Anora
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Paul Weissman, Yura Borisov
Genre: Academy pashn
You are probably aware that Anora won best picture, best actress and best director at this year’s Academy Awards, but you probably haven’t seen the film. Indeed, it’s extraordinary how unseen such a great film is. It’s probably because the film is about the complex life of a prostitute and is highly sexual. But this is just the context. It covers so many other deep and meaningful subjects too, including gender, sexuality, physical and mental breakdowns, ageing, politics, criminality, racism and more.
It’s just as extraordinary that as well as deserving best picture and Sean Baker taking out best director (and best film editing and best original screenplay) that Mikey Madison deservedly won best actress given how little acting she’s done. Add to that the relatively small budget ($6 million) and filming schedule (37 days) and the independent film is even more relevant to the film industry overall.
The film’s greatness and deservedness of best picture comes from its storyline’s high level of complexity. There is a huge number of ongoing unknowns such as the ebbing and flowing of many characters’ intent and motivation. The nature of the film ebbs and flows too, from intense to amusing, violent to passionate, celebratory to disturbing. Even the final scenes capture these moments and the viewers’ attention.
In my most recent SSH reviews I rated Conclave as the best Academy Award nominated picture this year I’d seen. Both are worth seeing but because they are so different, so topical and so relevant to modern thinking and issues.
Rating: XXXXX
