Welcome to Oscars day movie friends! Slick Dungeon here and I’m back to review another Oscar nominated film. This time I’ll be talking about Anora. It’s a fast paced and frenetic film with one standout performance. Let’s get into it!

What is Anora about?

On the most basic level this film is a Pretty Woman story gone wrong. It follows the story of Ani who is an exotic dancer who hooks up with the son of a Russian oligarch. Ani happens to speak Russian because her grandmother was Russian. Her given name is Anora but she goes by Ani and that’s where we get the name of the film. After Ani hooks up with this wealthy Russian, he wants to see her more and more. And she gladly obliges. Ultimately the guy proposes to Ani and they get married in Las Vegas. From her perspective, her feelings are genuine for this guy. But his family finds out that he’s married and they are not happy about it. They are especially unhappy she has a history of sex work.

The remainder of the film is basically the dude running away and Ani being bossed around by a bunch of thugs until they can find her husband again and straighten out the situation.

Every year there is one film in the Oscar pool that I just can’t figure out why it’s there. This year is an exception because I do think Anora is worthy of being considered. But I think this is the least worthy film in the bunch. I’m not saying it’s a bad film. Obviously lots of people enjoy it. I just think I would have preferred to see a movie like Love Lies Bleeding nominated instead.

To be fair to this movie, I am probably not the target demographic for it and that’s fine. No movie has to be made for my age cohort to be a great film. And also to be fair to the movie, there are a few reasons to watch the movie.

The good

One of the best reasons to watch the film is this deals with sex workers in a non-insulting and humanizing way. It’s not exploitative (although fair warning there is nudity if that offends you) and it doesn’t treat any of these workers as one dimensional. That’s something refreshing to see in a film made for adults.

But the best reason to watch Anora is tied up in one standout performance. And it’s my guess that this performance is most of the reason this movie is even considered for best picture. Mikey Madison has a stellar performance in the title role of Anora. She brings a hard edge to the character but also a kind heart in the more subtle scenes of the film.

While this movie wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I think watching this film for Madison’s performance is a must.

The bad

Mikey Madison’s performance aside, I found a lot of this film to be a bit of a mess. There’s a ton of bilingual shouting in Russian and English which sometimes confuses the plot in an attempt to add in realism. That’s a somewhat minor issue but it became trying after a while.

There is a ton of kinetic energy in this film. If you’ve seen Uncut Gems you’ll know what I mean. It’s got a lot of motion to it, characters talk and move pretty fast and things are paced against the clock of the Russian parents returning. On its own that’s fine but it never seemed to go anywhere. At least with Uncut Gems there was one hell of a payoff at the end.

The ugly

The more I think about this movie, the more I realize there is one section that just killed it for me. Ivan who is the husband, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, at one point runs away. He’s separated from Ani. The only chance of escaping the thugs who have Ani is for her to find Ivan. It’s already been established early on in the movie that Ivan is a major party boy who goes to clubs constantly.

Yet there is a full third of the movie where everyone runs around chasing after Ivan looking everywhere but clubs he is known to frequent. And of course, they find him at the club where he met Ani. Why would you not start there? Just why? That whole section of the movie frustrated me to no end because it just went on and on. It felt like a waste of time, and ironically, Anora has one of the shortest run times of all the Oscar films this year.

Finally, I know this is subjective but I think this was supposed to be a comedy somehow? I didn’t really find anything funny here although there was a trend towards the ridiculous at times. But maybe I’m just not getting the joke, and that’s fine.

The awards

Anora is up for six Oscars this year. It’s nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing.

I don’t see this getting best picture, directing, or supporting actor. Those were all fine but none so strong that I think it has a real shot. I could see a win for original screenplay or maybe even editing but it’s not my top guess here. The one spot I see a real chance is for Best Actress. Mikey Madison really does stand out and any parts of the film that work are because of her.

Anora in conclusion

This was my least favorite Oscar film this year. But it is still a decent movie. If you have time to watch it, watch it for the performance of Mikey Madison. If you happen to be streaming it, at the point you start to wonder if they’ll ever catch up with Ivan, do yourself a favor and fast forward a whole third of the film and save some time.

I’m sure there are lots of people who disagree with me on this one, and you’re totally entitled to your opinion, no shade from me. But I just don’t recommend this for anything other than the lead performance.

Awardingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

P.S. Want to see what I thought of the Best Picture winner last year? Check out my review of Oppenheimer!