Cert: 15 | ★★★★★

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Phantom Thread) presents a gorgeously evocative love letter to 70s California in his latest film Licorice Pizza. It stars Alana Haim, the guitarist and lead singer of indie rock band Haim —the band is made up of members of the same Jewish family who hail from California and Israel — and newcomer Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). Benny Safdie — one half of the Jewish filmmaking duo the Safdie brothers — also stars alongside Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper and Sasha Spielberg, daughter of film director Steven Spielberg.
The story takes place in and around the San Fernando Valley in the early 1970s. Fifteen-year-old Gary Valentine (Hoffman) is already an old hand at acting, hustling and running his own Hollywood PR company. As he prepares for his high school picture day, Gary meets 25-year-old (or is she?) Alana Kane (Haim, excellent), a photographer’s assistant with whom he falls madly in love. Alana is intrigued by the teenager, but tells him she would never date someone younger than her. Instead, the two become firm friends and he eventually hires her as his chaperone on a work trip to New York.
Alana is eventually persuaded by Gary to take up acting, all the while assisting him with his numerous and outlandish business ventures in and around town. As the two fall out, make up and then fall out again, Gary and Alana learn to accept that they will forever be in each other’s lives no matter what else is happening around them.
Anderson presents an engaging, vibrant and chaotic coming of age story which is not only an ode to youth, but also a love letter to an era where anything seemed possible. In true Anderson style, the film often feels like a series of vignettes featuring some colourful characters. Whilst clearly based on some real life stories, Licorice Pizza does a great job of utilising these events and characters for comedy value. A sequence which sees Bradley Cooper as an unhinged version of a Hollywood producer out on a drug-addled rampage is both hilarious and highly plausible.
There is a heady optimism about Licorice Pizza that is often missing from Anderson’s other films. And while youth might be at the centre of this particular story, the acclaimed filmmaker doesn’t shy away from broaching some rather pressing socio-political issues of the era. In a sequence which sees Alana developing a new interest in politics, Anderson’s tells a touching story about real life former member of the Los Angeles City Council Joe Wachs (played to perfection by Benny Safdie) and his struggles to get elected.
This is genuinely one of Anderson’s best films yet. He has given us a rich slice of Americana full euphoric moments doused in nostalgia for a fleeting moment in time in America’s history. Heartfelt, but never cheesy or overly sentimental, Licorice Pizza is more than likely to sweep the boards as we edge closer to closer to awards season, and it will be more than well deserved.