Licorice Pizza

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the few directors who hasn’t just kept shooting on analogue material following the film industry’s shift to digital formats, but also brings his films to the big screen in analogue too—at least in the small handful of theaters capable of screening 70mm. Following The Master (2012), Inherent Vice (2014) and Phantom Thread (2017), LICORICE PIZZA (USA 2021), which is named after a record store and thus also tips its hat to analogue sound media, captivates with both its beautiful film grain and the colors of the 70s. This autobiographically-tinged tale from the San Fernando Valley in California tells the platonic love story between capable 15-year-old schoolboy businessman Gary (Cooper Hoffman) and Alana (Alana Haim), who is ten years older than him. In her powerful acting debut, musician Alana Haim from the rock band Haim, a trio of sisters for whom P.T. Anderson has shot ten music videos, is the big discovery of this relaxed summer film. (Hans-Joachim Fetzer)