The challenging postmodern material of author Thomas Pynchon was first brought to the big screen just over a decade ago when Paul Thomas Anderson adapted stoner-noir tale Inherent Vice, and the filmmaker has once again looked to the novelist for inspiration in his latest feature. Loosely based on his 1990 book Vineland, action thriller One Battle After Another shifts the story to the chaotic landscape of modern-day America.
The plot follows former revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) who now lives in drug-fuelled paranoia trying to protect his teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). He was once a member of far-left group dubbed ‘the French 75’ alongside his lover Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), and his sanctuary comes under severe threat when military officer Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) goes in pursuit of the vigilantes sixteen years after their last destructive mission.
Opening with a siege on an immigration detention centre shot with an alarming sense of urgency and a visceral style, writer and director Anderson quickly establishes a frantic energy and tone to the piece. Full of verve and with a sharp-witted script to boot, the film moves with the same relentless momentum as its protagonists, all of its exhilarating action underlined by powerful political messaging. Skilfully orchestrated sequences are enhanced by a mesmeric score from Johnny Greenwood, a regular collaborator of PTA’s since his period epic There Will Be Blood. His unique soundscape not only conjures but propels the narrative tension, setting a finely-tuned pace that gives the unwieldy running time a briskness that flies by.
Amidst the heists and car chases, the emotional core comes from Bob and Willa’s fraught father-and-daughter relationship and this is demonstrated superbly in the central performances. The latest in DiCaprio’s run of portraying hapless fools, he gives an excellent turn that gathers pent-up frustrations to comedic effect but without relinquishing the film’s thematic importance. In her debut film role, Chase Infiniti is fantastic – she carries the baton from Taylor’s electric opening act salvo and shares compelling scenes with the villainous Lockjaw as his complex obsession with her takes shape. Penn is phenomenal in this; pathetic as he is menacing, a contradictory caricature of contemporary America.
Adapting a 1980s-set novel of rebellion but also holding a mirror to today’s increasingly troubling times, Paul Thomas Anderson’s free-flowing thriller One Battle After Another is both entertaining and incendiary, a cinematic stick of dynamite that explodes onto the screen. One of our greatest living directors presents one of his very best works, a gripping, significant experience that will no doubt stand as a defining film of this decade.
Cinema Perspective 