Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke, Giovanni Ribisi and Cat Power

“One Battle After Another” is a 20-year project by Paul Thomas Anderson — the kind of idea that lingers in the back of your mind for decades.

Anderson read “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon and, unable to adapt the whole thing, kept some of its structure and reworked the story around immigration — a topic that became urgent again in Trump’s America.

Just that long incubation would already be remarkable, but Anderson went further: he revived a 1950s filming technique abandoned in the next decade for being too expensive and complex — VistaVision, Hitchcock’s favorite.

The method flips how 35mm film runs through the camera — horizontally instead of vertically — so each frame takes up more space on the negative, giving the image richer detail.

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Anderson first thought about using a modified VistaVision camera in 2012, before shooting “The Master”, but the equipment needed repair.

By 2019, fully restored, it was used to shoot “Anima”, Thom Yorke’s solo EP that became a short film. It was the first time since the 1960s the format was used in full.

Anderson wanted to bring it back for “Licorice Pizza”, but realized he needed more and better gear.

That’s when Giovanni Ribisi came in — earning a special thanks in “One battle after another” credits without appearing in the film.

Ribisi, a lover of analog film, restores old cameras as a hobby. At least one used in the movie was fixed and loaned by him.

🌀 Curiosity

Ribisi once dated Chan Marshall, our beloved Cat Power.

His daughter from another relationship was going through rough teenage years when Chan was writing her album “Sun”. The girl loved David Bowie, so Chan decided to make a song inspired by “Heroes” — and called the closest thing she could get to Bowie: Iggy Pop.

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I see you, kid, alone in your room

You got the weight on your mind

And you’re just trying to get by

Your world is just beginning

And I know this life seems never-ending

But you got nothing but time

And it ain’t got nothing on you

If there’s a better stepmom than that, I don’t know her. They’re not together anymore.

💥 Sharp Social Critique (crítica social foda)

The phrase became a joke here in Brazil — and PTA uses humor to roast both dumb fascism and the woke left that builds so many layers of belonging it ends up losing ground to dusty, violent ideologies from the last century.

The scene where Leonardo DiCaprio tries to recall a 16-year-old password during a easy call of the revolutionary movement is already a meme — and a Halloween costume.

Sean Penn plays a hyper-violent military caricature — and still isn’t the movie’s worst villain.

One Battle After Another is hilarious, tense, and beautiful all at once. If it wins fewer than five Oscars, call the VAR.

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