Freedom fighter in kidnap escapades

ALMOST a decade after he adapted Thomas Pynchon’s book Inherent Vice into a film, director Paul Thomas Anderson has returned to the author’s works.

Loosely based on Pynchon’s book Vineland, One Battle After Another (15) features Leonardo DiCaprio as time-ravaged, stoner former revolutionary, Bob Ferguson, who is living off-grid and raising his teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). In a flashback to his countercultural days in the French 75 and their fight for free borders, the influence of Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), Willa’s mother, is made clear.

When his nemesis, Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn), resurfaces, Ferguson has to gather his former comrades to rescue Willa. With help from sensei Benicio del Toro and others, Ferguson must find his daughter and deal with the ramifications of the past. The film, with a score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, is out today at the Regal Picturehouse in Henley and has a running time of two hours and 42 minutes.

In The Lost Bus (15), also out today, Henley director Paul Greengrass has dramatised the true story of bus driver Kevin McKay (played by Matthew McConaughey) and schoolteacher Mary Ludwig (played by America Ferrera), telling how they navigated a bus full of children through deadly wildfires in Paradise, California, in 2018.

After working at Walgreens for many years, McKay decided to retrain as a school teacher, becoming a school bus driver to save money. Shortly afterwards, the Camp Fire occurred and McKay valiantly took on the gruelling and perilous task of driving them to safety.

Greengrass also directed United 93 and Captain Phillips.

The film has a running time of two hours and 10 minutes.

Continuing are Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (PG) and The Roses (15).