Scorsese Champions PTA's 'One Battle After Another'

Martin Scorsese has added his voice to the growing chorus of filmmakers championing Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, calling it "a fascinating and extraordinarily made film [with] extraordinary performances everywhere," according to World of Reel.

The director moderated a Q&A with PTA last night at a DGA screening, where the film got a standing ovation.

Scorsese didn't hold back his praise, addressing the film's "thematic points," calling them "on spot right now," and highlighting how urgently it addresses political and ideological polarization, a sentiment echoed by many early viewers.

DiCaprio told The New York Times:

This movie, it’s politically charged, but I think it has a lot to do with how tribal we’ve all become. It’s about how we define who we love or tolerate. The pivotal two forces in this movie are part of Paul’s imagination, but I think they’re an analogy of where we’ve become as a society and how we have stopped listening to one another, and how these characters thinking or acting in these extremes can bring a lot of hurt.

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One Battle After Another is coming out to sky-high expectations. The film currently stands as the best-reviewed American film of the year, with a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes as of writing. Loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon's Vineland, it follows Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up revolutionary who must rescue his teenage daughter when an enemy from the past returns.

Anderson has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay across several of his films, but has not yet won.

The film, despite the buzz, is still a risk.

Critical acclaim doesn't always translate to box office success, especially for a $130 million gamble from a director whose highest-grossing film (There Will Be Blood) topped out at $76 million.

According to Deadline, the film is projected to open around $20 million domestically next weekend. Puck reported before Labor Day that it was tracking low, but with the P&A ramp-up of the last few weeks, it's likely those numbers have improved.

The question that remains is whether the wave of critical support and industry goodwill can give Anderson his long-overdue Oscar. Will you be seeing One Battle After Another on Sept. 26?