Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film is being hailed as a masterpiece, with director Steven Spielberg among the high-profile industry figure singing its praises.
One Battle After Another is the latest movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, the Oscar-nominated director behind There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.
It follows a former member of a resistance group who seeks help from other revolutionaries to find his missing daughter. The film is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland and marks the first ever collaboration between Anderson and DiCaprio.
Speaking at a Q&A with Anderson at the Directors Guild of America theatre in Los Angeles, Spielberg called the movie “insane” and “incredible”.
“This is such a concoction of things that are so bizarre and at the same time so relevant, that I think have become increasingly more relevant than perhaps even when you finished the screenplay and assembled your cast and crew and began production,” he said, The Film Stage reports.
The film has also received rave reviews from critics. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich said: “One Battle After Another might be the best movie released by a major American studio since I started working as a critic (~2010). Distressing how little else comes to mind!”
Slash Film editor Chris Evangelista echoed the praise, writing: “One Battle After Another finds PTA capturing our current hellish landscape in a darkly funny film loaded with thrilling car chases, deafening shootouts, and absurdism. Shocking but familiar images abound. One of the best of the year!”
Entertainment reporter Simon Thompson lauded the “stellar ensemble cast”, adding that the movie was an “engrossing opus” and “masterful filmmaking that could have been a mess in the wrong hands”.
Kyle Buchanan of the New York Times tipped the movie to become a Oscar winner. “The fall fests didn’t move the Oscar needle much, but One Battle After Another certainly will,” he said.
“Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest could be nominated across the board and finally nab PTA the top Oscar. Now, to see if Warner Bros can open it…”
One Battle After Another also stars Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall and Chase Infinity. It is scheduled to be released on 26 September.
