Paul Thomas Anderson breaks a large rule for a shot in one battle after another

Spoilers for “a battle after another” follow.

Whether it is a romantic comedy like “Punch-Drunk Love” or an epic like “There will be blood”, the writer / director Paul Thomas Anderson always brings a distinctive visual language to his films. Long sockets, photos of mobile camera, clashes of symmetry and asymmetry, and distinctive choices often define its work – a combination which often invokes an older era of Hollywood. Despite being known for this strong visual style, Anderson says that his approach is often to leave the story and the filming places determine the plans he takes, rather than doing everything possible to create high visual drama moments.

According to Anderson himself, this rule was at the heart of the production of “One Battle After Other”, his last revolutionary epic of comedy-adventure (let’s say that five times faster). During a screening and a conversation attended / cinematographic on the place of the Union Regal in New York, Anderson discussed his desire to simply “tell the story” without unnecessary visual embellishment.

“Do not be gastronomic, don’t be too difficult,” said Anderson, explaining his philosophy when developing the visual language of the film. “Make the photos that tell the story, because there is so much history to tell. There is no room for decorations on top or powdered sugar, it must be very economical.” In a film of almost three hours like “One Battle After Other”, with so many parts and mobile pieces, this kind of approach has meaning. However, Anderson loved a little more a “gastronomic” approach of a specific moment – the confrontation between Willa (Chase Infiniti) and Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) in the chapel of the sisters of the Brave Beaver Mission.

If you have seen “a battle after another”, you probably already imagine the shot in question. After Lockjaw and his friends attacked the mission, his men bring Willa into the chapel, where his father who will soon be revealed. The establishment plan shows them at the opposite ends of the long and beautiful room, nothing other than an empty space and a rustic religious decor between them, while the camera points to a slight angle inclined in a high corner, presenting the moment of a disturbing God’s eye. Although Anderson tried to keep things as “economical” as possible during most of the shooting, this particular moment required more embellishment.

“You find yourself at an appointment point which is the sisters of the Brave Beaver, and you say to yourself:” Okay, well, there are visual opportunities here, we cannot run away, we indulge in these “”, explained the director. “These things are revealed in a way in writing, then it gives a fascinating dramatic moment when she will finally compete with Lockjaw, and you go:” Oh, it may be time for one of these big strokes of old-fashioned film, you know, go up the stairs and look down, see the game between our hero and our bad guy. “”

The simple and less “gastronomic” approach everywhere else has enabled time and dramatic space to really develop this scene. “You take advantage of these moments when they come,” said Anderson, “but you are trying not to count on them.”

Although the subject of the film – Brutal violence against immigrant communities and abuse of generally xenophobic power – feels particularly relevant at the moment, the cinema of “a battle after another” returns to a much older time, specifically evoking the new Hollywood movement of the 1960s and 70s. It is Anderson DNA which draws from the moment when it refers to “big strokes” Chapel.

You can see this DNA elsewhere in the film, as in the different car chase scenes that look like the sprinting camera alongside the pilots on the sidewalk, frantically trying to see if they will hover at the next turn. You can also feel this influence in the scenes of the revolutionary measures taken by the French 75 in the act of opening of the film.

Given the inspiration for the film, this influence adapts to an additional level. While the story takes place in modern times, Thomas Pynchon Anderson’s novel was freely adapted to making the film, “Vineland”, was published in 1990. The aging revolutionaries of the book praised the 60s and 70s – an era that expressed its approach to Anderson. A copy of the “Rage days” by Bryan Burrough – A history of radical movements in the 1970s – at the start of the process. The Weather Underground, such an eminent group of this decade, was also a specific starting point for the film.

“One battle after another” is now in theaters.