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

[Apollo Creed]

This is the divisive part with PTA films, is how he utilizes characters as a means to move the story forward. Those are great points that you mention and yet…


…this is where I fall into.

Spoiler

Maybe it’s the fact that it was the audacity of some seeing Leo playing this character or people were just expecting Leo to be a different character altogether, but he played the role perfectly. It brings me back to a post Apollo Creed made earlier where he mentioned a lesson should’ve been taught.

Why?

Some things are just what it is.

I don’t feel because it had black characters that we have to intellectualize a film more than it needed to be. If that’s the case damn near everybody has a claim to be offended in this.

Hispanics are just these victims that need to run and help Every race but their own? Del Toro gotta play a stereotype Hispanic stoner?

White women are just a black man’s play thing?

Native Indians get to be called derogatory terms in 2025 and only there to help other races?

White men gotta be these race superior characters? White liberal men gotta be dopey idiots?

Idk this was clearly a movie for entertainment purposes so Willa helping herself and being her own leader doesn’t bother me , the same way Teyana being a loud character and a shytty person doesn’t.

Like the other guy said and I said earlier you gotta turn your Brain off on this and not over thing who is being presented because there is no lessons in this shyt lol its just a movie, the unknown is if this is intentional satire or just a world that is what it is. When you see stuff like Willas teen friends the satire gets on the nose but then when you get past that and look at the other stuff if you turn your brain back on

Spoiler

you then ask yourself well if this is satire it doesn't do a good job being smart with it, unless the whole universe is just a joke then ok lol. And in this film I wouldn't say the Black man's play thing is a white woman I'd say black people are the labor and excitement/entertainment for everyone else, but this could be me presenting my bias as a black man but the black people in this movie are all powerless

 

[Black Excellence]

Like the other guy said and I said earlier you gotta turn your Brain off on this and not over thing who is being presented because there is no lessons in this shyt lol its just a movie, the unknown is if this is intentional satire or just a world that is what it is. When you see stuff like Willas teen friends the satire gets on the nose but then when you get past that and look at the other stuff if you turn your brain back on

Spoiler

you then ask yourself well if this is satire it doesn't do a good job being smart with it, unless the whole universe is just a joke then ok lol. And in this film I wouldn't say the Black man's play thing is a white woman I'd say black people are the labor and excitement/entertainment for everyone else, but this could be me presenting my bias as a black man but the black people in this movie are all powerless

Spoiler

I mention play thing only based on what’s her face playing Wood Harris love interest in the bank but that also could be a criticism as well if you choose to look at it from that lens. On the flip side one could say the black people were using the white faces & other races to further diversify their cause. You could say black people were powerless, I could say Teyana used two white men to produce a child who is stronger & smarter than the both of them.

I guess for me unless the film is fully focused on a specific tone I can’t lock in with my brain because film is art.

You don’t know where the director will go.

Sinners is an example, you could’ve thought it was this serious film based on the first half but then you see a musical scene in the middle of the film then it delves into another movie tonally in the second half.

A film where a chick is telling someone to get his dikk up then magically the same man just happens to find said chick in the bathroom of a bank where she’s carrying out a plan within the first 20 minutes, is not a film to be taken serious.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Spoiler

I mention play thing only based on what’s her face playing Wood Harris love interest in the bank but that also could be a criticism as well if you choose to look at it from that lens. On the flip side one could say the black people were using the white faces & other races to further diversify their cause. You could say black people were powerless, I could say Teyana used two white men to produce a child who is stronger & smarter than the both of them.

I guess for me unless the film is fully focused on a specific tone I can’t lock in with my brain because film is art.

You don’t know where the director will go.

Sinners is an example, you could’ve thought it was this serious film based on the first half but then you see a musical scene in the middle of the film then it delves into another movie tonally in the second half.

A film where a chick is telling someone to get his dikk up then magically the same man just happens to find said chick in the bathroom of a bank where she’s carrying out a plan within the first 20 minutes, is not a film to be taken serious.

