The film is about a former revolutionary whose teenage daughter is being pursued by a corrupt military official who wants to eliminate her as he sees her as a threat to society as well as to be part of a secret white supremacist society. It is a film that explores a man dealing with not just the past as he was part of a revolutionary group until the arrival of his daughter who would become the target of this military official. Paul Thomas Anderson’s screenplay has a straightforward narrative yet there are elements in the narrative that plays into the chaotic atmosphere of underground revolutionaries. The first act introduces this group known as the French 75 where it is led by Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) who is a firecracker that always takes charge while her partner “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) is part of the group along with several others. During an event where they break out detained immigrants from a detention center, Perfidia meets the center’s commander Captain Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) whom she seduces as he falls for her to the point that they would have an affair that eventually becomes troubling.
Even as Perfidia gives birth to Charlene where Calhoun chooses fatherhood over revolutionary activities. Perfidia would continue until a botched bank robbery has her captured as she reluctantly makes a deal with Lockjaw where Calhoun, Charlene, and a few others go hiding for 16 years. The film’s second act begins with the 16-year-old Charlene who is under the name Willa Ferguson living with her father who is now Bob Ferguson as he laments over his failure as a revolutionary as he drinks and smokes weed to cope with his failure. When Lockjaw is given a chance to be part of a secret society while being promoted as a colonel in handling immigration. He decides to pursue Charlene/Willa seeing her as a threat while capturing former surviving members of the French 75 where Willa would gain refuge from a former French 75 member in Deandra (Regina Hall) who rescues her at a school dance. Calhoun would learn about Lockjaw pursuing Charlene as he evades capture while also seeking help from Willa’s martial arts instructor Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) who is also a community leader who shelters immigrants in his community. The third act is not just about revelations from Deandra about Perfidia but also Calhoun’s own issues about how he disconnected himself with the French 75 after what happened to Perfidia. Even with Lockjaw becoming a liability himself with the society he wants to be a part of.
Anderson’s direction is stylish in the way he opens the film on a highway in California where a detention center is held as it sets the stage for a whirlwind of genres to emerge within the film. Shot on various locations in California including parts of San Diego and Sacramento and El Paso, Texas, Anderson creates a film that is set in a modern world though it is inspired by events from the 1960s and 1970s in the way the French 75 create their robberies, bomb attacks, and other things all in the idea of revolution. The usage of wide and medium shots do play into the scope of the locations including scenes in the desert for much of the film’s third act that includes this entrancing chase sequence around these hilly desert roads. Anderson’s usage of close-ups add to the drama and suspense in the way characters interact with one another. Even in intense moments where Willa/Charlene finds herself in danger as she deals with her own situation as well as the danger of what her parents did.
Anderson’s direction also play into this sense of reality into the idea of revolution and its fallacies with Calhoun being burned out by his own experiences where he becomes disconnected with everything that is happening as he lives off the grid. Spending his time drinking beer, smoking weed, and watching old films to cope with failure as a person and as a father to Charlene/Willa feeling he has not done enough for her. There are elements of humor that Anderson puts in such as a house of the secret society that Lockjaw wants to be in as it is an odd scene considering how elaborate the whole set up is. The scenes in the second act where Calhoun and Sensei St. Carlos try to help immigrants and others while later going on the road through California while drinking beer shows some of the absurdity of two men who both try to do the right thing yet do some bad things on the road.
Anderson also employ the sense of reality in what Lockjaw is doing as he deals with capturing undocumented immigrants as well as create trouble during protests and riots in escalating things for his forces to deal with rioters in extreme measures. Even as there are scenes where the authorities interrogate people and push them to reveal information with threats as it has this air of realism. The film’s third act relates to Lockjaw capturing Willa/Charlene with Calhoun trying to find them displays the level of what Lockjaw will as he hired a bounty hunter in Avanti (Eric Schweig) who has his own issues in what Lockjaw wants to do with Willa/Charlene. Its ending is a wholesome one as it relates to what people can do in relation to activism but also remind themselves that they can make sure to not repeat the mistakes of the past. Overall, Anderson crafts a riveting and whimsical film about a former revolutionary trying to save his daughter from an evil military officer from the past.
Cinematographer Michael Bauman does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of available and lush lighting for some of the daytime exterior scenes set in the morning as well as scenes at night while creating some unique lighting for some nighttime interior scenes including the places that Sensei St. Carlos houses undocumented immigrants. Editor Andy Jurgensen does excellent in utilizing unique transitional dissolves as well as some jump-cuts to play into the suspense and humor as well as allowing shots to linger in some of the long shots. Production designer Florencia Martin, along with set decorator Anthony Carlino and supervising art director Andrew Max Cahn, does amazing work with the look of the home Calhoun and Charlene/Willa live in that feels remote as well as the secret room where the secret society have a secret meeting. Costume designer Colleen Atwood does fantastic work with costumes as it ranges from loose and stylish to play into the style of the revolutionary to a more buttoned-down look that Lockjaw and this secret society wears including polo shirts.
