A fast, cold open at the US-Mexico border where a gang of revolutionaries named the French 75 prepare to free hundreds of detained immigrants set the burning wheels in motion. It’s the early noughts and righteous firebrand Perfidia Beverly Hills (an indelible Teyana Taylor) doesn’t so much step into the fray as bulldoze her way through it, assisted by her vehement but bumbling lover Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio, having tremendous fun). Before they leave the detainment camp, Perfidia forces Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn, award-worthy) into noticeable arousal at gunpoint and all the elements of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth film are in play. From start to finish, One Battle After Another is a mighty 162 minutes of danger, comedy, excitement, love, sex and confusion.
The first hour flies by as our rebel pairing shoot guns, rob banks and blow up power lines. Perfidia gives birth to daughter Willa but can’t commit to motherhood and the revolution, leaving Pat holding the baby in both senses. After a bank robbery goes awry and Perfidia gets caught, the gang scatter before Pat changes identity and hides out in an insurrection-sympathetic town called Baktan Cross. Some 15 years later, Lockjaw is offered an opportunity to join a secret mason-ish racist order called The Christmas Adventurers if he can find Bob and his daughter (now played with great poise by Chase Infiniti in her debut film role).
This is mighty 162 minutes of danger, comedy, excitement, love, sex and confusion
There are so many inspired moments, scenes and sequences here, it’s impossible to pick a standout, even if Bob hysterically trying to remember revolutionary code phrases while talking to an unsympathetic phone operator or Benicio del Toro’s unflappable martial arts sensei smuggling immigrants from his cavernous apartment complex are among the best.
Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, a book set in 1984, with 1960s flashbacks, the movie takes place in the 21st century and captures America – and the world – as it is now. The title could easily be referring to modern life itself, where political arguments over immigration are supercharged with angst, concerns that permeate this film as surely as Jonny Greenwood’s urgent score. Meanwhile, the film’s primary feelings are anger and paranoia. As we watch this depiction of a life lived looking over your shoulder, we recognise these as the most commonly, deeply felt feelings of our age.
In a decade or two when the great New Hollywood directors of the 1970s are gone, Anderson might be the greatest living American director. One of Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood or Phantom Thread would be enough for most careers, but excellence is almost routine for PTA.
His remarkable quality control remains intact with this formidable piece of work.
In cinemas worldwide Fri Sep 26.