' ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ' : FILM REVIEW

One Battle After Another lives on auteurist whims, where human flaws, agendas and a filmmaker's preference overtake order.

' Auteur Battleground ' : Paul Thomas Anderson [ PTA ] is an original voice - and with few genuine auteurs left in moviedom, he is one worth saving. The question then becomes saving for which particular movie?

If you're thinking of One Battle After Another,  I'd have to get back to you on that ....... after a decade or two of afterthught.

For One Battle, PTA has received widespread  acclaim [ it holds a 95 percent rating, with no negative reviews on Metacritic], but it's not as great as his more intimate, emotion shaking works Magnolia and There Will Be Blood.

Yet, like Boogie Nights, one cannot deny that ballsy originality of the story he tells.

Like Phantom Thread, my view of this film will likely stay in flux ; PTA's often belong to that rare objectiveness. At times, One Battle feels like a contemporary masterpiece; at others, it is merely a good ffilm hailed as great for its alignment with today's politics and mood.

These things it will never be, in any era or context : boring, formulaic and clutter-free.

Inspired by Thomas Pynchon's postmodern novel Vineland which, as per Wikipedia, chronicles the '' free spirit of rebellion [ of the Regan era ]'' and its clash with '' fascistic Nixonian repression.''

Here PTA shifts the narrative to the present,  embedding a new, woke revolution into the story's DNA.

The World Students Society thanks Mohammad Kamran Jawaid.