One Battle After Another also confirms PTA's love for commercial movies where one plot point was his riff on Mission: Impossible. The entire gag where Bob is on the phone trying to get the rendezvous point but cannot remember the password was apparently inspired by PTA thinking, "What would happen if Ethan Hunt forgot the code words used in spy exchanges?"
Great essay. I agree with your assessment of PTA and I’ve always seen his filmography as essentially one long thesis about ~America~, with There Will Be Blood being one of the best films about America ever made. I saw OBAA last night and while it is definitely “of the moment,” I think it also understands that American society has always existed in tension between fascist and revolutionary energies - it’s part of the country’s foundational condition, and it’s especially bad right now but it’s not new. Which is why I think the movie is able to be both exhausted and hopeful at the same time.
One Battle After Another also confirms PTA's love for commercial movies where one plot point was his riff on Mission: Impossible. The entire gag where Bob is on the phone trying to get the rendezvous point but cannot remember the password was apparently inspired by PTA thinking, "What would happen if Ethan Hunt forgot the code words used in spy exchanges?"
Great essay. I agree with your assessment of PTA and I’ve always seen his filmography as essentially one long thesis about ~America~, with There Will Be Blood being one of the best films about America ever made. I saw OBAA last night and while it is definitely “of the moment,” I think it also understands that American society has always existed in tension between fascist and revolutionary energies - it’s part of the country’s foundational condition, and it’s especially bad right now but it’s not new. Which is why I think the movie is able to be both exhausted and hopeful at the same time.