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When the year ends, you start thinking about end-of-year superlatives. At least, that’s what you do if you’re like me. Recently, I went and saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, a movie I enjoyed immensely. It also, much to my surprise, featured what I think are the two best acting performances of 2021. Why is that surprising? Because they came from two unseasoned actors.
Now, Licorice Pizza is laden with strong performances. Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters maybe didn’t live up to that trailer, but he was great. Benny Safdie really impressed me because his performance was so different from the only other acting role I’ve seen him in, which was in Good Time, a movie he co-directed with his brother. Skyler Gisondo was good as Lance. Harriet Sansom Harris grabbed attention with her one scene as a casting agent. However, at the center of the film are the performances of our dual protagonists Gary and Alana, played by Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim.
I probably should have been more intrigued by what Haim might do in this film, but admittedly her casting was overshadowed to me by Hoffman’s being cast as Gary Valentine. Cooper is, of course, the son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a longtime Anderson collaborator and one of the best actors of his generation. He is also, unfortunately, no longer with us. How would Hoffman look in his film debut?
In his very first scene in the film it was clear to me Hoffman had inherited some of his father’s acting skills. Cooper is great. I am not grading him on a curve. He is great as Gary. I never would have believed he was new to acting. That being said, Haim grabbed me just as much. She probably has a heavier load to carry in the movie, in terms of stretching her acting ability. Gary sort of sits in a groove and Cooper is able to ride that. Alana is a little more all over the place.
I would, without hyperbole, give these two acting Oscars for their film debuts. That speaks in part to Anderson’s incredible directing skills. It also speaks to the clear talent that Hoffman and Haim have. Hopefully we get to see a lot more of them.
