Anora
If "The Substance" was fucking amazing, this was fucking perfect.
minor out of context spoilers in the 5th paragraph so watch out
"Why the comparison?", you might ask, but it's simple: two of the most acclaimed and commented films with outstanding female performances and primarily feminine themes.
"Anora" brings out Mikey Madison, one lots might know for her appearance in the "Scream" franchise, or maybe for her not-so-small yet relatively outshined participation in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". Roles that didn't demand a lot of her, at least not like this one.
Here, Mikey is the core of everything. Even in the scenes where she's not at the center, she is the center. You just can't take your eyes off of her for a second, cause even the quickiest blink of an eye could make you lose a facial expression that shows a bit more of the protagonist. Her body performance, her face, her speech, everything fits in, she blends perfectly, almost like she's melting into the character and couldn't be differentiated from it no longer.
Have to give 10s to all the cast really, everyone was perfect. It's just a shame she was too perfect and outshined everything and everyone.
Sean baker isn't any less deserving of compliments, his work here was PHENOMENAL. The writing brought to me an anxiety before felt by "La Haine" and "Uncut Gems", where a seemingly "normal" life turns into the most chaotic sequence of events, and you just can't even dream of where it's going anymore. Nothing is out of place tho. Everything makes sense, everything has its own foreshadowing, some of it is more subtle -like Toros staring at Ani at the party-, some more explicit -like at the beginning when Diamond calls out Ani for dancing to her man-.
The direction is also spectacular, very authoral, authentic and attractive, giving a whole life to the pictures and making words truly come to shapes. The cinematography and how it follows the film also deserve a shout out here.
Obviously there are more aspects of it -like soundtrack, sound editing/mixing and editing- that deserve praise, but I don't want a 10K words review do i...
In the end, "Anora" is the most unique, interesting and captivating film of the year (from what I've seen, at least), and it has my full support to the awards season and every single other praise it should get.