NEW YORK (AP) — If there were any doubt, the first few days of Hollywood’s year-end awards has already made it abundantly clear: Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is the Oscar front-runner.
On Monday, “One Battle After Another” won best film at the 35th Gotham Awards. On Tuesday, it was named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle. On Wednesday, it swept the National Board of Review Awards, winning best film, best director for Anderson and acting awards for Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro and newcomer Chase Infiniti.
Expect to hear this pun a lot: one award after another.
“I didn’t expect this, actually,” Anderson said at the Gothams. “I started to think I didn’t know what was going on.”
That may be the first, and last, time Anderson can say that this awards season.
“One Battle After Another,” a father-daughter tale of political resistance in the face of recurring oppression, has firmly established itself as the movie of the moment. With an opening scene depicting a raid at an immigrant detention facility, Anderson’s opus has struck critics and moviegoers, alike, for its contemporary relevance in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. Even foes of the film, like conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, have predicted it will “win all the Academy Awards.”