“One Battle After Another”: discover the film that Paul Thomas Anderson took 20 years to make

This Thursday (25), Brazilian cinemas will receive one of the most anticipated releases of the year and one of the main bets for the 2026 Oscars: One Battle After Anotherthe tenth film by Californian director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and newcomer Chase Infiniti (before that, she had only acted in an Apple TV+ series), the film is the first time that Paul Thomas Anderson (known as PTA), director of modern classics such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia e Black Bloodhas a Hollywood blockbuster budget at its disposal: One Battle After Another it cost $130 million to $175 million.

Another thing that differentiates One Battle After Another of the rest of PTA’s career is that the mega-production is an action film, with car chases, explosions and shootouts – new ground for a filmmaker known for dramas and character studies, such as Phantom Plot or Drunk with Love (the first chance Adam Sandler had to prove himself as a dramatic actor).

One Battle After Another It is also Anderson’s first film to be set in the present since 2002, and it is present in this: the film deals with conspiracy theories, far-right authoritarianism, the emergence of new racist groups and the immigration crisis in the United States.

A Super already watched One Battle After Another and tells you everything you need to know about the film – no spoilers, of course.

The battle pays

One Battle After Another is inspired by Vinelandbook by writer Thomas Pynchon from 1990, published in Brazil by Companhia das Letras. PTA is a big fan of the postmodernist writer famous for difficult books that speak to the paranoia of contemporary life – he has already adapted another Pynchon book, Inherent Vicefor the big screen –, and was trying to make an adaptation of Vineland 20 years ago.

The director, who also writes all of his films, was afraid that his love for the book would hinder him in the process of a good film adaptation. Therefore, he put the idea aside and started writing several independent stories, inspired by the book. One Battle After Another is a combination of these stories that still maintains some elements of Vinelandsuch as father-daughter dynamics and state persecution.

One Battle After Another revolves around the relationship between Bob (DiCaprio) and Willa Ferguson (Infiniti), a father with drug problems who lives trapped in the past and a daughter who tries to get him back on track. The past that Bob misses so much is full of action: he participated in a revolutionary guerrilla group, the French 75, whose main objective was to free immigrants detained at American borders.

Now, however, Bob spends his days sitting on the couch, watching communist films and smoking marijuana.

A twist makes Bob’s past resurface, but not in the way he imagined. With the help of the firepower of the United States Army, Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn, in a frightening performance), begins to pursue the Fergusons. He wants revenge on the revolutionaries – in particular, Willa’s mother, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor).

The story unfolds from there, in 162 minutes (almost three hours) that fly by. The film never misses a beat, thanks to Andy Jurgensen’s editing and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s frenetic soundtrack.

The film was shot in VistaVision, a filming technique that had been abandoned in the 1960s and was used again for the first time in The Brutalist2024. PTA sought to use the filming method, perfect for productions widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio, wider horizontally) with high image quality, after falling in love with so many films that used it, such as A Falling Body and other Alfred Hitchcock classics.

The lighting is impressive: scenes in the dark, without any light source, are fully visible and always very beautiful. The chase and shooting sequences are exciting, and even in the midst of so much action, the film finds space to be funny and exciting. It’s as if it were Mission: Impossible from Anderson (who even said he was “very disappointed” because Tom Cruise, with whom he worked on Magnolianever asked him to do one of the films in the franchise).

It’s worth watching One Battle After Another on the biggest and best screen available near you. The film is now available in cinemas.

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