is there to develop a white or non-Asian American character, rather than a character who is a full-fledged person in their own right,” said Fang....Several Asian American moviegoers have shared experiences of going to see “Licorice Pizza” in a theater and hearing strangers laugh at Frick’s antics. “Picture this: You’re watching ‘Licorice Pizza.’ It’s brilliant,” tweeted podcaster Dave Chen. “Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now, you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film. Did you picture it? Because it f— sucks.”

'Licorice Pizza' made Asians a 'punchline.' And the fallout is bigger than the Oscars

The debate over 'Licorice Pizza' has reignited criticism of Hollywood representation at a time of heightened anti-Asian violence.

www.latimes.com

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Regarding the owner of the Japanese restaurant, the character is racist.

It is an all-too-common thing that some people with racist leanings will either assume that someone speaking English with an accent can only understand it when spoken back with an accent, or that they simply enjoy mocking someone’s accent.

There’s nothing deeper or more profound to it than that.

His behavior is extremely bizarre. If you are mocking the way a person from a different ethnic background speaks to demean them, that is racist. Is that why he is doing that though? I am not certain he is mocking his "wife" nor why he actually does it. He may think she might better understand him if he speaks that way. That's ignorant but not sure I would say racist if it is an honest attempt on his part to communicate better with her.

He does not appear to be doing it to make the other people in the room laugh. He does not seem to think it is funny himself. It seems like either he thinks that works when speaking with her or he is dumb enough to think that Gary and his mom will actually think he is speaking Japanese in some way when he does that.

So, the other aspect of the scene outside of what the characters are doing in it, is why did Anderson write it that way? Obviously, when you write a scene you do so to have that scene intentionally communicate something. In this case, primarily what he seems to be going for is comedy. It does not play like he is trying to make a comment on racism. Also throwing a scene about racism into a comic film about falling for someone when you are young does not even fit with the story or intent of the film.

For the people that don't like the scene I would not argue it is an odd disconnected scene in the film. I don't know exactly why it is there, but it seems to be there to make people laugh. So, I agree, not profound, just supposed to be funny.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

"The Media Action Network for Asian Americans condemned the film for scenes involving a white restaurant owner using a mocking Asian accent.
By Jessica Wang December 27, 2021 at 07:41 PM EST
....Guy Aoki, MANAA's founding president, issued the following response to Rafu and confirmed by Entertainment Weekly: "Anderson talks about Licorice Pizza being a period piece and includes racism toward Asian Americans from that time. He certainly would have known about the racism that African Americans faced too. Would he even have dared to include a similar stereotypical scene that insulted African Americans and encouraged the audience to laugh? Absolutely not...."

Asian media watchdog group calls for awards boycott of 'Licorice Pizza'

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans condemned the film for scenes involving a white restaurant owner using a mock Asian accent.

ew.com

"Analysis: A Close Reading of ‘Licorice Pizza’s’ Japanese Wife Scenes
BY REBECCA SUN DECEMBER 31, 2021 6:30AM
....Yet regardless of whether the audience is laughing with or at Jerry (or, as some viewers have reported, sitting in stunned discomfort), Jerry’s accent is identical to the syntax and tone used to mock and demean Japanese, Chinese and other Asian people across the U.S. for the past two centuries. The accent is undeniably grotesque, and its mere presence in a film that takes a rose-colored view of the old days is triggering for some viewers....

Regardless of whether one finds the Mikado scenes offensive, they serve as the latest evidence that the portrayal of anti-Asian expression remains a go-to creative device for American auteurs. Two awards seasons ago, it was Quentin Tarantino’s usage of Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) as a foolish foil for his fictional hero Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino has since continued to double down on his characterization of the real-life Asian American icon, insisting simultaneously that he was deploying narrative license and that Lee was an egomaniac....

These three films have all incorporated Asian signifiers to serve different means, but what they have in common is a disinterest in exploring the interiority of those characters themselves as well as a blindness to the real-world context of the audience receiving their stories...."

