One Battle After Another is secretly a love letter to Arcata
by Julia Kelm
The latest film from Oscar-winning director Paul Thomas Anderson One Battle After Another hit theaters on Sept. 26. The film follows ex-revolutionaries reuniting to rescue the daughter of one of their crew members, as an old enemy resurfaces to take them out.
The protagonist, who adopted the name Bob after going into hiding, is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio is the stoned-out, paranoid ex-revolutionist, delivering the role with realism and unexpected humor.
Panicked after getting a call, Bob spends the film trying to find his daughter before the nefarious white supremacist Colonel Lockjaw — played by Sean Penn — captures her. Penn’s performance was also brilliant and politically timely. Penn plays the role of a sinister monster so effortlessly that it feels genuine — he has this certain specific walk he does, which is somehow simultaneously incredibly intimidating and hilarious. You just have to watch it to know what I mean. I think I’ll forever be creeped out by Penn in every movie he’s in going forward.
Benicio del Toro plays Sensei Sergio, an extremely distinct and cool supporting role. Del Toro balances out the character dynamic as the chill, unbothered sensei. As DiCaprio runs around, tweaking out to every perceived obstacle, Sergio just calmly goes about his business.
Beyond the cast, this film also features what I would consider cinematically the greatest car chase sequences I have ever seen. Although the runtime of this film is about three hours, the car chase alone is worth the screentime it takes up.
This film has important and pressing messaging, such as the mass deportation of immigrants and white supremacist hold on our culture and government. I think the plot being centered around revolution and de-glamorization with age is interesting and a lot to unpack. Bob sort of reflects the general audience in a way — tired and scared. Willa, Bob’s daughter, could represent a more hopeful future.
My only gripe with the film is that it’s a tad too long; the beginning sequence featuring characters from the past could have been shortened. The last 15 minutes also could’ve been completely cut, and the final message would have been the same. I could definitely see someone with a short attention span walking out, or falling asleep before the ‘real’ story even began. All and all, I made it through and think I’m better for it — as One Battle After Another has firmly made me a Paul Thomas Anderson fan.
Besides the cast and plot, there was something that made this film so special. That being, seeing it here in Humboldt. One Battle After Another was filmed in a few different locations across Humboldt County. This included Eureka, Arcata and some residential areas in Cutten. Specific sites include Murphy’s Market in Cutten, Eureka High School, the Northtown area of Arcata — including Raliberto’s Taco Shop — and the forested Sequoia Park.
The beloved Raliberto’s restaurant is even named aloud in the film, causing theater goers to whisper amongst each other excitedly and even clap and cheer a little. There were also loud gasps when DiCaprio ran into the Murphys’ bathroom.
This movie is a blockbuster, multimillion-dollar film with Leonardo Di-fuckin-Caprio in it, seen all around the world. Then, here in our little town and nowhere else, people are cheering for a random taco shop. To me, this really puts into perspective how important and amazing this is for our community.
So, if you still haven’t seen this whirlwind of a film, please, I beg you, please do while you’re here! Because you’ll likely never get a theater experience quite like that ever again.
Julia is a journalism major, and is the life and arts editor for the paper. She loves film and is a regular on Letterboxd. She also enjoys going on walks in the forest, and taking pictures to relax. If you have a movie you want her to review, email her at jk328@humboldt.edu.
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