A recommendation: Best Picture winner Anora

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And the Oscar goes to… Anora! Earlier this month, Sean Baker’s film Anora won five Academy Awards (Si apre in una nuova finestra) - including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. Even though I’ve been a big fan and supporter of Anora ever since its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last May, it’s finally time to give it a proper recommendation. Thanks to this Oscar glory, Neon has re-released Anora and it’s now playing in theaters nationwide for a few more weeks. Now is the perfect chance to watch it on the big screen. Or you can catch up with it at home on VOD or sometime in the future - I am certain it will be playing on the big screen again in retrospective reruns all the time. Don’t let any media or harsh critics dissuade you from watching this film, Anora is bright, fun, highly entertaining, entirely original, raucous, unforgettable joyride around New York City – with a stop in Las Vegas, too (for wild shotgun wedding). Anora is American director Sean Baker’s eighth feature film so far - he broke into the mainstream with Tangerine in 2015, and continued with The Florida Project (which is his most beloved film) and Red Rocket before making this one. Of course, Anora won’t be for everyone, some people may find it too crazy & wild & loud to be properly enjoyable. But most people who go in not sure what they’re about to watch walk out with a huge smile on their face, delighted by how much they laughed and snorted and smirked watching this film. I’m such a big fan and wrote a rave review (Si apre in una nuova finestra) of it last year in Cannes that my review ended up quote in the first official trailer (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for Anora - “Phenomenal. A one-of-a-kind sensation.” That’s the quote they used from my review (Si apre in una nuova finestra) that appeared all over.

Hey that's my quote seen in the official trailer 🌟

Mikey Madison stars as “Ani”, a young escort / stripper from Brooklyn who meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch known as Vanya. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled immediately. Chaos ensues. The cast also includes Russian actor Mark Eydelshteyn co-starring as Vanya, Russian actor Yura Borisov as Igor (an enforcer for the Russian family - he was also nominated (Si apre in una nuova finestra) for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars), Karren Karagulian as Toros (an Armenian handler for the family), Vache Tovmasyan as Garnik, Toros’ brother, and plenty of others who get caught up in the madness. I wrote in my Cannes review about how distinct it is: “Baker is truly one of a kind, making films unlike anyone else that no one else can replicate in the same way. Anora is not just hilarious but incredibly deep, nuanced, layered, intelligent, complex filmmaking that gets every scene just right. I'm still breathless with joy over this film. I'm still going on & on raving about it and the way it handles everything in the plot, understanding the emotions of each character along with the audience's engagement in the story.” Part of what makes it so deeply entertaining to watch, and why it won all of the Oscars, is that greatest thrill comes from watching “oh shit, what is going to happen next?!” second half of the film once the parents find out about this marriage and start sending their people to deal with it. Sit back, relax (or not), and enjoy watching thankful that you are not a part of this and no one is coming after you to end your marriage. Hopefully. Anora ended up on the top of my Best of the Year list (Si apre in una nuova finestra) as well, and will continue to be heralded as one of the best films of the 2020s. Now that it’s playing in theaters everywhere - I suggest catching Anora on the big screen and debating if it’s a worthy winner afterwards. You will never forget it either way.