‘One Battle After Another’ review: Epic and intimate too, brutal while also tender

From car chases to reefer-smoking nuns, One Battle After Another has it all. Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest masterpiece is a carnivalesque tour of radical protest in the American context seen through a father-daughter relationship.

Sixteen years ago, members of the leftist militant group French 75 scattered after their latest act of insurrection failed. Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) turned in some of her comrades and disappeared, leaving behind her husband Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and their daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti).

In the present, a frequently stoned and/or drunk Bob is struggling with single parenthood. When military colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) comes looking for Willa, Bob must get his act together, teaming up with karate teacher Sergio (Benicio Del Toro) and French 75 member Deandre (Regina Hall) to rescue his daughter.

French 75’s reputation holds Bob in good stead with nearly everybody. His brain fried by narcotics, Bob struggles to remember the all-important password that will unlock access to French 75’s bureaucratic network.

There’s always room for satire and screwball comedy in Anderson’s screenplay, inspired by the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland. Some of the characters are caricatures – the overly sexualised Perfidia, the...

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