1973, San Fernando Valley. Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) is lining up for his high school photograph when he meets one of the photographer’s assistants, Alana Kain (Alana Haim). He asks her on a date and despite her misgivings at their age gap she decides to meet him. 

What follows is a coming of age story for both Gary and Alana as they become friends, business partners and circle the possibility of romance. Alana enjoys the attention Gary gives her but constantly pushes back at the idea of romance because she is ten years his senior. Gary is a confident young man who belies his years but is too immature to know how to approach Alana’s uncertainty. The story they take weaves through their acting aspirations, their entrepreneurial business ventures and a fuel shortage taking in a whole host of cameos from big names in peculiar roles. 

The centre of the story though is always Alana and Gary and their “will they? won’t they?” romance and the whole thing is captivating. 

I have waxed lyrical at length on the genius of writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson before and this, his ninth feature is another masterpiece that retreads some old ground and appears to be incredibly personal. Both lead actors are making their film debuts and both choices are personal to Anderson. Cooper Hoffman is the son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Anderson’s friend and frequent collaborator who died in 2014. Whilst Alana Haim is regularly directed by Anderson in music videos with her band HAIM and her mother was a teacher of Anderson, perhaps suggesting the character she plays is inspired by her mother. The fact both deliver stunning performances on their debuts is perhaps down to this connection with the material and director but either way they are outstanding. 

In terms of Anderson’s previous works there are a few parallels. Punch Drunk Love is an odd romantic comedy set in the San Fernando Valley just like this. Magnolia featured precocious children (some grown and some not) who acted above their age. Whilst Boogie Nights and Inherent Vice showed how Anderson is particularly adept at creating a period feel. 

Whilst Hoffman and Haim are the focal points of the story Anderson introduces plenty of peculiar characters in the mix using some incredible casting to create humour and inject fun into the story. Sean Penn and Tom Waits cameo in a scene where an old actor is obsessed with showing his motorcycling stunt past, the entire Haim family (mum, dad and both sisters) stand in for the Kain family, Uncut Gems director Bennie Safdie plays a mayoral candidate, Leonardo DiCaprio’s father George appears as a waterbed salesman and Anderson’s partner Maya Rudolph plays a casting director. But the cameo to make the most impact is Bradley Cooper as real life producer Jon Peters who inside the first few minutes of appearing on screen will berate Gary for his pronunciation of Streisand (Strei-sand like the sea) and ask him how big his penis is. He is hilarious. 

Then to complete just how spectacular the whole thing is we have another fantastic score from frequent collaborator Jonny Greenwood (the title piece is beautiful) in amongst a perfectly curated list of songs from the era. 

Licorice Pizza is brilliant and I highly recommend it.