One Battle After Another

Sometimes a film comes along that just feels like it’s always been part of the furniture, something you swear you’ve seen before maybe late on TV one time.

One Battle After Another is one such film and joins the ranks of the very best to have been released in recent times.

Timely yet also timeless, this is a ‘worthy’, epic, ‘great’ piece of work but one with the accessibility and usability missing from others of this type.

Whilst something like The Brutalist perhaps can feel intimidating to a more casual film viewer, this is as conventionally ‘watchable’ as it is painstakingly perfectly made.

Paul Thomas Anderson is no stranger to blending the art-worthy with audience friendliness but this arguably does take his craft to another level.

It’s an interesting debate to position this in his incredible oeuvre but, perhaps owing to its modern setting, it presents its themes and messaging whilst still telling a rollicking and ever moving story.

Like the best ‘protest’ pieces, it can say an awful lot without preaching and can deliver its various messages with utter clarity whilst still allowing for humour, action and a true humanity amongst its characters. As its title suggests, all are facing one battle after another.

It speaks to these times whilst also standing apart from them and I have no doubt that this film will still resonate as a piece of movie magic in a decade or a century.

Another modern American epic destined to stand amongst the best of this era and another movie miracle from PTA.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️