One Battle After Another

Annotation for KRRR! 2026

The premise of the film One Battle After Another easily suggests a motif that has been an integral part of American action films since the 1980s at the latest: a hero who was once a member of an armed group rescues his child from kidnappers, returns to his former methods and amazes the viewer with his experience, foresight and ability to show that he is not yet an old man. Not so with Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), who cannot be a capable action hero any longer – just like the typical Hollywood protagonist who has the causality of events firmly in his hand. Quite the contrary, he rarely has any real influence on anything... and the film itself is far from a straightforward action story and is more of a network full of characters with diverse motivations and goals. According to Paul Thomas Anderson, his One Battle After Another was rather inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland. It is therefore reasonable to expect an experience that includes less structural playfulness and practically no fantastic elements. Nevertheless, Anderson's film, in accordance with the above, preserves the original dimension of the story, which subverts the formulas of various genres and cynically links to a number of opinion spectra and ideological frameworks of Western society. Events constantly get out of hand for heroes and villains, and important things often happen thanks to spontaneous decisions by supporting characters, who complicate the situation by mistake or in a sudden fit of altruism. The fictional world of the film itself is also inhabited by various activist groups, underground organisations and paramilitary groups that could meet and clash, but on the contrary, they tend to ignore each other and cross paths more due to absurd coincidences. Whether it is a group of left­‑wing radicals or a conspiracy of old white men running the world, the film depicts them all with undisguised irony.

Anderson does not shy away from any of the positions and any of the world views: he mocks everyone equally, actively subverts them all. The only motive on which this mischievous film sincerely focuses remains the relationship between Bob and his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti), which gradually deteriorates and improves as a result of circumstances. The result is not an action film, but an ironic black comedy about how clinging to false ideals can affect mutual relationships. Absurd, unpredictable and in every way unique, the film represents an exceptional artistic challenge that ranks among the most striking works of the past year. Out of thirteen Oscar nominations, it won six of them, including the awards for Best Picture and, above all, – finally – for Best Director for Anderson himself, one of the most admired Hollywood film makers of the last decades.

Filip Šula