Analysis: A Close Reading of ‘Licorice Pizza’s’ Japanese Wife Scenes

Paul Thomas Anderson's 1970s-set awards contender has been accused of racist content.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

"‘Licorice Pizza’ director’s justification of anti-Asian scenes misses mark, critics say
Critics say director Paul Thomas Anderson's supposed well-meaning intentions are insufficient when it comes to representing marginalized communities in a responsible way.
March 23, 2022, 4:04 PM EDT
By Kimmy Yam
"....experts say it’s perhaps most significant that neither of the women are given English subtitles when responding to Frick’s offensive dialogue. The creative decision essentially rendered the only Asians in the film as “voiceless,” interchangeable “props” to a primarily English-speaking audience, Miya Sommers, a member of the Nikkei Resisters, a Bay Area-based coalition of Japanese American activists, said. They have little agency, and are given no elements that humanize their points of view."

'Licorice Pizza' criticism grows ahead of Oscars. Critics say Hollywood still isn't listening.

Critics say director Paul Thomas Anderson's supposed well-meaning intentions are insufficient when it comes to representing marginalized communities in a responsible way.

www.nbcnews.com

‘Licorice Pizza’ made Asians a ‘punchline.’ And the fallout is bigger than the Oscars​

BY JEN YAMATOSTAFF WRITER
MARCH 23, 2022 3:12 PM PT
...“This scene is classic in terms of having an Asian American character serve as a plot device that is there to develop a white or non-Asian American character, rather than a character who is a full-fledged person in their own right,” said Fang....Several Asian American moviegoers have shared experiences of going to see “Licorice Pizza” in a theater and hearing strangers laugh at Frick’s antics. “Picture this: You’re watching ‘Licorice Pizza.’ It’s brilliant,” tweeted podcaster Dave Chen. “Then, early on, a buffoonish character drops an Asian caricature. The (mostly white) audience laughs. And now, you gotta think about that laughter the rest of the film. Did you picture it? Because it f— sucks.”

'Licorice Pizza' made Asians a 'punchline.' And the fallout is bigger than the Oscars

The debate over 'Licorice Pizza' has reignited criticism of Hollywood representation at a time of heightened anti-Asian violence.

www.latimes.com

Yes, this is why I brought this up, Ben. It did seem to upset some of the audience. So, I was trying to get a read on why and what was the intent of Anderson writing these two scenes. The first of them seems the key. If it was just the second scene where they go to the Japanese restaurant I don't think much would have been said about it.

I don't think Anderson is a racist and I don't think he meant to demean anyone with that scene with the exception of the white guy that owns the restaurant. If the scenes attack anyone or show anyone in a negative light it is him. He seems so out of touch with what he is doing that he appears to be a nut.

Dave Chen is not alone in his feelings. I heard a woman comment that during the scene she looked around the theater to see mainly white men laughing at the scene and she was disturbed by this. Now, I respect the feelings of people that were disturbed by the scene and their experiences. I do feel the laughter at the scene is laughing at how nutty the guy is...not at the idea he is doing the over the top accent or that he is making fun of Japanese people. I actually don't think the character is doing it to mock or make fun of his wife. I don't think that is the character's intent.

The part I wonder about is Anderson's intent and the way the scene itself plays. I do think, suspect, he wrote the scene to get the audience to laugh. I don't think he wrote it to get them to ponder racist overtones in it because the scene never really makes a point of doing that. He essentially uses the scene to establish what Gary's mom does and how Gary has connections to people in the restaurant business. When they bring back the restaurant owner for the second scene it is Gary and Alana visiting the restaurant to put their table ads on his tables. That scene further shows the nature of the restaurant owner as he has ditched the first "wife" and has a new one leading us, or me, to believe these are not his wives but women he uses to make himself "appear" more connected to Japanese culture than he really is. I think his accent insanity is also to give that appearance that he is somehow deeply entrenched in Japanese culture because he wants his restaurant to appear authentic. So, it is how he is selling himself, I would guess.

I have not yet found Anderson commenting on these scenes but I am reading the articles you posted.