Spoiler

Wood Harris seeming giddy to have white sexual access to a white woman who on the surface appears to be doing this for the thrill. + Teyana being pro women's rights and I believe having a line about abortion yet having gutter sex with the so called enemy and letting him nut in her while keeping the baby and then ratting on people fighting for a cause they are so called willing to die for, at some point goes form Satire to these folks are the WOAT. I think if they gave Willa a self realization moment of "damn both my parents aint shyt, and because of this I`m going to choose my own destiny and stand on something real" would have been a good way to close things out but dont frame it as she is continuing the battle (not saying you did this but its presented that way and other posters took it that way too) of her activist parents when them fukkers wasn't shyt lol

 

[Black Excellence]

Spoiler

Wood Harris seeming giddy to have white sexual access to a white woman who on the surface appears to be doing this for the thrill. + Teyana being pro women's rights and I believe having a line about abortion yet having gutter sex with the so called enemy and letting him nut in her while keeping the baby and then ratting on people fighting for a cause they are so called willing to die for, at some point goes form Satire to these folks are the WOAT. I think if they gave Willa a self realization moment of "damn both my parents aint shyt, and because of this I`m going to choose my own destiny and stand on something real" would have been a good way to close things out but dont frame it as she is continuing the battle (not saying you did this but its presented that way and other posters took it that way too) of her activist parents when them fukkers wasn't shyt lol

Spoiler

I don’t feel it’s any different than Kubrick’s films where his characters, mainly the protagonists, are very gray, not necessarily good people & have complexities.

Sean Penn called his daughter a mutt yet defended his child’s mother by calling her a warrior and for the daughter not to disrespect her mother.

Personally, if the film had that realization with Willa that would’ve been corny to me lol. It works in a storytelling 101 sense but I like that once again, the complexity of a daughter who is not even Bob’s real seed is holding down the fort to further the linage of her hero/rat mother, once again, complexity.

 

[OJ Simpsom]

If Willa had used some of that karate on Lockjaw a quick drop kick when she was tryna escape would have made up for that mutt line

 

[Jugernot]

If Willa had used some of that karate on Lockjaw a quick drop kick when she was tryna escape would have made up for that mutt line

It was a huge missed opportunity, but she was handcuffed/restrained and did kind of pull off a couple moves to get away briefly.

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

Went in with high hopes, left bemused by the love for this film. It’s like the very worst elements of Wes Anderson and Tarantino, and the moments of captivating cinematography can’t counterbalance that for me. The question that plagued the film, for me: what did this movie think it was? A commentary? A satire? A comedy? All of that and none of that at once? A lot of substituting quirk for character. Felt like porn for disaffected stoners from a guy with a peculiar fetish.

Maybe the second viewing will hit harder for you

 

[semicko82]

Yea. Good point. Once I sat and thought about it and turned my brain off I gave it an 8/10. But my initial impression from the previews was that it was going to be a bit more than what it actually was lol. I thought it was going to be some serious revolutionary movie. But after watching it I can see it's a hard movie to advertise because it's hard to put it into any particular box. But Leo does a good job playing the mediocre white man.

Same. The political stuff was pretty tame, and it pretty much tapered off during the second half of the movie.

The third act is pretty much a standard action movie stereotype albeit a very well made action movie

 

[Piff Perkins]

It was a huge missed opportunity, but she was handcuffed/restrained and did kind of pull off a couple moves to get away briefly.

I took it more as an example of Bob ensuring she was ready for what she ultimately did. Karate/martial arts classes, which was common amongst BPP members in the 60s/70s. She clearly had firearm training. Bob was also on the ass of the teacher about her education, emphasizing anti-imperialist viewpoints on US history.

So ultimately she didn't use the martial arts but she used some of that other shyt lol.

 

[Walt]

Maybe the second viewing will hit harder for you

 

[voltronblack]

Spoiler

Wood Harris seeming giddy to have white sexual access to a white woman who on the surface appears to be doing this for the thrill. + Teyana being pro women's rights and I believe having a line about abortion yet having gutter sex with the so called enemy and letting him nut in her while keeping the baby and then ratting on people fighting for a cause they are so called willing to die for, at some point goes form Satire to these folks are the WOAT. I think if they gave Willa a self realization moment of "damn both my parents aint shyt, and because of this I`m going to choose my own destiny and stand on something real" would have been a good way to close things out but dont frame it as she is continuing the battle (not saying you did this but its presented that way and other posters took it that way too) of her activist parents when them fukkers wasn't shyt lol

Spoiler: Michele Wallace

What you just said reminds me of another Black woman that her Teyana character could also be a satire/parody of that Michele Wallace, a Black feminist activist who worked with CIA agent Gloria Steinem.



She particularly pointed out how Steinem heavily promoted a book allegedly written by Michele Wallace, a Black feminist activist who was also touted as a leader of the movement.



