‘One Battle After Another’ (dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson) | Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn (9/26)

[Wig Twistin Season]

Everyone in the movie was a caricature.

The leading actor in the movie was a “beta male cuck” equally obsessed with black women (so much so that he yelled it in the car in the first 10 minutes of the movie) raising a white supremacist’s daughter and left behind by a woman who only used him and lied to him, driving him to the point of alcoholism and drug abuse.



He didn’t once save his own ass or his daughter’s ass. He was WEAK. How are so many of y’all missing EVERY character was a type? Leo was saved by someone else in every part of this movie. His daughter had to save herself. If it wasn’t his “mother-in-law” trying to warn him, it was his sister-in-law getting his ass to safety or his daughter’s Karate sensei, etc.



Leo was the stereotypical white ally who was in over his head and not fully aware of the weight of the situation he involved himself in. “I never thought HE (Lockjaw) would come back. If anything I thought it would be your mother.”





Mega simp ass white boy.

 

[Walt]

I might swoop through the thread again and drop some more thoughts about the film, but I tend to avoid discourse in The Film Room for the same reason I have always avoided Higher Learning: there's a tendency for people to show up to a conversation with a conclusion already formulated, then to work from there to arrive at that pre-determined conclusion. So you rarely get exchanges, just people shouting and condescending.

With movies and music and art in general I go into it assuming a lot of smart people who aren't operating in bad faith can interpret artistic works differently. If you don't like what I like or see what my critical lens picks up, it doesn't mean I dislike you or think you're a moron. We all have socialized biases and blindspots.

So, yeah, obviously a lot of people are passionate about this film and I'm not looking to shame your kink or yuck your yum or anything. But I def think the movie has a Donald Glover "This is America" aesthetic/spirit where it's a about so much and so little at once that it leaves it up to the audience to defend the message of the work itself, which builds in the defense of "you just don't get what's being communicated." Anyway, more later. The weather's too nice to be typing.

 

[phillycavsfan]

Regina king was the best potrayl (I`m not saying Black people have to be perfect and sinless more so just calling out not being border line a caricature), and she barely in this

It's Regina Hall.

There are 5 black female characters with speaking roles in the movies. 3 major characters (Perfidia, Deandra, Willa) and 2 minor ones (Junglepu$$y, Mother Superior). Only 2 of the characters fit the so called "loud and black" caricature, and they both leave the movie after the first 40 minutes.

 

[phillycavsfan]

Everyone in the movie was a caricature.

The leading actor in the movie was a “beta male cuck” equally obsessed with black women (so much so that he yelled it in the car in the first 10 minutes of the movie) raising a white supremacist’s daughter and left behind by a woman who only used him and lied to him, driving him to the point of alcoholism and drug abuse.



He didn’t once save his own ass or his daughter’s ass. He was WEAK. How are so many of y’all missing EVERY character was a type? Leo was saved by someone else in every part of this movie. His daughter had to save herself. If it wasn’t his “mother-in-law” trying to warn him, it was his sister-in-law getting his ass to safety or his daughter’s Karate sensei, etc.



Leo was the stereotypical white ally who was in over his head and not fully aware of the weight of the situation he involved himself in. “I never thought HE (Lockjaw) would come back. If anything I thought it would be your mother.”





Mega simp ass white boy.

I don't get this critique. Did you want the burned out pothead to save the day?

 

[Wig Twistin Season]

I don't get this critique. Did you want the burned out pothead to save the day?

No. I didnt want the burnout to be the hero. My point is people are criticizing the roles black prople played in the movie and neither black nor white characters had nuisances or complexities. They were ALL fukked up people. However, the mixed race daughter was a complex enough character.

The hero of the movie was the daughter who had to endure all of this bullshyt she didn’t ask to be a part of and managed to save herself. There’s a deeper message there also.

I went into this movie knowing nothing about it, so I had no idea what I was walking into, nor did I want the movie to go any particular way. I just enjoyed it for what it was.

 

[Roid Jones]

I'm worried for Sinners now, I see this being the Oscar darling

 

[GoldenGlove]

I’m curious to know what you think the movie was about. What was the message of the movie to you?