 

[Dee Zee]

I think the scenes with the Asian American actors was meant to show the prevailing racism of the times. It made me cringe not laugh.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, reading through those articles it seems Anderson has not said much about it. Basically, he seems confused as to why some people were offended by it.

The director, who claimed the joke was on Frick, the “idiot saying stupid sh–t,” said he was “lost” in understanding the backlash. I’m certainly capable of missing the mark,” Anderson told the outlet. “But on the other hand, I guess I’m not sure how to separate what my intentions were from how they landed.”

"I think it would be a mistake to tell a period film through the eyes of 2021," Anderson said. "You can't have a crystal ball, you have to be honest to that time. Not that it wouldn't happen right now, by the way. My mother-in-law's Japanese and my father-in-law is white, so seeing people speak English to her with a Japanese accent is something that happens all the time. I don't think they even know they're doing it."

 

[Malcolm R]

Given that it is the 2020's, I'm not sure why anyone would even write such a scene in the first place. You know that regardless of the "intentions" it's going to be twisted any number of ways to serve a variety of points-of-view.

It shows an unfortunate lack of understanding of the times we live in, which PTA seems to admit in the comments quoted above.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Given that it is the 2020's, I'm not sure why anyone would even write such a scene in the first place. You know that regardless of the "intentions" it's going to be twisted any number of ways to serve a variety of points-of-view.

It shows an unfortunate lack of understanding of the times we live in, which PTA seems to admit in the comments quoted above.

Yes, I mean I agree with you on how people perceive things today, everything is taken up several levels or more from where the intent likely was. This is, in part, why satire is no longer something people want to make. People can and will openly misinterpret it, twist it to mean what they want, or just plain not understand it.

For today's audiences everything must be made explicitly clear without having any doubt as to meaning or intent, who is good, who is bad, nor a hint of anything that could be even slightly read as controversial or offensive to anyone in any way. It's a ridiculous bar but it is, sadly, the bar.

He wrote it specifically as something in a period film but yes, if there was something that happened or was common in that period that would not be acceptable today....you should erase that from your writing because it may offend someone now. So not being offensive trumps trying to portray a period accurately.

I agree with Mr. Anderson that the person presented in a negative light is clearly the white restaurant owner. I don't see any comment at all being made nor did I take it as a comment on Japanese people.

Other characters in the two scenes he is in don't laugh at what he is doing nor does he. He does not appear to be doing it to mock his "wives" nor the Japanese. He does not appear to do it to make anybody laugh.

I understand questioning why those two scenes are in the film because they don't further the story, add to the plot, nor have much to say about the two main characters. Had he cut them, it would be the same film.

I was talking about it with my wife at dinner yesterday and she said she would have preferred those scenes be cut and give us more scenes with Bradley Cooper.

 

[TravisR]

I was talking about it with my wife at dinner yesterday and she said she would have preferred those scenes be cut and give us more scenes with Bradley Cooper.

It might be better left to the imagination but I think there's a very funny and very crazy movie that could be made with that character.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It might be better left to the imagination but I think there's a very funny and very crazy movie that could be made with that character.

Bradley Cooper apparently came and they shot all his scenes first. I guess he was only there for I think 3 to 6 days. There is that scene we see in the trailer of him smashing the mirrors and glass on a couple of cars that is not in the film proper, it is just shown during the credits, and so in one of the interviews I heard with Anderson they asked him if there was more footage of Bradley that might end up on a blu in the special features. He said no, that was all of it. They had to quickly shoot his scenes first so he could return to Nightmare Alley.

Anderson also sent Jon Peters the script and Peters was fine with it but had one comment, he said he would have picked up the Alana character. Which I think led to the scene in the truck being changed to Peters hitting on Alana as she steers around his car.

I've now read, listened to, or watched several interviews with Anderson to see what he says about the two "controversial" aspects of the film. the age gap between the two main characters and the weirdo Japanese restaurant owner. Basically, he is pretty much almost never asked about either item.

It is strange, I listened to one director that was interviewing him (maybe for a DGA thing) and the guy says "I have one question I just have to ask first. I just have to know!" and I am thinking "Here we go this should be a good question." and the guy asks "How did you come up with the white pants for Gary?"