Special makeup effects artists Thomas Floutz and Christopher Allen Nelson do wonderful work for the look of a character late in the film that plays into the chaotic aftermath of everything this character went through. Special effects supervisor Jeremy Hays, along with visual effects supervisors Ed Bruce and Laura J. Hill, do terrific work with the special effects for some scenes involving some of the robberies and attacks as well as bits of set dressing for a few scenes set at night. Sound editor Christopher Scarabosio does superb work with the sound in capturing the atmosphere of the locations as well as how gunfire sounds from afar and up close as well as maintaining that sense of dread into some of the action as it is a highlight of the film.
The film’s music by Jonny Greenwood does incredible work with the film’s music score with its usage of orchestral arrangements and discordant textures that includes drums and percussions from his Smile bandmate Tom Skinner as it is a major highlight of the film. Music supervisor Linda Cohen creates a fun music soundtrack that mixes all kinds of music as it feature contributions from Jon Brion, Steely Dan, the Shirelles, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Sheck Wes, Travis Scott with Kendrick Lamar, Walk the Moon, El Fantasma with Banda Los Populares Del Llano, Survivor, Ella Fitzgerald, the Jackson 5, Los Panchos, Gil Scott-Heron, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
The casting by Cassandra Kulukundis is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Carlos McFarland, Elisabeth Pease, Colton Gantt, and Autumn Crosswhite as classmates of Willa who get interrogated, Tony Goldwyn, Kevin Tighe, James Downey, and John Hoogenakker as members of the secret society known as the Christmas Adventurers Club, Tisha Sloan as Willa’s teacher that Calhoun meets for a parent-teacher meeting, Starletta DuPois as Perfidia’s mother, Elijah Joseph Sambrano as a skateboarder named Latino Heat who helps Calhoun escape during an immigration raid, April Grace as a nun at a secret convent in Sister Rochelle, and Jena Malone in a voice cameo as the greeting code voice. Other notable small roles as members of the French 75 include Alana Haim as Mae West, Shayna McHayle as Junglepussy, Wood Harris as Laredo, Paul Grimstad as Billy Goat, and Dijon Duenas as Talleyrand. D.W. Moffett is terrific as a Christmas Adventurers Club member in Bill Desmond who is asked to take care of some problems for the society while Eric Schweig is superb as a Native American bounty hunter in Avanti who does some things for Lockjaw while he becomes uneasy about what he has to do with Willa/Charlene.
Teyana Taylor is fantastic as Perfidia Beverly Hills as a revolutionary leader who is full of intensity and charisma while also finding ways to seduce Lockjaw that would eventually get her into trouble. Even as she deals with becoming a mother as she has a hard time letting go of her revolutionary ideals. Regina Hall is excellent as Deandra as a former French 75 member who would save Willa/Charlene from being captured as she is also someone who is resentful towards Willa’s mother over how the French 75 was captured and disbanded. It is a performance that is reserved as a woman who knows the danger of what Willa/Charlene is facing as well as her refusal to compromise.
Benicio del Toro is brilliant as Sensei Sergio St. Carlos as Willa’s martial arts teacher who is also a community leader who helps Calhoun in trying to retrieve Willa through some conventional means. It is a performance where del Toro provides a lot of wit as well as some unique wisdom that would help Calhoun. Sean Penn is amazing as Steven Lockjaw as a corrupt military official with a terrible haircut and odd facial ticks that adds to his eccentric nature as he is also someone that is in love with Perfidia and her ass. Penn brings this element of dark comedy to his performance as someone that is trying to maintain a sense of power as well as his desire to be part of an elite society group.
Chase Infiniti is phenomenal as Charlene Calhoun/Willa Ferguson as a 16-year-old girl who is being pursued by Lockjaw because of who her mother as she deals with her newfound situation as well as revelations about her mother. It is a performance that carries a lot of youthful exuberance as well as someone who is trying to comprehend who her parents are and what she can do with her life while she is still young. Finally, there’s Leonardo DiCaprio in a tremendous performance as “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun/Bob Ferguson as a former revolutionary who has disconnected himself with the underground as he copes through drugs and marijuana over his failures while he is brought back to action when Lockjaw pursues Charlene. It is a performance where DiCaprio brings a lot of humor as well as someone who is just trying to makeup for his own failures as a man and as a father as it is one of DiCaprio’s finest performances of his career.
One Battle After Another is a magnificent film by Paul Thomas Anderson that feature a great leading performance from Leonardo DiCaprio and a breakout performance from Chase Infiniti. Along with its supporting cast, a riveting and somber screenplay, gorgeous visuals, Jonny Greenwood’s hypnotic score, and a killer music soundtrack. It is an unconventional yet rapturous film that bends all kinds of genres to create a story about a father trying to save his daughter from an evil figure from the past as well as deal with his own past as a revolutionary. In the end, One Battle After Another is an outstanding film by Paul Thomas Anderson.
P.T. Anderson Films: Hard Eight/Sydney - Boogie Nights - Magnolia - Punch-Drunk Love - There Will Be Blood - The Master (2012 film) - Inherent Vice - Junun - Phantom Thread - Licorice Pizza
Related: The Shorts & Videos of Paul Thomas Anderson - The Auteurs #15: Paul Thomas Anderson
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