Anora

If you’ve ever spent any time in a Brighton Beach dining or drinking establishment you too have asked yourself “I wonder how many people here are the children of Russian oligarchs?” I finally saw Anora and loved it. I went into it fully expecting one movie and got a completely different one, which was to my benefit. I was charmed and constantly surprised. The middle section in particular was truly wonderful. Some of the funniest comedy committed to film in the 2020s. Mikey Madison’s performance is fantastic and star-making, but it’s not anything that hasn’t been done before. The true highlights for me were the three henchmen, who are so completely and hilariously out of their depth dealing with Ani. Any real criticisms I have are about some story choices that I won’t get into so as not to spoil anything.  I also don’t love that Sean Baker left the choice of having an intimacy coordinator on set up to Madison and she declined. I understand that she trusts Baker, but this isn’t an issue of trust. When you have a star thing young on a film this sexually exploitative the intimacy coordinator should be a Guild requirement for all the same reasons armorers are required on set when they use firearms: it’s a safety issue and there should be zero tolerance. Now that I’ve seen Anora and Madison’s performance, I can definitively say Demi Moore’s performance is THE performance of the year bar none and she should very deservingly win the Oscar.