43/40
When news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened when his parents head to New York to annul the marriage
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Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. IMDb editor Arno Kazarian offers quick thoughts on 12 films he screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival, including Anora and the dangerously erotic Misericordia.
Referenced in Close-Up: Anora (2024)
At the Cannes Film Festival press conference, Mikey Madison said that director Sean Baker would act out different sexual positions with his wife, producer Samantha Quan, to demonstrate to the actors what he wanted them to do. Sean Baker is up there with Chloe Zhao as one of the most humanistic and empathetic directors of our generation.
That said, his latest film ANORA proves that he’s much more of a character/atmosphere filmmaker than a plot filmmaker
His eye for the outcast and his keen ability to show the limits of the American Dream solidify his place as an important and much-needed artistic voice. What starts out as a promising screwball comedy with characteristically poignant touches turns into a full-on slapstick farce in dire need of an editor, with some scenes just going in circles to the point where I wish Paul Simon would show up and sing, “I’m on my way/I don’t know where I’m going/But I’m on my way…” Blake Edwards’ work seems to be a subconscious influence here, which makes these excesses a little more understandable; a film like VICTOR/VICTORIA could be a masterpiece if not for one too many bar fights.
But after loving Baker’s last two films, which were less plot-driven and more atmospheric, empathetic studies of forgotten American communities, this one was a major disappointment
Still, the comedy often feels more contrived than a natural product of the characters’ idiosyncrasies, and a poignant but sudden final scene would have been better if some of the antics had been traded for more moments fleshing out the protagonist beyond, well, her flesh. Mikey Madison certainly makes the most of what he can with an underwritten character (the added nuance perhaps provided by Baker’s regular co-writer Chris Bergoch feels missing), and the supporting actors do the same, especially Baker’s regular collaborator Karren Karagulian.
I think a film about her story, ultimately, would have been much more interesting
There are a few scenes in the film that feature a seemingly lonely, melancholic maid forced to clean up the excessive mess left behind by the spoiled rich person she works for. Check out our list of exciting new films from this year’s film festivals, including Venice, TIFF, the New York Film Festival, and more.