I sat there thinking "That's it? That was what you had to know?"

And then the guy follows up with "How did you decide to have him all dressed in white at the end?"

I was sitting there thinking when he asked this that the costume person probably tried some different looks on Hoffman and sure enough, this was the answer. Anderson said that Hoffman was trying on clothes at his first wardrobe test and liked the white pants. So, the costume designer said redheads look great dressed in white and so they did the white suit.

No mystery, no big story involved beyond Hoffman liked how they felt and the costume designer liked dressing redheads in white. This was what the guy had to know.

I get the feeling that interviewers don't really want to ask him about the age gap or Japanese restaurant owner. He seems to have been asked about them a couple times when the film first was released and then it was just dropped. His stance on both of these things seems to be, the age gap is in part centered around the actors he wanted to use, the film was basically written to star Alana Haim and some of the stories in the film are based on his friend Gary, and the Japanese restaurant owner is based on a real person and is meant to make that guy look like he is "saying a bunch of stupid shit" that is meant to make him look bad for a laugh. I think it is more about him being a fake than any comment on racism or anything related to that.

I don't think the picture is trying to comment on anything heavy. I think it is just meant as a lighthearted slice of life about what it is like to be young, falling in love, and finding your way in the world.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The genesis of this picture seems pretty straightforward based on bits and pieces of things I have read, heard, or seen Anderson say across several discussions of the film. Here is how it came to be.

First, he had wanted to write something that would star Alana Haim for years. He has known her a long time and something about her and her personality really clicked with him. So, he was fiddling with this idea for a long time.

Second, he is very fond of the 1970s and looks back on that time as being a great period of time growing up and wanted to use some of his memories of that period in a script.

Third, he has a friend named Gary that was a child actor, did have a waterbed store, really did install a waterbed for Jon Peters, and that would tell lots of great stories. He once said to Anderson "Did I ever tell you about the time I was arrested for murder?" and that story is in the film. He also told Anderson a story about him asking a showgirl to be his chaperone on a trip to New York because his parents could not go with him. This story was a primary inspiration for the age gap thing and Anderson changes this from a showgirl to Alana being the chaperone. The real life Gary's stories combine with Anderson's memories and additions to create what we get in the film.

When Covid struck this basically became a good time to make this film because he would be shooting it close to home, with a group of people that all were close (the entire Haim family is in the film), and he had worked out the story he wanted to tell at that point. So, in some ways, the pandemic helped create the moment to shoot this.

All of these things sort of explain why this is probably his least complex picture. He says he just had a blast making it and loved that he could go to work basically down the street from his home. So, this kind of is PTA's Covid picture. He says that during a time when things in the world seemed heavy, difficult, and dark it was a joy to do a film like this that was more lighthearted and about hope.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Obviously in the picture there are a bunch of gags that involve famous people. Lucille Ball, William Holden, Fred Gwynn, and Jon Peters all have their moments. Tom Waits appears in the film as a director that knows the Holden character. I was curious if he was based upon an actual director. Anderson says he is not but is more based on a "type" of director. He mentions John Ford, Raoul Walsh, and Sam Peckinpah, who makes sense because he directed Holden in The Wild Bunch. The way Waits is dressed in the film is actually taken from the way the great cinematographer William Clothier dressed. So, the character is no one specific person. However, based on the age of the Waits character Anderson says if you do the math that he is a guy that would have directed pictures from the silent film era up through the 1960s. He was going more for a type of guy than specifically nailing down one director.

 

[TravisR]

All of these things sort of explain why this is probably his least complex picture. He says he just had a blast making it and loved that he could go to work basically down the street from his home. So, this kind of is PTA's Covid picture. He says that during a time when things in the world seemed heavy, difficult, and dark it was a joy to do a film like this that was more lighthearted and about hope.

I think that's exactly why it's one of my favorite of his movies. Overall, I'd look at PTA's filmography as being largely compromised of dramas (although they have funny moments) so I like seeing him making a sweet little movie. This is as close as he's gotten to just having fun since the first half of Boogie Nights and that there's no major comedown like the second half of Boogie Nights makes this an enjoyable movie to watch overall.

