Master director Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, "One Battle After Another," a cinematic manifesto on the mind and reality, emerges as a masterpiece adapted from American author Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland. With a budget of $130 million, the production marks one of the most expensive projects of Anderson's career. Its $48.5 million opening weekend box office is seen as a testament to Warner Bros.'s faith in the director. The film premiered in Los Angeles on September 8, 2025, and was released in theaters on September 26.
The story follows a former revolutionary who, while escaping the shadows of
his past, enters a struggle with a corrupt government official for the sake of
his daughter. This personal battle evolves into a deep journey where he
confronts past traumas, hopes for the future, and his own destiny.
The works of American author Thomas Pynchon are built on paranoia,
bureaucracy, power structures, and the multi-layered nature of reality. This
film, too, focuses on the main character (Leonardo DiCaprio) confronting his
past as a former revolutionary and a corrupt military official (Sean Penn) on
his journey to save his daughter. This allows us to draw powerful parallels
with the critique of power and surveillance mechanisms in French philosopher
Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish. Anderson combines the visible
and hidden mechanisms of power's oppression on the individual with elements of
suspense, dragging the audience into a conceptual labyrinth.
Inside a Chaotic Labyrinth
"One Battle After Another" is not merely a film that fuels
suspense; it also offers a powerful critique of the modern world's complex
structure and the depths of human psychology. While it handles a father's
struggle to save his daughter, it draws the viewer into the "rhizome"
philosophy of French philosopher and psychoanalyst Gilles Deleuze and philosopher
Félix Guattari—a concept of a subterranean network that spreads new roots at
random. The film boldly tackles the effects of capitalism, the modern state,
and political ideologies on the individual. The main character's
"petrified" and isolated state as a former revolutionary in
contemporary America might prompt you to reconsider Martin Heidegger's concept
of Dasein (the fundamental concept that expresses human existence's
being-in-the-world, or 'being-there'). This character's struggle for escape is not
just a physical pursuit but an attempt to flee an existential labyrinth created
by the political system.
Anderson's
Cinematic Signature
This depth is fused with Anderson's masterful cinematography. The film, shot
in the VistaVision format, once again proves the director's visual
perfectionism. Long and slow-moving camera shots in the vast and empty
streets of Los Angeles reinforce the character's sense of isolation, while wide-angle
frames visualize the political system he is trapped within. The locations
in the film are not merely a backdrop; they serve as a labyrinth that reflects
the characters' state of mind. The characters are generally flawed, obsessive,
and full of internal conflicts. The music, in particular, is not just a
background score but a crucial element that forms the emotional backbone of the
story. In one key chase scene, for example, Jonny Greenwood's rhythmic and
unsettling musical notes masterfully escalate the tension, elevating the
suspense to a new dimension. We encounter all these signature elements of the
director in "One Battle After Another.
Ultimately, with this film, Paul Thomas Anderson proves once again that
he is not just a storyteller, but a "manifesto" artist who
conducts a philosophical and psychological discussion through cinema. The film
will take its place in cinema history as a work of art that pushes the
boundaries of its genre.
EFE TEKSOY
References
Pynchon, Thomas. Vineland.
Little, Brown and Company, 1990.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline
and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Pantheon Books, 1977.
Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari,
Félix. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. University of
Minnesota Press, 1987.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and
Time. Blackwell Publishing, 1962.
Greenwood, Jonny. (Composing
Works).
Anderson, Paul Thomas.
(Filmography and Cinematographic Approaches).
For Cinema Industry and Box
Office Data: IMDbPro,
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Box Office Mojo.
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