Anora | Full-Length Reaction
Added 2025-08-03 08:07:39 +0000 UTC
Comments
I was a bit surprised that it won best picture, though I still remember Shakespeare in Love winning over Saving Private Ryan/The Thin Red Line 😂 The Academy likes to throw in edgy ones every once in a while to seem less stuffy than they are. Mikey had a great performance though and definitely deserved! She choreographed all her dances and helped direct the last scene. I lived in Russia for a few years and really loved the portrayal of Russians/Armenians in an American film-- dynamic, they weren't just mob bosses with two poorly written lines in bad accents. To me, this movie is more a class commentary than anything. If I had lived the life Ani has, I'd be devastated at the prospect of being so close to safety and fortune and having it ripped away from someone I thought I could possibly trust. Igor gets called a Gopnik several times, which is basically labeling him as a thug/hoodlum from a lower class. And Vanya's family having Armenians work for them is telling (at least in my personal experience, white Russians can be very racist against peoples from the Caucasus, or even "Asian" presenting Russians). You can see how much Toros' livelihood depends on the Zakharov's approval and how that economic stress plays into the treatment of Anora. The last scene is very interesting; I see the transactional sex/intimacy currency that she is used to and hops on to possibly get a semblance of power back, but there is also grief at losing security/status and she is hit with the realization that Igor (her same economic status) is the only one that has actually seen her as a person. I don't necessarily see it as a romance between them, and he definitely crossed a line while trying to subdue her--but it is a very human moment and I remember imagining Ani thinking "fuck, is this all I'm good for? is this as good as it can ever get for me?" Sad but also very real. She had to be "on" all movie and I can't imagine how exhausting that must feel!
Brenna Lowery
2025-08-04 03:22:26 +0000 UTCMY INTERPRETATION OF THE ENDING SCENE I personally read it as her trying to rape him as a way to regain some type of control over this entire situation. We see that she has used that word a few times and even accused him of being one and given her status as a sex worker it seems like her only sense of power comes from her body. So to exert power over the only person left she chose Igor. But Igor actually likes Ani and he tries to kiss her because he wants to be intimate but she doesn't want to be intimate she wants him to feel as weak snd powerless as she has felt over the past 48 hours. So she starts hitting him because shes angry about the series of events and also angry that even now she can't win. So then she just breaks down.
Lailah Johnson
2025-08-03 22:41:22 +0000 UTCI'm a sex worker turned filmmaker, and I loved this one. The direction of the actors is top notch - how do you get these amazing overtalk fights where everyone is shouting all at once?? That's HARD, I directed a play where we had to have three to seven people talkinf at any given time and months of practice barely worked. It felt realistic from a sex worker pov, and not too saturated in the whole "sex work is only suffering" narrative that plagues a lot of films about sex workers. But I do think Conclave deserved more awards. That said, I loved 2020's Zola more, and it feels less appreciated. Starring a Black lead (Taylour Page) and based on a Twitter thread by a dancer who got swept up in some wild, funny, and terrifying shit. That woman was also a writer on the film, and it's realistic in a way while also being absurd and A24 aesthetically stunning, funny, and tense. And Cousin Greg from Succession is there and hilarious, and Colman Domingo as well!
Nova
2025-08-03 21:18:38 +0000 UTCDang. What a theater experience. The way people take in media will forever be interesting Yeah he was a spoiled brat, but at that time in the movie, I was thinking the movie was going for one of those "even horrible people can find love and it can change them" kinda vibe
Franklin
2025-08-03 18:35:52 +0000 UTCdamnnnn It's won over those 👁️👄👁️
Franklin
2025-08-03 18:31:17 +0000 UTCYeah a plot twist would have been interesting
Franklin
2025-08-03 18:30:09 +0000 UTCi see what you mean
Franklin
2025-08-03 18:28:11 +0000 UTCI feel you on how the end recontextualizes everything and makes it hit more
Franklin
2025-08-03 18:25:20 +0000 UTCI totally understand why people didn’t resonate with this movie, but I think it’s a beautiful character study of Anora, her pain, her strength, her resilience, and how she views and handles the world than she’s in. My analysis of the end is the same as yours, and I think the last few scenes made the whole movie and why I love it so much. I also really disliked it being talked about as a romance or a comedy. I didn’t think it was either of those at all.
Abby T W
2025-08-03 18:08:19 +0000 UTCCompletely agree! And Tangerine is also a masterpiece, especially considering the production budget and process.
Abby T W
2025-08-03 17:54:40 +0000 UTCSean Baker is the director! I thought Mikey Madison (Anora) was fantastic, but I’m still a bit surprised by all the Oscar wins this one picked up. That said, Sean Baker has some incredible projects that I think you’d really enjoy. I HIGHLY recommend The Florida Project. It’s a sort of a slice-of-life look at working-class Americans and really beautifully done. I won’t say more than that since I also love going into films blind, but I think it’ll really land with you.
JJ
2025-08-03 17:13:36 +0000 UTCYea this isn't a romance at all. Its a horror film as far as I'm concerned. again, I will praise Mikey's performance because she gave such life to Ani and I really felt heremotions and motivations. I took it as Mikey so desperately wanted out of her current life she was willing to believe this lie that he actually wanted to marry her. She did not love him and she knew he did not love her, but if it meant she didn't have to strip anymore or to live with her bitch ass roommate she was gonna go with it. That's why she fought so hard. She was desperate but she wasn't in love. So when she finally loses it all, I do feel quite heartbroken for her. She was almost free...
Lailah Johnson
2025-08-03 17:04:51 +0000 UTCthank god the armenians were funny cause i don't understand what else there is to this movie. all the other characters are just pissing me off, anora especially i think i only made it through this film because I kept expecting the basic story to be turned on its head - some kind of plot twist! maybe it would turn out that the russian guy was underage and that's why they kept saying the marriage was illegal and that he's a child? maybe it would turn out that Ani is armenian and she'd manage to negotiate between all of them (Ani is a very common armenian name).. but nah it was exactly what it looked like the whole time :/ points for letting me see people speak the weird armenian-russian-english mix like I do, I've never seen that on screen before! But not sure how this can be remotely interesting to anyone who that doesn't apply to tbh. It was quite fun watching the movie and understanding all the dialogue without the subtitles (sorry for being a hater)
Anait
2025-08-03 14:40:26 +0000 UTCThis movie in the cinema was INSANE. People were howling with laughter at the absolute insanity. Then a woman next to me (don't want to make any assumptions - but she could have been a sex worker) screamed at people they shouldn't laugh at violence against women. I was traumatized when I got home, but I liked the film a lot, overall. I definitely didn't go into it thinking it was a romance, so it is funny to me that you felt there was love between Ivan and Ani - I was immediately disgusted by that child lmao
Nina Lenz
2025-08-03 10:05:49 +0000 UTCMan, this movie winning Best Picture still annoys me! Mikey's performance was great and she earned her Oscar, but Anora as best picture... over Conclave? Over Dune Part TWO?!?! chile anyways...looking forward to your commentary on this one!
Lailah Johnson
2025-08-03 08:26:32 +0000 UTC