And to be clear, I'm not knocking Boogie Nights because it would be disingenuous to just have that movie be fun the whole through since the adult film world largely wasn't that way for a lot of the people involved.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think that's exactly why it's one of my favorite of his movies. Overall, I'd look at PTA's filmography as being largely compromised of dramas (although they have funny moments) so I like seeing him making a sweet little movie. This is as close as he's gotten to just having fun since the first half of Boogie Nights and that there's no major comedown like the second half of Boogie Nights makes this an enjoyable movie to watch overall.

And to be clear, I'm not knocking Boogie Nights because it would be disingenuous to just have that movie be fun the whole through since the adult film world largely wasn't that way for a lot of the people involved.

Yes, I agree. I find it a very enjoyable film to watch, I've seen it twice now and look forward to watching it again. I hate doing this but the truth is when I watch his work I am reminded of different directors. So, I mean, I have seen Scorsese in his pictures, Altman, Kubrick...really you could almost go through them and attach another director as the influence in each film. In Licorice Pizza, I kind of felt like this was his Bogdanovich picture because it sort of reminded me of films like What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon, or Nickelodeon. It just has that same sort of warm sweetness and the feeling between the characters.

 

[TravisR]

I hate doing this but the truth is when I watch his work I am reminded of different directors. So, I mean, I have seen Scorsese in his pictures, Altman, Kubrick...really you could almost go through them and attach another director as the influence in each film. In Licorice Pizza, I kind of felt like this was his Bogdanovich picture because it sort of reminded me of films like What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon, or Nickelodeon. It just has that same sort of warm sweetness and the feeling between the characters.

In today's world where good filmmakers are generally very film literate, I think it's inevitable that Anderson's influences would shine through but I (and I assume you) don't think it ever crosses the line where it becomes a copy of or slavish devotion to those influences. You can see the influences but it's still PTA's movie and it never becomes a lazy copy. As a big horror fan, I frequently see the flipside of the coin where there's been a ton of movies in the last 10 or 15 years with someone copying John Carpenter or emulating a style of late 70's/early 80's movies and even when it's fun, it usually comes off (to me) as lazy, a pretender to the throne and ultimately shows a filmmaker lacking in their own style. People rag on the new Halloween movies but those are David Gordon Green's movies influenced by Carpenter while many of the other sequels are much worse because it's guys trying to copy Carpenter.

Spoiler

That's right, I managed to throw a reference to Halloween in a PTA thread.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

In today's world where good filmmakers are generally very film literate, I think it's inevitable that Anderson's influences would shine through but I (and I assume you) don't think it ever crosses the line where it becomes a copy of or slavish devotion to those influences. You can see the influences but it's still PTA's movie and it never becomes a lazy copy. As a big horror fan, I frequently see the flipside of the coin where there's been a ton of movies in the last 10 or 15 years with someone copying John Carpenter or emulating a style of late 70's/early 80's movies and even when it's fun, it usually comes off (to me) as lazy, a pretender to the throne and ultimately shows a filmmaker lacking in their own style. People rag on the new Halloween movies but those are David Gordon Green's movies influenced by Carpenter while many of the other sequels are much worse because it's guys trying to copy Carpenter.

Spoiler

That's right, I managed to throw a reference to Halloween in a PTA thread.

Yes, I don't think he is trying to make copies of other filmmaker's pictures. I think they are his own films and he writes them. Boogie Nights has some moments where his love of Goodfellas seems to take over a scene or in Magnolia his love of Altman is obviously there. It's mostly a visual style thing or trying to add touches that tip his hat to his influences. However, Scorsese did this as well as did other 1970s filmmakers. So, I see nothing wrong with it, it is basically a language of film thing.

The content is his often presented with a stylistic flourish that pays tribute to another filmmaker. I doubt people, other than film buffs (a dwindling breed), would notice he is doing it. In Licorice Pizza it is more a feeling than any sort of direct rips from Bogdanovich. And the truth is I don't know if he was paying tribute to or thinking of Peter at all when he made this film. it might just have come out a bit in the idea that he has seen his pictures and they become a part of your thinking.