“In her early twenties, Wallace, who like Steinem came out of nowhere (she was a Newsweek book review researcher), was suddenly being touted as the ‘leader’ of Black feminism,” Bramhall wrote. “In the book, Wallace called abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth ‘ugly’ and ‘stupid’ for supporting Black men. She called Black revolutionaries ‘chauvinist macho pigs’ and advised Black women to ‘go it alone.’ Gloria Steinem maintained that Wallace’s book would ‘define the future of Black relationships’ and she pushed hard to make sure the book received massive publicity. Gloria Steinem’s efforts triggered a flood of ‘Hate Black Men’ books and films that continue to this day.” Fact Check: Did Feminism Prophet Gloria Steinem Really Work For The CIA?

 

[Apollo Creed]

Spoiler: Michele Wallace

What you just said reminds me of another Black woman that her Teyana character could also be a satire/parody of that Michele Wallace, a Black feminist activist who worked with CIA agent Gloria Steinem.



She particularly pointed out how Steinem heavily promoted a book allegedly written by Michele Wallace, a Black feminist activist who was also touted as a leader of the movement.



“In her early twenties, Wallace, who like Steinem came out of nowhere (she was a Newsweek book review researcher), was suddenly being touted as the ‘leader’ of Black feminism,” Bramhall wrote. “In the book, Wallace called abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth ‘ugly’ and ‘stupid’ for supporting Black men. She called Black revolutionaries ‘chauvinist macho pigs’ and advised Black women to ‘go it alone.’ Gloria Steinem maintained that Wallace’s book would ‘define the future of Black relationships’ and she pushed hard to make sure the book received massive publicity. Gloria Steinem’s efforts triggered a flood of ‘Hate Black Men’ books and films that continue to this day.” Fact Check: Did Feminism Prophet Gloria Steinem Really Work For The CIA?

We see the outcome of that shyt today which is why this movie has elements that dare I say are "triggering". Like White people can chuckle but these dynamics have been deep rooted in to global black communities at this rate, so we dealing with the economy brunt of these systems and then can't even work together in our own homes which is something you dont see other groups face (all groups have this issue but for us it is rooted as normal while for others these are more so renegade women excommunicated by their groups which is why they come around black people).

 

[Lootpack]

Sound greedy as hell saying it with the movie not even a week in from release, but I really wanna see PTA tackle horror at some point. Next, even, if he doesn’t go through with that rumored jazz project with Denzel.

Spoiler

I bring that up because of all the scenes that stood out to me, the sequence where Junglep*ssy had that monologue in the bank was some genuinely unnerving shyt. You just knew shyt was about to hit the fan.

It’s titled ‘Baktan Cross’ on the official score. Very Pendericki-inspired. Greenwood was on one here.

Did NOT know Jon Brion collaborated with Greenwood on the score.

But now that I think about it, the movie did sound like a grown ass version of Punch-Drunk Love. Lol.

 

[Hugs]

Leo slander should not be tolerated imo. Sean was the best fit for this movie, but I would argue that Leo in Django was a way better character.

This was a great film, but I need a re-watch to fully form my thoughts.

Where's the slander?

nikka has played himself in every role since Titanic. Gilbert Grape was the last time he was more of a character actor than a leading man.

 

[Hugs]

Like the other guy said and I said earlier you gotta turn your Brain off on this and not over thing who is being presented because there is no lessons in this shyt lol its just a movie, the unknown is if this is intentional satire or just a world that is what it is. When you see stuff like Willas teen friends the satire gets on the nose but then when you get past that and look at the other stuff if you turn your brain back on

Spoiler

you then ask yourself well if this is satire it doesn't do a good job being smart with it, unless the whole universe is just a joke then ok lol. And in this film I wouldn't say the Black man's play thing is a white woman I'd say black people are the labor and excitement/entertainment for everyone else, but this could be me presenting my bias as a black man but the black people in this movie are all powerless

Spoiler

there's a secret society of white supremacists called the "Christmas Adventurers Club"

I would honestly say this is more farce than satire. Despite being very politically charged, the film has no deeper criticisms of... anything in contrast to Sorry to Bother You, Network, or Do the Right Thing. This movie is closer to Inherent Vice but with a Hollywood action backdrop rather than BlackKklansman, which thoroughly educated the viewer on white supremacy's evil.