One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson’s film comes from Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland but keeps almost none of its names. Zoyd Wheeler is now Bob Ferguson, his daughter Prairie is Willa, Frenesi Gates is Perfidia Beverly Hills, and the villain Brock Vond is Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. The novel’s Reagan era crackdown becomes immigration raids. Most of it was shot in VistaVision, the 35mm strip running through the camera horizontally for a bigger frame. The camera was too loud for dialogue, so some talking scenes moved to Super 35. The texture does not stay the same from scene to scene, and it shows. The desert chase was shot on one rolling road near Borrego Springs, no visual effects, camera on an arm car. When the car drops out of sight over a rise, that is the road, not a cut. The film won six Oscars: best picture, directing, adapted screenplay, film editing, supporting actor for Sean Penn, and the casting award, given for the first time that year. Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for actor and Teyana Taylor for supporting actress; neither won. A good fit if you know Pynchon and take the renaming and the period shift as a choice, not a betrayal. Not for a viewer expecting the search for the missing girl to run like a straight rescue.