On the new Halloween pictures, I don't think they feel much like Carpenter's film and so I think they are more Green's pictures. Horror fans do love those 1970s and 1980s pictures and so they are touchstones for a lot of filmmakers. I don't blame them for trying to recreate them or aspects of them. Hey, I love all that stuff too.

I am, obviously a fan of Mr. Anderson. When I see other filmmakers as an influence on what he is doing it is basically because I was also a fan of those other filmmakers. I am not sure other people really spot when he is doing it.

There are some great shots in this film. The opening school photo scene is great. I love the dinner scene with Joel Wachs and how we can see Alana and the other guy through the windows when they leave the restaurant. I like the Teen Fair sequence when we see Herman Munster and how that whole sequence is shot. I like the pinball arcade sequence and the Sean Penn as William Holden stuff with Waits directing the motorcycle jump.

It may be that the parts of this one equal more than the whole to me. It's basically a fun bunch of stories more than one great story.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think the scenes with the Asian American actors was meant to show the prevailing racism of the times. It made me cringe not laugh.

I was giving this some thought and I don't think that is what he is doing in the scene. Anderson in multiple interviews speaks about the 1970s as a better time than now, at least in his memory. So, I don't think he is commenting on prevailing racism in the 1970s.

He does basically mention that during the period of time with the president prior to the one we have now, things got worse and darker in this country. The truth is racism has roared back in a very big way and openly displaying racism is a popular thing now in this country. So, often filmmakers do add something to a period film to comment on something happening today. I don't really feel he is doing that either though.

I mean, as mentioned in the articles Ben linked to, there were attacks and racist behavior toward Asian Americans during the Covid Pandemic, but I don't think the scenes with the Japanese restaurant owner are meant to comment or allude to that.

I understand how the blatant over the top accent the guy does might make people cringe. Truth is my wife did not like the scene either and found the character really off-putting.

I admit I laughed at the scene but I honestly felt the scene was making fun of the Japanese restaurant owner not Japanese people or women. So, I was laughing at him being such a clown. I was not exactly clear on what his intent was or why he was doing it but in the two times I've seen it, I thought he was doing it to make himself appear more connected to Japanese culture. I think he actually thinks he is fooling Gary's mother into thinking he is speaking Japanese. He seems that nutty to me.

Anderson has said very little about it but in the explanation he has given, I think he is saying he did not intend to make any sort of racist comment by including it nor was he commenting on racism of the period nor present. I think he just created this oddball character that is based on a real Japanese restaurant owner of that period.

Check out this article I stumbled upon when trying to find out how this character ended up in the film:

mikado

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

My thoughts: Too much running and running and running. Was surprised Tom Cruise didn't make a running appearance of a running gag...

So finally saw it tonight, when my blu arrived, and yes, the many running scenes were Tom Cruise-esque.

But apart from that, I grew to love it. I was unsure at the beginning, thinking, 'no way that guy is 15, he looks at least 17-18' and 'she not 25, she is barely 20, if even that', and then I looked them up, and realized the age difference.
And it started slowly, without really getting anywhere.

But Cooper was superb from the get go, and Alana grew on me.

Cinematography was totally beautiful, same feeling as Tarantino's 'Once upon a Time', fantastic shots, the long pan with Life On Mars was particularly excellent. Many very nice close-ups.

And while starting a bit slow and unfocused, it gelled, and from when Alana went to the restaurant and on to the end, it was a pure pleasure, with a 'twist' I did not see coming, and a final that was great.

As to the 'truth' of the people portrayed, I don't much care, I was not there, and being born in the early 60s, in Sweden, they were not people I knew about, so to me, they were just characters in the movie. PTA was born ten years after me, I guess his views are from reruns of TV shows as the film is set in 1973, when he was three.

But Cooper is someone to watch in the future, and I need to check out Haim, the band.

All in all, another triumph from PTA, as I see it.