The superlatives that have already been bestowed upon the new PTA (Paul Thomas Anderson) movie that just hit theaters last weekend are, quite honestly, hard to believe: to many, it’s PTA’s best film, Leonardo DiCaprio’s career best performance, the best film of the year, and even the best film of the decade. How could the film, which chronicles an ex-freedom fighter’s frenzied chase away from a wing of the U.S. military and towards wherever his missing daughter might be, possibly live up to all that?

On this episode of The Long Take Review, we each share the extent to which we felt One Battle After Another lived up to the extreme hype, unpack why the film feels both timely and timeless, give shoutouts to the MVPs of the cast (spoiler: there are several), dissect characters’ motivations, and speculate whether or not the film has what it takes to go all the way at the Oscars. It’s a wild ride; hop in.

We go into SPOILER MODE at the 21:34 minute mark. If you can’t remember the password for spoilers, you can listen safely until then.

Image Credit: Variety

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