*I’m not asking to argue my point or convince you it was deeper than you thought because I respect that everyone has their own take on art.

The movie was about an activist/domestic terrorist group fighting the establishment by unifying the minority majority population in the US. Story was focused on the fallout from one of their leaders getting arrested and turning informant, forcing her lover and accomplices to go into hiding.

There were various messages, but the most important one for me was that when it comes to organizing a movement, building community and relationships is more impactful than symbolic and performative actions that get attention but ultimately don't move the needle in terms of making real change.

The French 75 was out there doing all that rah rah shyt to make their point and ended up dead, in prison or living in secret. A stark contrast to the Sensei who knew his community, had a network of professionals currently working within the corrupt systems that needs to be dismantled... And through that, he had real pull and was able to covertly make moves for his people that actually mattered.

I "got" the movie, the inconsistent level of detail with the writing killed it for me. Like I said, too many nonsensical things transpired throughout the film that made it impossible for me to take serious.

The satire angle people are propping up now seems like copium to defend some of the holes present in the story. And to that point I'll say this, if it's a satire, they did a terrible job with executing that as well.

 

[OJ Simpsom]

Half the movie could have been avoided by just getting an empty can or water bottle from Willa.

 

[Black Excellence]

The movie was about an activist/domestic terrorist group fighting the establishment by unifying the minority majority population in the US. Story was focused on the fallout from one of their leaders getting arrested and turning informant, forcing her lover and accomplices to go into hiding.

There were various messages, but the most important one for me was that when it comes to organizing a movement, building community and relationships is more impactful than symbolic and performative actions that get attention but ultimately don't move the needle in terms of making real change.

The French 75 was out there doing all that rah rah shyt to make their point and ended up dead, in prison or living in secret. A stark contrast to the Sensei who knew his community, had a network of professionals currently working within the corrupt systems that needs to be dismantled... And through that, he had real pull and was able to covertly make moves for his people that actually mattered.

I "got" the movie, the inconsistent level of detail with the writing killed it for me. Like I said, too many nonsensical things transpired throughout the film that made it impossible for me to take serious.

The satire angle people are propping up now seems like copium to defend some of the holes present in the story. And to that point I'll say this, if it's a satire, they did a terrible job with executing that as well.

It’s one thing to not like the movie but saying there was inconsistency in the writing, plot holes and they did a bad job with satire?

It’s not a satire. Nor is it a serious film.

The tones of the film are pretty obvious. It’s a silly film using dark comedy for humor with some grounded elements. Just because the crux of the film utilizes revolution doesn’t mean there’s some deeper meaning. The writing was great, wasn’t any issues with how they moved the plot forward.

I really think people are making this movie more than it needs to be, there wasn’t any messages within or any deep subliminals.

 

[phillycavsfan]

The movie was about an activist/domestic terrorist group fighting the establishment by unifying the minority majority population in the US. Story was focused on the fallout from one of their leaders getting arrested and turning informant, forcing her lover and accomplices to go into hiding.

There were various messages, but the most important one for me was that when it comes to organizing a movement, building community and relationships is more impactful than symbolic and performative actions that get attention but ultimately don't move the needle in terms of making real change.

The French 75 was out there doing all that rah rah shyt to make their point and ended up dead, in prison or living in secret. A stark contrast to the Sensei who knew his community, had a network of professionals currently working within the corrupt systems that needs to be dismantled... And through that, he had real pull and was able to covertly make moves for his people that actually mattered.

I "got" the movie, the inconsistent level of detail with the writing killed it for me. Like I said, too many nonsensical things transpired throughout the film that made it impossible for me to take serious.

The satire angle people are propping up now seems like copium to defend some of the holes present in the story. And to that point I'll say this, if it's a satire, they did a terrible job with executing that as well.

It's adapted from Pynchon, who writes a good deal of satire. The characters are named Steven Lockjaw and Perfidia Beverly Hills and the racist elites belong to a Christmas Adventurer Club. What does satire look like to you if it's not this?

 

[Wig Twistin Season]

I respect everyone’s interpretation, hence the daps, however, this movie was clearly satirical in my opinion. I was laughing out loud at several points in the movie.

