It came as no surprise when Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza was nominated for a ‘Best Picture’ Academy Award back in February. The film, which draws inspiration from the director’s sun-drenched days in California's San Fernando Valley during the Sixties and Seventies, is up there with his very best. What’s more, it’s a feel-good film in a time when a lot of people just aren’t feeling very good.
The story follows Alana Kane (Alana Haim, of the band Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). The pair meet at a school photo day, and begin to spend much of their time running around the hazy outskirts of LA setting up small businesses and developing complicated feelings for each other. Both are on the verge of great change in their lives: 15-year-old Gary’s career as a child actor is failing to develop alongside him, and Alana – ambiguously aged, but thought to be around 25 – has struggled to find a steady career path or purpose. But the plot is almost secondary to the sheer joyousness, and dreaminess, of the film's vibe.
How to watch Licorice Pizza
Unfortunately, the film is not yet available on UK streaming services. But it is still regularly showing in cinemas, and that will only ramp up after the 2022 Academy Awards (will it win Best Picture? Probably not. Does it deserve to? In this writer's opinion, yes).
After that it will most likely turn up on Amazon Prime, where it is currently available to buy for $20 in the US (or $5 to rent.)
But we really do recommend heading to the cinema to catch it in all its ethereal, nostalgic glory.
You can also buy it soon on Blu-Ray and DVD.
ISLAND Licorice Pizza (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Other Oscar 'Best Picture' hopefuls are, however, available stream right now in the UK. Here's where you can watch them:
