Anora

I’m still kind of unsure about how I feel after watching this. I will start with the things that irk me. I went into this with no spoilers, only having seen the many many promotions and obviously the Oscar’s. I will say that for all the promoting that they did about how sex worker positive this movie was, it felt very male centered to me. Yes Mikey Madison did her homework and for the few scenes where we actually see her dance and do her work, she ate that shit down. Mama delivered. However. The other workers and the entirety of the club scene did not feel fleshed out whatsoever. The movie more felt like a wild goose chase of Russians running all over nyc, and by the halfway point Ani felt more like a side character than anything. They turned this powerful independent character into a desperate wife who begs her cheating lying nasty ass “husband” to stay with her. I really wish they had focused for on the club aspects of the movie and really shown what it’s like to work in those environments. What I did like: the acting. Everyone in this movie was phenomenal. Mikey Madison and Mark Eidelshtein did a fantastic job portraying the awkwardness and fakeness of Ani and Vanya’s relationship. I do want to touch on that final scene because I think that it was the best part of the film. I think people are missing the point when they say they’re “so happy she chose Igor”. She didn’t really chose him, she was thanking him for seeing her as a real person in the only way she knows. When he wants actual connection she finally breaks down, and tbh I think that cry and the ending scene is what earned her the Oscar. I guess the moral of the story is never trust a twink, or better yet never trust a Russian. Guys I’m Russian do not come for me.