The most relatable moments in One Battle After Another, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th feature, are of Leonardo DiCaprio groaning.

Wiping his eyes, ugh-ing dramatically, hungover literally but also spiritually—as “Bob Ferguson” (the name taken when he goes into hiding with his daughter), DiCaprio lugs his body around like an overstuffed suitcase. Granted, Bob is pretty much perma-slowed by weed, wreathed in marijuana smoke, but still: Sometimes being alive feels like a battle.

One after another, even. Just the constant onslaught of happenings to navigate, of problems to helplessly confront, of stimuli to endure. Things come at you non-stop. It’s exhausting; our collective avatar is just a stoned man in a square body too tired to sit up.

Bob wasn’t always so overwhelmed by l

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