Anora: A Slow, Profane Journey of a Sex Worker Discovering Independence
If you told me this movie won Best Picture a year ago at the Oscars, I would genuinely have been surprised. I knew this movie won that award before I watched, which is why I was curious to understand the hype surrounding it and see if the movie lived up to that hype. And after watching it and spending a good bit of time thinking about it, I’m not entirely sure if the movie deserves as much commendation as it already has, and I’m mostly certain this movie is overpraised.
Anora dives into the journey of a sex worker who discovers and lives her own fairy tale with an incredibly spoiled and immature Russian guy, but her amusing and incredibly fun life comes crashing down when the Russian’s parents enter the conversation. Though the movie does have its merits, it also has its faults, and that’s what I’m planning to dive into today.
First and foremost, the single merit that absolutely needs to stand out is Mikey Madison’s performance as Anora. It’s spectacular, and if there’s any Oscar that the movie deserves, it’s Best Actress. Seriously, her performance is immaculate. A Brooklyn prostitute who has the deepest of internal and external struggles and does her best to navigate through them while facing troubles left and right is a character construct I never imagined would be on the big screen, but hear we are. And to be honest, Madison does her character justice, and proves to the world how versatile of an actor she is.
Other actors and actresses aside from Madison stand out, but the one who also leaves a lasting impression is Yura Borisov, an actor playing a Russian henchman who does his character justice and, at times, contends with Madison when it comes to portraying a character with deep struggles. The key difference is that Borisov plays a character whose struggles are more implicit and subtle compared to Madison, and that, at times, can be more challenging to perform.
Aside from performances, I have to give credit to Sean Baker, who directed, wrote, produced, and edited the entire movie. His contributions are absolutely noteworthy, especially his direction and editing. He knows just when to increase the tension to the absolute max, when to cut between different scenes, and when to instruct actors and actresses to unleash their capabilities and release their talent on screen. Baker has done a great job fusing diverse elements together, making Anora a properly crafted independent film in multiple segments.
But, as previously mentioned, this movie does suffer from some faults. For example, before the main conflict is initiated, the movie moves by extremely slowly. The beginning is primarly filled with a lot of suggestive scenes, inconsistent dialogue, and though Baker tries to set up the world and focus on character development, the beginning doesn’t do too much except make the audience annoyed by some of the words said and some of the actions done. It takes a bit of effort to get past the beginning to reach the actual plot.
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Furthermore, some of the characters are just thinly written. The parents who pose as the main antagonists of the movie don’t have a justifiable motive for their actions, and are sometimes complete illogical people who act primarily on impulses. I’m not super sure if this is what Baker wanted to convey through the parents, but each scene with them was hard to watch from time to time.
At its core, Anora is a character study driven by the incredible performance that belongs to Mikey Madison, and though Baker is able to handle his tasks well, there are still some faults when it comes to thinly written characters and extremely slow pacing in the initial portions, with those proving to be a drag. I still stand by the belief that Anora shouldn’t have dominated the Oscar season, but I do recognize that it has some merits. It’s a shame that some of its faults equally contend with those proper qualities though.
Rating: 3/5
