The West Bend Current

My favorite detail about Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, “One Battle After Another,” is Bob Ferguson’s shoes.

Bob is a washed-up revolutionary, who spends most of his days in substance-induced paranoia, living in a small cabin in the woods with his daughter, Willa. On my first watch, I noticed the interesting bright orange soles on the bottoms of Bob’s sneakers. Then I realized: I had that same pair of shoes. I bought them two years ago at the REI store in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Bob wore a pair of All-Weather Altra Lone Peaks, a widely loved hiking and trail running shoe for fans of the outdoors. His shoes become apparent very quickly in the film, and I was immediately hooked into the most modern world that Anderson has created recently. 

“One Battle After Another” marks the sixth collaboration between Anderson and Jonny Greenwood, a founding member of Radiohead and multi-talented instrumentalist and film composer. The two have been working together since “There Will Be Blood” (2007), which I first saw in my junior year of high school, in a film class taught by my former honors English teacher. I had never heard of Anderson before taking that class.

For years, I had seen both the infamous “I’ve abandoned my child!” and “I drink your milkshake!” online many times and found them hilarious. I still remember when those scenes came up, and I sat there in the dark classroom, smiling, watching Daniel Day-Lewis scream in visceral rage at Eli Sunday about both his surrogate child and the legendary milkshake. I can see, 20 years from now, that “One Battle After Another” will be seen in the same light.

Unlike “There Will Be Blood,” though, “One Battle After Another” is not a period piece. It’s a rare modern story from Anderson, but his style remains intact.

From the multitude of silly gags and absurd things that the characters somehow take seriously, there are so many endlessly quotable lines and hilarious situations. Bob flees from his home to Sensei Sergio’s dojo, scrambling around in panic. Bob runs into the back of the dojo, where he runs back on screen and yells to Sergio, “I need a weapon man! All you got is nunchucks!” This film will almost surely survive as a rare mix of the epic, laughably silly, and awesome “dad movies” of the 1990s as well as one of the truly great works of cinema. 

This is the defining film of my generation. Hilariously contemporary, almost uncannily accurate. When Lockjaw busts into the school dance, I froze because it truly looked like the high school dance I went to just months ago, from the students crowded around the DJ in a mock mosh pit to the very songs played at the dance, I was shocked at how spot-on that dance scene was. Anderson’s dedication to creating a film that is firmly placed in the modern world is incredibly impressive.

“One Battle After Another” is the movie of the year. Perhaps it is even the movie of the decade, but only time will tell. It should be seen on the largest screen possible and with the best sound system possible. It is auditorily incredible, visually amazing and among the most intriguing narratives I have seen in recent years.

“One Battle After Another” is now showing at West Bend Cinema and Marcus Menomonee Falls Cinema.

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(Images are official publicity material.)