She's an Israeli girl, it's impossible not to fall in love with her, and she's the best thing that ever happened to Hollywood

American musician Elena Haim, the daughter of Israeli Moti Haim, demonstrates in "Likritz Pizza" one of the most electrifying game shows we have seen in a long time, rewrites the representation of Judaism on the big screen and makes the result an unforgettable experience

Avner Shavit

31/12/2021

Friday, 31 December 2021, 00:23 Updated: 00:27

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Trailer for the movie "Licorice Pizza" (Film Forum)

Star rating for movies - 5 stars (Photo: image processing,.)

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most esteemed American directors of the last two decades, and every new film of his is a reason to party. This weekend saw the release of "Licorice Pizza," his fresh hit, about a month after its first screenings in America. I watched it on such an occasion, in a hall full to capacity (before the omicron), that kept laughing and cheering. Outside of Spider-Man's worlds, there are hardly any filmmakers left today who are capable of activating audiences in this way. Even Spielberg is no longer able to.

Throughout his glorious career, Anderson has been diving into specific and different worlds. "Boogie Nights," his breakthrough film, dealt with the porn industry; "It Will End in Blood," his best film, dealt with the oil industry; "The Master" was probably an allegory for Scientology and "Hidden Threads", his previous work, took place behind the scenes of the fashion industry.

At Licorice Pizza, it's important to clarify, there is no pizza and it is not even called a pizzeria, but rather the name of a record store chain of the same name that operated in California in the 1970s.

It's also the world of film, and it recreates it in a detailed and vivid way.

So pizzas are not here, but the film manages to give the audience the feeling that he lives and breathes the San Fernando Valley in the seventies: the style and music of the period, the cultural norms and also the fashions, for example the madness of water beds that became a hot commodity.

The political circumstances are also dominant here: the Arab boycott that led to fuel shortages and paralyzed the region, and Joel Vox's mayoral race.

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My Life.

Elena Haim and Cooper Hoffman in "Licorice Pizza" (Photo: Film Forum)

Vox was gay in the closet and also a Jew. He is played by Benny Safdi, who until now was best known as a director and together with his brother created, among other things, the glorious "Unpolished Diamonds" starring Adam Sandler. Safdi himself is Jewish, with a family in Israel, and the same is true of the film's main star, Elena Haim, who plays a photographer in her early twenties named Elena Kane.

Haim is the daughter of Moti Haim, who was born and raised in Israel and even played for Maccabi Jaffa, until, like many Israelis, he settled on the West Coast and started a family there. He appears here in the role himself, as well as the star's mother and her two sisters, Esti and Daniel.

The Living Sisters had not previously appeared in cinemas.

They have been known for their band, Haim, one of the favorites in the American indie scene for the past decade.

Anderson cultivates a long-standing obsession with the band, and even directed music videos for it.

The director himself is not a Jew, and when he researched the meaning of his mystical attraction to the Jewish family, he discovered a coincidence - an artist of the three was his art teacher in elementary school.

Out of this context was born "Licorice Pizza," which more than a portrait of the whole of California in the 1970s, is something more specific - a portrait of the Jewish California community at the time, including a Shabbat dinner scene entering the Pantheon, and references to Barbara Streisand and the main character "The Jewish Nose."

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Bouncing pizza.

Elena lives in "Licorice Pizza" (Photo: Film Forum)

Unlike many Jewish-American figures before her, from Philip Roth's "Goodbye Columbus" onwards, Elena is proud of her nose and does not even consider dissecting it. It is not trivial to see in American cinema a Jewish actress explicitly embodying a Jewish character, and it is certainly not common to see this character as a sex symbol, but that is what "licorice pizza" does. He mocks the accepted beauty model in the entertainment industry and presents his protagonist as the sexiest, most coveted and inspiring character seen this year in Hollywood. No wonder so many American Jews praised the representation here.

Elena also becomes the object of admiration of the second protagonist in the film, a boy with the beautiful name Gary Valentine, played by Cooper Hoffman, the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman who is physically similar to him. He is 15 years old, meets her in the school yard and develops a childish crush on her.

You will probably not be surprised to hear that many American tweeters have turned this matter into an ax to dig with, as well as the fact that the film has a character who, in the spirit of the time, racistly treats Asians (by the way, politically-correct knights did not care about antisemitic jokes).

Some of these tweets even made people who did not watch the film think that it was a carnival of racism and pedophilia, and these of course were quick to pass sentence without a basis.

Just for this piety and dishonesty, more and more stars are coming to Licorice Pizza.

We would give him ten if we could.

And also: When did the world stop distinguishing between representing something and supporting it?

Are "The Godfather and" The Sopranos "propaganda broadcasts in favor of organized crime? And maybe they should also be boycotted?"

Speeding at 300 km / h. From "Licorice Pizza" (Photo: Film Forum)

This movie does not favor anything, it just presents a common phenomenon - childish crashes. Both Elena and Gerry are naive and immature, appropriate for their age, and the film depicts in a sensitive and magical way how they develop irrational youthful loves - Gerry towards Elena, and she towards someone else and not for any other reason. More importantly, "Licorice Pizza" also depicts the heartbreak and the inevitable disillusionment of its protagonists. Be calm: there is not a single physical touch in the film. More than a story about what is, it is a story about what can not be. These are youth, such is adolescence.

As befits a film that depicts atmosphere and period, it is built mainly from a sequence of vignettes - naturally, some more successful and some less so. Aside from the Saturday dinner we already mentioned, one of the highlights is built on Bradley Cooper's acting show, which plays John Peters, Barbara Streisand's eccentric partner (she herself does not appear here). It does this in three hundred miles per hour, and his screen time is very limited, it is enough to make it one of the leading candidates for an Oscar.

Although one scene does not necessarily lead to another, the whole advanced here wisely Termination exciting and memorable. From beginning to end, the main characters Run a lot, just like in the ending scene of "The Graduate", and like there, here too Anderson photographs the run in such a way that the distances seem greater than they really are. This is how it is when you are young and disproportionate. About how his characters see life.

Will you restore Natalie Portman's achievement?

Elena Haim with Cooper Hoffman in "Licorice Pizza" (Photo: Film Forum)

Anderson, who also shot the film with Michael Bauman, clings to the point of view of his protagonists and depicts the world in wide brush strokes full of passion and admiration.

The cinematic expression here is beautiful, and its optimal use of the camera, the colors, the landscapes, the faces of the actors and actresses and the soundtrack, makes "Licorice Pizza" a must-have experience on the big screen.

Above all is Elena Haim's game display.

Although the movie is a pizza with a lot of toppings, in the end everything rises and falls on it.

After all, his heroine is always in him, if not in her body then in her spirit.

Already in her first film appearance, the star manages to meet the task and carry "Licorice Pizza" on her shoulders.

She is unlike any other, it is impossible not to fall in love with her, she is full of resourcefulness and she manages to embody in her face the pains of growth and the moments of joy of the one who discovers the world for the first time.

Not sure we'll see any more American movies like "Licorice Pizza."

Not only does it take place in the 1970s, but it seems to have been done at that time, and there may no longer be room for such works in today’s cultural climate.

Elena Haim, on the other hand, will no doubt be met again - not only on stage, but also on the screens.

She's the best thing that happened to Hollywood this year, and one day she might even recreate Natalie Portman's achievement, and once again we'll see the Oscar in the hands of an American actress whose father is Israeli.

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• Paul Thomas Anderson

• HAIM

• Licorice Pizza