PedroPires90

Probably the most courageous film of the year, and a movie that will hardly fail to bring tears to the eyes of those who watch it. Ideological and religious blindness supplants basic human values. The seed has been planted, and while many lives may still be lost along the way, the new generations will make sure to carry the torch.

What is fictional intertwines with reality in a very organic way, and Rasoulof does another great film, his best to date - with a very interesting touch of a paranoid thriller. Perhaps his last film on Iranian soil? It doesn't matter - the seeds he is planting are everything, and the message will reach its audience.

PS: At a time people are talking of Ariana Grande or Zoe Saldaña winning an Oscar, it's hard not to feel pity for what Hollywood, the Academy, and American audiences in general have become. This film alone features at least two supporting performances far superior. Mahsa Rostami, the star you will be!

And now I'm also going to be mad with the French Oscars committee for naming this instead of All We Imagine as Light.

First things first. The obsession with everything that assaults our senses. With the loud. With the fast. With the chaos. Yesterday I saw Anora (a better experience but still annoying) and today this, but it's all a consequence of the chaotic world we live in, with everything and everyone shouting. People need to shout to be listened and we are all shouting all the time. Now even in movies.

This film has style and strong performances. It also has ridiculous musical numbers that almost made me want to hide from the cringe. There are good scenes. But it also has inexplicable script choices. There are characters that are thrown in without context, lacking development, but that are there to - literally - carry the final flag.

The fundraising dinner scene is a musical number that will stick in memory and is fantastic, but I can't help thinking about how this film fails utterly in what should be its emotional strengths, never delving deeply into anything because it's always in a rush to add something more to an already oversaturated script. I have many doubts about several of the messages, but above all I felt that not even their writers know what they wanted to say.

I'll start by addressing the elephant in the room. I believe that the Cannes win - only possible with a jury led by a young gen American - catapulted the film to unimaginable heights. I consider it a far inferior film to All We Imagine as Light and also inferior to The Substance, and there are still several other promising films from the festival I need to watch.

Who is Anora? Honestly, I have no idea, which is strange considering the film's title. Before watching it, I knew little about the film. I knew about the awards it had won and that it's the Oscars favourite. I hadn't seen any trailers; I only knew it involved sex workers and who the lead actress was. I had no idea where it would go, and it surprised me... in a negative way. The comedic elements work well, and it's amusing when it feels like a mix of Uncut Gems with touches of Tarantino in the quick, raw dialogue (so raw that sometimes it sounds fake). It's not afraid to shock-in fact, I think it overuses this, making it an end in itself rather than a mean.

There are some good shots, images used multiple times to sell the film. Other than that, it's what I've already seen from Sean Baker. Cold and even somewhat ugly in the way the camera operates, seeking so much rawness that it renders everything almost banal. We linger too long on several scenes, not because there's something to say, but because the goal is to present something quirky to the point of exhaustion - a strategy I believe will appeal to A24 fans, those who make of production/distribution company itself their entire identity.

This might seem like a mostly negative review, but it's just the disappointment talking. Mikey Maddison does very well with what is asked of her, though I believe there are really only two notes in her performance. My thoughts on the character Igor are similar - he feels exactly like that, a character, but Yura Borisov delivers what is required.

What disappointed me most was the inability to provide any real complexity, whether regarding the main character, the society or that lifestyle in specific. Yes, the rich play with other people as if they were toys (really? Did it take 120 minutes for something so superficial?). Yes, damaged people use sex as a form of escape and a reward system. But nothing is said about these themes in a deep or complex way. I never understood who Anora is, I never understood why she is the way she is, what she wants, why - hell - she does or does not deserve to be in that absurd situation. And that's what this film is. While dealing with the absurd situation, it mostly works from a comedic perspective. As art with something more to say (or question), it has very little substance to offer. Mostly, fun entertainment.