The Movie Man: ‘One Battle After Another’ Delivers Relevance and Style

Editor’s Note: Movie Man Kevin Ganey is working his way through this year’s Best Picture nominees. Follow along as we count down to the Academy Awards on March 15.

Paul Thomas Anderson delivers once again with One Battle After Another, with signature eccentric characters, soundtracks, and setup.

When released in October, the movie seemed like a relatively distant dystopia. But within the first month of 2026, it seemed uncomfortably relevant. Leonardo DiCaprio leads as a former member of the far-left revolutionary group, the French 75, suddenly being hunted down by a long-forgotten enemy: Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn), who uses his unnamed military units in a fascistic pursuit of illegal immigrants.

Like any of PTA’s movies, eccentric by nature, there is much to say about the characters and their performances. DiCaprio’s Pat Calhoun is no longer the ambitious revolutionary, but now a pathetic paranoid stoner trying to remember a life he has long forgotten (with moments of comic relief), while his teenage daughter Charlene (Chase Infiniti) needs to play the role of the parent. Penn’s character’s pursuit of moral purity has given him an awkward appearance (particularly his hairstyle, sense of fashion, and even style of walking). And then there’s Benicio Del Toro as a karate sensei who assists Pat and Charlene while running cover for undocumented immigrants with almost too confident and mellow an approach.

The merits are not limited to the cast’s performances. The cinematography deserves praise, participating in the revival of VistaVision (a style created and used primarily in the 1950s and occasionally used since for high-resolution visual effects). Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist for Radiohead, collaborates with PTA once again to provide a soundtrack that includes strings and even hints of jazz (to create an unusual juxtaposition that somewhat lightens the mood). Above all: I need to praise the setup used throughout the movie (particularly the climactic scene involving the blind hills along the California deserts).

There is plenty of room for debate about storytelling methods. DiCaprio’s character hardly moves the story forward; that is primarily done by Infiniti’s character. He is more the glue that holds the story together, bridging the past with the present as a reminder for the audience.

I cannot say for certain whether this will take home the top prize of Best Picture, but it is certainly a top contender. Regardless of the outcome of the 98^th Academy Awards, it will be considered a classic in the years to come.

About the Author: Having lived in Old Lyme and Lyme since the age of three, Kevin Ganey has a lifelong passion for cinema that goes beyond simply watching films. He is the creator of CityOfCinema.com, a site devoted to movie analysis, and co-hosts the Moviehouse Mystics podcast with Koda Uhl, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.