I watched this over the course of two nights this week. If this is what passes for Oscar material (Film, Director, Actress) then I can’t imagine how unwatchable the other nominees were.
The plot is basically Pretty Woman but opposite and gritty. I appreciated the inverse symmetry between the guy she married and the guy she ended up with(?) and the final scene was well done, but beyond that, I’m not even sure what kind of film it was trying to be. Were it not for lots of nudity it’d be a complete waste of time.
I never bought the accidental romance because the guy was so unlikeable. I only smirked at the “comedy” bits. All the sex at the start was initially overwhelming and then just kind of repetitive. The Vegas segment was fun but no more so than a high-budget music video. I did get a kick out of the fact I know every location in the movie pretty well but that aside it was a 6 for me.
He was her wealthy savior, taking her away from a miserable life. She put her heart into the commitment and he ended up hurting her badly. She clung to him until she was kicked loose.
He was the inverse of the other love interest, broke working class dude who at first appeared to be hurting her but eventually became her savior. She rejected him until she realized he was the only one who cared about her.
With the rich dude she saw what she wanted to see. With the poor dude she wouldn’t see what she didn’t want to see until it was unavoidable.
In all seriousness, great comment. That and the fact I couldn’t turn picture smoothing off on the TV I watched it on is almost enough for me to give it another shot. Alas, I’m on to Nickel Boys.
Yes. It was okay at best. Jesse Eisenberg (wrote and directed) plays basically the same character that Jesse Eisenberg always plays. Culkin’s character was annoying as hell and over the top. I was astonished he was nominated for an Oscar let alone winning.
The movie is only like 1:20 long so it’s not a lot of time to waste.
Hard disagree on this one, I thought A Real Pain was astonishing. I don’t disagree that Eisenberg and Culkin play characters you’ll recognize, but I found it deeply affecting. Maybe it’s because I’m the nerdy first child and have a gregarious younger brother who lights up every room (but is not a lunatic)…
It was astonishingly better than average. That’s it. It tried hard and was very derivative at times. As mentioned, I wanted to punch Kieran’s character in the face just about every time he was on screen.
Apparently much of Hollywood feels the same about him, from what I’ve read. Tries too hard to be clever and witty, always “on” and annoying. Like RDJr but forced.
The actress in Anora was very good IMO. Didn’t love the movie. But it wasn’t boring so I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
I recently watch the Substance with Demi Moore since she won an award for her performance. While her acting was quite good, I found the movie depressing and sad. Aside from the obvious message of older women being discarded for younger women, I also saw it as showcasing how men really don’t pay attention to women as more subtle theme. The cinematics were interesting. It wasn’t boring so will give it 3 out of 5 starts lol.
Maybe that adjective was a little strong but I really was struck by both lead performances and thought the pathos Culkin displayed was totally deserving of the Oscar. I watched the whole of Succession and have probably had my fill of variations on this character but that’s an issue (for me) for his next film, not this one.
I loved Anora. I thought the direction and pacing of the movie lent itself to exploring the hilarious situation they were all forced into. It should have been a gritty, mob movie in New York, but the jersey girl who they could not hurt turned it on its head and made it a comedy.
I don’t really understand the critiques in this thread. I wouldnt call the movie ‘gritty’ in any sense of the word. I also didnt find the sex scenes overwhelming, it was some softcore at best that maybe some prudes would squirm at. Overall I loved the movie and while I didnt think it would win best picture (my personal favorite was Conclave) I was not surprised.
Also A Real Pain was great, the dynamics between the cousins is real as hell which propels the movie into a great relationship dynamics piece on top of a really touching holocaust film. As GMAN put it Culkin’s character is annoying and over the top, but if you’ve never been friends or family with someone like that I guess you may not understand that it is an extremely magnetic personality most of the time, but they arent without their own struggles.
I don’t really understand the critiques in this thread. I wouldnt call the movie ‘gritty’ in any sense of the word. I also didnt find the sex scenes overwhelming
I used the word gritty in context of my assessment as an alternate take on the Pretty Woman film, which, by contrast, was a Disney fairy tale compared to Anora. It wasn’t gritty in the Trainspotting sense, I agree. Certainly not as gritty as a film about prostitution could be.
The sex scenes didn’t bother me and I didn’t think they were too much for what the film was aiming at. What bothered me about the film is that it didn’t appear to be heading down dark comedy road, but more of a Rocky-as-sex-worker feel. Then suddenly we’re introduced to cartoonishly bumbling gangsters who can’t physically manage a 112 pound waif without losing teeth and dignity. It was a jarring shift from one kind of movie to another, like there was a director and script writer change in the second act. And then it went nowhere interesting, slowly. It never seemed to establish an identity after that, it just followed a plot line.
My initial thoughts about her performance was that it seemed a relatively easy role to play, once you get past the nudity and sex parts, but she did give a great performance overall, nuanced at times and powerful at others. But I kept coming back to the idea of Courtney Love getting an Oscar nod for…playing herself, basically. Granted I’m sure the life this actress has led to this point looked nothing like Love’s vis-a-vis their respective roles, and maybe that’s also to her credit–she played a highly convincing sex worker. But that alone didn’t seem to me enough to blow the doors off the Academy.
I think the final scene pushed her over the top. It’s one of the better final scenes I’ve seen lately, and this was a film that needed an excellent final act. They delivered here in spades. The diesel engine knocking away quietly in the background after the screen went blank was the chef’s kiss. Brilliant.
Not enough to save the film for me, at least in the realm of must-see Oscar contenders, but I get how that punctuated her performance and the perfectly closed the loop on the themes of the film.
That’s it. It tried hard and was very derivative at times. As mentioned, I wanted to punch Kieran’s character in the face just about every time he was on screen.