 

[GoldenGlove]

It’s one thing to not like the movie but saying there was inconsistency in the writing, plot holes and they did a bad job with satire?

It’s not a satire. Nor is it a serious film.

The tones of the film are pretty obvious. It’s a silly film using dark comedy for humor with some grounded elements. Just because the crux of the film utilizes revolution doesn’t mean there’s some deeper meaning. The writing was great, wasn’t any issues with how they moved the plot forward.

I really think people are making this movie more than it needs to be, there wasn’t any messages within or any deep subliminals.

It's not a satire, nor is it serious, it's a dark comedy for humor... but the movie wasn't funny. From what you just typed, that even furthers my point into why the writing was a mess. Your post is telling me this... and then the very next post is saying...

It's adapted from Pynchon, who writes a good deal of satire. The characters are named Steven Lockjaw and Perfidia Beverly Hills and the racist elites belong to a Christmas Adventurer Club. What does satire look like to you if it's not this?

I'd say movies like, The Truman Show, Big Fish, Sorry to Bother You and They Cloned Tyrone are examples of satirical films that the viewer clearly understands they're watching a satire.

Even with the dumbass KKK group/Christmas name, I didn't know if they were speaking in code or just trolling. Again, it goes back to how the film was written and the execution.

@Black Excellence back to your post. I'm going to stand on the writing being ass and nonsensical due to how stupid Teyana Taylor's character was written. Committing domestic terrorist attacks without a mask on, and spinning the block multiple times at that?... I agree with you, this was not a serious film. I could see if the entire crew was out there just stupid like that, but it's only her, which made no fukking sense, because obviously, if one gets jammed up, they're all fukked (as we saw play out in the film)

Then it was amazing to watch a federal informant that is in witness protection just flee the country after throwing on a hoody and a COVID mask Genius level stuff right there to move the story along.

Willa obviously listens to her pops all these years, knows there's a valid reason to be paranoid... she has the sound device with her and is told to trust whomever she encounters with the same device with her life. Ok cool, she leaves with a complete stranger based on that important information that her pops communicated to her for YEARS prior to shyt hitting the fan, and guess what? She keeps her fukking cellphone on her when they're fleeing!?!?

HUH? Again, that made no sense. This wasn't just some regular entitled kid, this is a kid that has been trained up and understands what's at stake (if she didn't, then why did she leave the dance with a stranger).

I have to disagree whenever I see this film being praised for it's writing when so much of the main elements in the story were rooted in stuff happening that just made no sense and were contradictory to the characters that we learned about as the film moved along.

 

[Wig Twistin Season]

After a quick google search of “is the movie One Battle After Another satire?” the answer is clear.

Yes, the Paul Thomas Anderson film
One Battle After Another is a satire. It is a dark, action-filled comedy that satirizes America's polarized political and social landscape by blending extreme politics with absurd humor.
Key satirical elements of the film include:

• Ridiculous Villains: The primary antagonists, a white supremacist group called the "Christmas Adventurers Club," are portrayed as both menacing and preposterously funny.
• Flawed Characters: Lead character Bob Ferguson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is a former radical revolutionary now a "flailing has-been" who makes absurd blunders, like struggling with a customer-service hotline password for his underground network.
• Political Commentary: The movie uses over-the-top, farcical scenarios to critique political issues such as immigration and militarization, mirroring themes found in its source material, Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland.
• "Equal-Opportunity" Satire: Some critics have described the film as satirizing both far-left and far-right ideologies, although the bias of its presentation is a point of debate.

Overall, the film uses humor and exaggeration to comment on what it portrays as a chaotic and divided America.

 

[Deus]

It's adapted from Pynchon, who writes a good deal of satire. The characters are named Steven Lockjaw and Perfidia Beverly Hills and the racist elites belong to a Christmas Adventurer Club. What does satire look like to you if it's not this?

Christmas Adventurer Club = CAC
Hail St. Nick = Hail Satan

 

[Poetical Poltergeist]

I respect everyone’s interpretation, hence the daps, however, this movie was clearly satirical in my opinion. I was laughing out loud at several points in the movie.

I agree. I think some people are overt thinking this flick. Its a dark comedy to me. Nothing really more or less.