Anora

• Written, Directed, Produced, and Edited by Sean Baker
• May 21, 2024 (Cannes) / October 18, 2024 (US)

A stripper from New York marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. IT’S BORING!

I watched Anora because of the hype. It wasn’t on my list of must watches. I must say it deserves one award at least and that is for most overhyped and underdelivering movie of 2024. I cannot fathom for the life of me how this movie attained any buzz. I can but I can’t. Maybe it’s because I’m a more hopeful person than the individual this is designed to appeal to.

I am convinced films like this become the darlings of critics and certain individuals because they fear or know they are terrible people or have shitty lives and something like this feels like there is just a little bit worse out there. Thus they feel good and can move on for a little bit longer until they start feeling down and the next movie comes along and then they can get that little bit of pep again. I’ve heard it said a script is only as smart as the people writing it. It’s a little more than that though. A script in its entirety is a reflection of the people writing it. You can’t help but inject some of yourself into any creative endeavor. Take that for what you will when it comes to this movie.

This has a plot for a very short film pulled out as far as it can go. Every second gets placed on the screen or so it feels like. I’m left with the idea that this could help cure insomnia amongst the great swath of those suffering from the inflection.

I’m a big fan of economy of storytelling. Get the point across without showing every minute or second of whatever is going on. Sex scenes or a stripper dancing or whatever does not need to be drawn out. Keep it short enough to let the audience know what’s happening and then move on. Anything else is just padding.

I have read a few descriptions of events of the film. They are all significantly shorter than what would justify its slightly over two hour run time. It gets boring because of that. Sean Baker was writer, director, producer, and editor on his own project. Multiple hats means that the opportunities to be told “No” are fewer. “No” is often look at as a bad thing but “no” can be good. That word forces a person to consider whether or not something is important. If you view it as important then you must consider another way to get it/do it.

The movie does little to endear you to the characters. I’m not saying you must like the character of Anora (Mikey Madison) but you must care about what happens to the character in order to become invested in the movie. There was nothing worth watching about the character. No special element-good or bad. This is something with a great deal in common with any rushed out TV movie.

Mikey Madison does deserve praise for elevating the material beyond some clichéd Lifetime movie tripe. She puts on a working girl accent and that works. Not every actor can do such a thing and make it effective. Don’t go crazy on us Mikey and try any others without testing them out first.

Despite Madison’s good performance, I never became invested in Anora or any of the characters. There was nothing that made me want to see what happened. Nothing pulled me in to follow their story from start to finish. You just want to tell them to shut up and go away. Anora is desperate for something more than being a stripper. The man she marries, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), is a coddled and whiney rich kid. Him and everybody else is kind of a crappy person and not in a way that makes them something you want to watch.

Some have referenced this as a comedy. I expected some humor in this even if Anora was a more real version of Pretty Woman. Is it funny that the son of a Russian oligarch marries a stripper? I don’t know. What are people laughing at and who exactly is finding it funny? Tell me what I am missing.

Much of this was very forgettable. Without my notes I doubt I could recall much other than it looked nice. There is an authenticity to the world we see that can be lacking in films. I guess that is something but looking nice does not make a film good. But I could not tell you off the top of my head what happens without difficulty.

Anora was not worth my time. There’s no way I can get the two hours I wasted on this back though forgetting it is almost as good. It’s slow and boring. I say skip it.