One Battle After Another
)
“Maybe you should’ve studied the rebellion text a little harder”
Overview
PTA casts off the shackles of nostalgia with One Battle After Another, an urgent and timely tale of community action against the creeping rise of fascism. Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an explosives expert and once-radical member of an activist faction who has since withered into a weary cynic, passing his days in a cloud of weed vapour and only caring for his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti). Bob's hazy existence is violently upended by the return of a spectre from his past, the vicious Col. Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), forcing the father and child on a desperate flight across America's West Coast. Seeking sanctuary with his old contacts, Bob must recover his killer instincts and revolutionary zeal to save the only family he has left.
Winner: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Casting
“An emotional, visceral triumph”
“A frightening and galvanising vision”
“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”
Why See This Film
The most thrilling depiction of mutual aid you're ever likely to see from a major Hollywood production, One Battle After Another is a roaring adventure crackling with political fire. PTA was loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s sprawling novel Vineland, updating its 1960s-80s timeline to the extremely present day with all of its dangers: mass deportation, paranoia and authoritarian overreach coming up against dedicated activists risking it all. Some career-best performances (including Penn and an incredible Teyana Taylor as Bob's firebrand partner in crime) and propulsive filmmaking from a director firing on all cylinders, One Battle After Another mixes farce and tragedy to depict these truly strange times.
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