Anora

Anora was the big Oscar winner that released in 2024 and came from the filmmaker, Sean Baker, who I heard much about before. It seemed he had a highly praised career in the indie scene, most notably with The Florida Project, and I was curious to see how a film seemingly as explicit as this won over the hearts and minds of the Oscar committee, and if this felt like a Best Picture winner for the ages. Time will tell but maybe my watchlist was about to get a whole lot longer...

The story follows Anora, a lap dancer from New York, who meets the young son to a wealthy Russian oligarch. Things start-off with a few casual meetings but then a relationship starts to grow between them. Has Anora found love, and way out of working long nights, or are things about to take a turn?

Besides some of the raunchy images and posters, I knew very little going into this and found the first 30 minutes or so to be decent if somewhat slow. The performances are all very good and believable but I found myself losing concentration. But then director Sean Baker shifts gears, capturing my attention and becomes a very entertaining drama with a surprising amount of comedy. Anora is a strange one. 

The subject matter will be what entices some and dissuades others but that is more of a backdrop to the story with what is a really great drama. I hope the pacing at the start won't make too many tune out as it really turns into a rollercoaster and has left me excited to see more of Baker's work. Is this Best Picture worthy? Well, it's very good if nothing else and it introduced me to the director's work, like so many others for the first time for which I'm glad. Maybe don't watch this with your parents but I can easily recommend Anora.