One Battle After Another follows the story of Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-revolutionary who, after many years in exile, is suddenly propelled into a race to save his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) and face his destructive past.
Instead of leaning into a formulaic deadbeat dad narrative, One Battle After Another follows a damaged man who does his best to fight through trauma to show up for his daughter -- even though he has no idea what the heck he's doing most of the time.
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Teyana Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio star in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros.
I suppose the trainwreck he gets caught up in is what happens when you've got a criminal past you're running from and a teenage daughter you're trying to protect who really doesn't know much about the life you used to live.
Needless to say, there's a rift between them.
"You know, he's this ex-revolutionary that's trying to relate to his daughter, but then they're in the midst of a fight," DiCaprio told me during press interviews for the movie. "They're not getting along; they're disconnected, and then all of a sudden his past comes back to haunt him."
Before his daughter was born, Bob was the explosives expert in a revolutionary group called the French 75. He was known by names like Ghetto Pat and Rocket Man. He and his girlfriend, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), made their living by blowing up the establishment (literally).
Then their daughter came into the picture.
Chase Infiniti stars as Willa in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros.
One Battle After Another flips the parenting script and puts Bob in the apprehensive (and understandably panicked) stay-at-home dad role. Perfidia doesn't take well to domestic life and returns to her revolutionary ways, going back to a life of disruption. Things don't end well.
Sixteen years later, Bob and Willa live a life of seclusion. Instead of dealing with his own demons, he drowns the damage of his past with drugs and alcohol.
And then his past catches up with them. Suddenly, Bob is scrambling to pick up the pieces and save his daughter's life, while Willa discovers some hidden truths about her lineage that make her question, well, everything.
Generational trauma sure does suck.
Teyana Taylor stars in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros.
It goes without saying that family comes in many forms. In One Battle After Another, it shows up as a clueless father struggling to connect with his strong-willed teenage daughter, a group of revolutionaries trying to bring about justice and the immigrant families we see throughout the movie, either being detained or ushered to safety.
All of this is what makes up the movie's story world, and while these are visuals that may feel a bit close to home for many, the real-world weight of things doesn't get in the way of the movie-watching experience.
It's a narrative tightrope walk, and co-star Benicio del Toro explains why it works so well.
Benicio del Toro stars in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros.
"My character's involved with moving families from one place to another for their safety, you know, to keep the families together, because we don't like when families get separated," the actor, who plays Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, said during our chat.
"What Paul did was he made it very human, full of compassion. I think with all of the subjects, all the extremes that are shown in this film, he goes around it and he shows it to you without taking a position and without forcing a point. Like Leo says, without making you feel like you're taking medicine. In the end, the movie's about love."
That love manifests in a whole variety of ways. Of all the moments in the movie, I keep coming back to a throwaway line that Bob exasperatedly tells Sensei as they're driving through the desert. He says he doesn't know how to do his daughter's hair.
Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall star in One Battle After Another. Warner Bros.
So many dads watching this movie can probably relate to that statement. But there's a cultural weight to these words that adds another layer to Bob's disconnect from his daughter and his desperation to get her back.
"It's one of the details and moments, specifically, that came directly from Paul Thomas Anderson," DiCaprio continued. "I actually had a conversation with his father-in-law the other day, who said, 'I'm the one who said that to him,' about his daughter Maya [Rudolph]. 'I can't do her hair.' He said he got emotional in that moment. It was a family kind of story that he's trying to relate to his daughter, and doesn't know how to do her hair."
DiCaprio added: "That's what I love about how Paul set up this entire structure. He's in this constant mode of desperation to try to get her back. It's beautifully written in that way, and it just feels real. It feels like real people who are flawed and relatable."