I’ve been sensing uh-oh vibes from Paul Thomas Anderson One Battle After Another since 3.29.25, which is when I talked to a fellow who’d recently seen a preview screening and called it “a satire of radical left revolutionaries”…”it’s played for comedy but the wokeys won’t like it”.
Who the hell cares enough about rural looney-tune radical lefties to see, much less enjoy, a satire of their behaviors? I hated PTA’s last Thomas Pynchon adaptation so what are the odds I’ll be receptive to this one?
Preview guy also called it “a guy movie like Uncut Gems but aimed more at black women and [even] white conservative women than liberal white women on anti–depressants…I wouldn’t take my girlfriend to it…it’s not a 2025 movie…it would’ve gone down well during Obama’s second term, but movies like this are not made today.”
It is therefore not surprising to read a Jordan Ruimy report that the Warner Bros. distribution team may have decided not to premiere the PTA at the 2025 Venice Film Festival (8.27 to 9.6):
I’ve been sniffing weirdo gas fumes (i.e. the eccentric “I love black women!” kind) from this pricey PTA flick all along. If the Italian Cinematore guy is correct, it would appear that WB p.r. execs are persuaded that the film will draw a “mixed” or half-negative critical reaction in Venice and have decided it’s better to cut bait rather than fish.
The Venice lineup will be announced on Tuesday, 7.22.