Is Paul Thomas Anderson the best pure American filmmaker living today? Looking at his filmography one will catch an array of films. Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love and There will be Blood, to name just a few, are Kubrick-esque in their stylistic and thematic diversity. A once upon a time Hollywood wunderkind when in his mid-20s, Anderson's legacy has expanded since his initial arrival in the late 1990s. It will undoubtedly grow still - fingers crossed.
In "One Battle After Another," Leonardo DiCaprio's Bob Ferguson fathers a child with another revolutionary, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). Only problem: around the time when their new romance is underway, Perfidia also slept with Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (a terrific Sean Penn). It's anyone's guess, then, whose the child, Willa (Chase Infiniti) that Perfidia brings into the world, really is. Most interested in the circulating rumors, however, is the Illuminati-like group of wealthy white men, consisting of the (seemingly ageless) Tony Goldwyn at the helm. They welcome Lockjaw into their lair, only to reconsider once whispers of his interracial romance reaches their ears.
OBAA is a kinetic, passionate portrayal of modern day American rebels/revolutionaries and their military adversaries in the federal government. Mix in dashes of parental responsibility and devotion, along with tensions and violence that result from a perpetual racial bias of the American elite, and you've got a powerful drama by a master director who hasn't lost a step.
I will be shocked if the movie doesn't receive a handful of Oscar nominations, acting and otherwise, and if it doesn't gradually morph into an everlasting American classic.
☆☆☆1/2
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