For almost thirty years, Paul Thomas Anderson has been Hollywood’s critically acclaimed, peer-revered “nearly-man” at the Oscars—consistently nominated, yet consistently overlooked. From Boogie Nights onwards, each new film arrived with the familiar praise, only to leave empty-handed. However, with One Battle After Another, adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, the conversation has shifted. Heralded as his most politically vital and emotionally raw work in years, the unanimous buzz feels genuinely different. This time, Anderson might truly have delivered the film that finally secures his long-overdue Oscar win.
At the heart of this sprawling ensemble lies a fascinating, almost classic love triangle. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Pat Calhoun, a small-time explosives expert entangled with a radical militant group. The true force behind the movement is his charismatic partner and comrade, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), a restless femme fatale who, even in her ninth month of pregnancy, finds stress relief by firing a machine gun. Standing against them is Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), an unctuous, authoritarian figure whose unearned confidence stems from his membership in an ethno-fascist elite, coupled with a touch of unresolved maternal issues.
One Battle After Another (English)
Fast forward sixteen years, and Perfidia is nowhere to be found. Pat, now known as Bob, is a jaded single father in a quiet town, his revolutionary zeal replaced by a haze of weed smoke and creeping paranoia, as he spends his days re-watching The Battle of Algiers. His daughter, Willa (portrayed by the remarkable Chase Infiniti), embodies her mother’s discipline but none of her father’s chaos, forming the deeply moving core of the film.
DiCaprio delivers a performance of striking humility as Bob, making him both absurd and deeply sympathetic. His radical youth has withered into a life of mundane habits and apathy. The film portrays him with a non-sentimental affection, and DiCaprio’s masterful comic timing, combined with a subtle physical awkwardness, illuminates Bob’s shortcomings without condoning them. In stark contrast, Infiniti’s Willa is sharply observant, highly skilled, and carries herself with an adult’s quiet confidence. Her training under a local sensei (Benicio del Toro) provides the film with its most compelling argument for steadfastness as a potent form of resistance.
A still from ‘One Battle After Another’ | Photo Credit: Warner Bros.
Anderson’s fascination with Pynchon continues, having previously adapted Inherent Vice with remarkable faithfulness. Now, he channels the deep paranoia of Vineland into a film that avoids explicit political jargon. His approach isn’t blunt, contemporary commentary, but rather a subtle borrowing from the satirical and paranoid traditions of post-war fiction. This allows the film’s political landscape to emerge through implication and visual storytelling, rather than overt statements.
Themes like immigration raids, the normalization of militarized police presence in everyday communities, and the subtle, ritualistic brutalities of fabricated patriotic groups are never explicitly detailed. Yet, the film masterfully conveys these as ingrained societal habits that profoundly shape both individual lives and civic environments. By sidestepping direct references to specific policies or figures, Anderson gains the freedom to illustrate how power operates on a granular, domestic level, even extending its oppressive reach to something as seemingly innocuous as a high school prom.
Visually and aurally, the film is breathtaking. While Anderson’s ambitions sometimes appear self-indulgent, here they feel entirely purposeful. Jonny Greenwood’s score throbs with the intensity of a hyperactive heart monitor, and Michael Bauman’s expansive, wide-format cinematography transforms even mundane California hills into potent visual metaphors. Despite such meticulous craftsmanship, the movie never feels overly polished or artificial; it is wonderfully messy, genuinely funny, at times ridiculous, and undeniably vibrant.
Between DiCaprio’s disheveled Bob navigating much of the film in a bathrobe and Penn’s reptilian, preening Colonel, the film often sparks with humor that is sharp, never glib. It’s a tapestry of pure absurdity—like Bob’s unforgettable, mid-escape meltdown during a phone call with a stubbornly unhelpful “Commrade Josh”—interspersed with moments of profound anxiety and stark terror. Anderson appears to have reconnected with the anarchic comedic spirit found in his earlier works like Boogie Nights and Magnolia, now honed by maturity and the experience of fatherhood.
A still from ‘One Battle After Another’ | Photo Credit: Warner Bros.
Occasionally, the film’s imperfections become apparent. It features digressions that extend its runtime and sometimes teeter on the edge of threatening narrative coherence. There are moments where Anderson’s eagerness to incorporate every imaginative detail is palpable. Yet, these indulgences paradoxically reinforce the film’s central argument: political existence is inherently messy and cyclical, and every act of rebellion, no matter how pure, accumulates its share of debris.
A profound thread connecting the film’s diverse elements is its deep dive into the internal experience of commitment. Now a father himself, Anderson appears to channel his own anxieties about leaving a fractured world to the next generation. Far from being a rallying cry, the title, “One Battle After Another,” feels more like a poignant chronicle of an exhausting, ongoing struggle. It subtly reflects both the incessant grind of cultural conflicts and the relentless, often unappreciated, work of parenting, where each minor skirmish can feel like just another front in an interminable war.
Anderson’s filmography has explored diverse characters, from oil magnates and cult leaders to porn stars and fashion designers, but seldom has he addressed the contemporary world with such directness. This is a work of potent, unyielding suggestion—humorous enough to leave a lasting impression and serious enough to resonate with a palpable sense of danger.
One Battle After Another is currently screening in theaters.
A promotional video related to the film is also available.