Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming feature film One Battle After Another (OBAA) boasts all of the great elements of an action movie: car chases, guns, explosions, and Leonardo DiCaprio at the center of it all. DiCaprio’s role in all of this turbulence? Girl-dad, in short. His character Bob Ferguson is a deadbeat ex-revolutionary whose paternal (and sometimes fighter) instincts kickstart when his daughter Willa is threatened by the enemies he thought he put to rest years before settling into life as a recluse.
Much of what characterizes the film as an action-comedy is that it highlights plenty of the typical challenges of fatherhood: dealing with generational differences, grappling with his teenage daughter’s desire for independence, and rescuing her from his long-forgotten rival gang. With its flashy stunts and heartfelt mission, it’s no wonder countless early viewers, film sub-Reddit frequenters and other opinionated critics have already awarded this film so many five-star reviews. But, mere entertainment value is certainly not what the director’s adoring audience expects from his films.
While Leonardo DiCaprio might be the face of this operation, the name just as cherished both across audiences and within the inner workings of Hollywood is Paul Thomas Anderson’s. It’s his consistent expertise, retro production style, and message-driven vision for all of his films that seals my faith in OBAA’s success not only as a blockbuster, but a film to be remembered by industry experts and audiences alike.
a new look for pta
After diving into PTA’s past successes like Boogie Nights (1997), Punch Drunk Love (2002) (which won him Cannes Best Director Award), and Licorice Pizza (2021) I became familiar with the character-driven moments and sometimes absurdly uneventful plot-lines that have earned him his acclaim as a visionary filmmaker. Watching OBAA’s trailer took me by surprise in that it features the hallmarks of a crowd-pleasing thriller, rather than the more artistic side of his work I’ve come to expect.
But to PTA, filming the flashy action shots and personal exchanges between characters are “all kind of the same really.” What makes these seemingly non-PTA action scenes actually very PTA is that they aren’t made for a quick fix of entertainment. Instead, the loud explosions are crafted with as much care as the quiet conversations, and both drive the primary moral of the story: a disconnected father jumping to action in order to save his daughter.
It’s not the “traditional trope” of a messy protagonist redeeming himself as a hero that will make this film great, but the already shaky father-daughter relationship which both jeopardizes and must redeem (as well as quite literally save) these characters.
Beneath the sparkle of orchestrated stunts and some of Hollywood’s most beloved faces, I’m especially curious to watch how PTA’s own genius shines through in this film. Although it appears on my screen as a shiny new action-comedy that’s guaranteed to sell to today’s audience, the film has really been in the works for twenty years, according to PTA himself.
a blast from cinema’s past
Not only were a couple of decades of writing under OBAA’s belt by the time shooting began, but a whole lot longer went into the making of the camera itself. In the 1950s, VistaVision was created as an innovative use of 35mm film, using the film horizontally and inventing a “high-resolution widescreen process.” Described by PTA as “3D without the glasses,” this filming technique is just one example of his care for quality and detail in the very fiber of his work. VistaVision creates a much more immersive experience for the audience than a traditional camera does, and this is an evident layer of how PTA prioritizes craftsmanship within the seemingly mass-produced genre of action-comedy.
Used by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and George Lucas, PTA places himself alongside the greats in their revival of VistaVision. But why would such an innovative camera not see the spotlight again until the 21st century? When it first emerged many decades ago, movie theaters were losing audience’s attention to their televisions at home, and VistaVision failed to really get off the ground. Today, entertainment is more accessible than ever, yet VistaVision is \ making a comeback regardless.
I’d argue that the industry’s revived interest in VistaVision could reflect viewers’ changing values for craft over convenience in the media they consume. Particularly in a genre as saturated with easily marketable and highly profitable movies as action-comedy, PTA stands out in that his film prioritizes quality and cinematic experience over hastily made, digestible entertainment.
writer, director, and old friend
It’s not only PTA and his VistaVision camera who go way back! Both Regina Hall and Sean Penn called PTA– make that Paul –a dear friend long before the film was created, their friendship earning him Hall’s heartfelt sentiment of “more than the director.” Not only did it make perfect sense for both PTA’s friends and for Hollywood veterans Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio to star in this film, but DiCaprio had actually been hoping for this collaboration since passing up a role in Boogie Nights back in 1997.
While Teyana Taylor has already long since established herself in film and television, newcomer Chase Infiniti’s role as Willa, which, performed opposite DiCaprio and under PTA’s instruction, marks her as Hollywood’s newest starlet.
learning from history
Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the film features the French 75, a fictional society of rebels echoing the very real far-left American organization formed in the 1960s, the Weather Underground. This countercultural group was a violent force within the anti-Vietnam War movement. Through the role of the French 75 in OBAA, PTA proposes to his audience how such civil rights issues would be spearheaded if left in the hands of today’s young people.
Considering the cyclical patterns of social movements as the world shifts over these decades, this is a very real proposition PTA is making. By anchoring his storytelling in both Pynchon’s novel and history itself, PTA reminds viewers that the real version of what we see on screen wasn’t too long ago, and may not be so far ahead.
The historic basis behind this fictional organization further roots the film in purpose, alongside the eternal sentiment of the father’s struggle to protect his daughter.
where you can watch!
One Battle After Another reaches theaters on September 26th, but you can watch it for free right here in Isla Vista! On Saturday, October 4th at 2PM, you can view the film at Pollock Theater, hosted by Carsey Wolf Center. Come enjoy the retro look and historic sentiment of cinema’s newest modern epic!