Anora2024

I've been seeing and hearing good things about the movie ever since it came out and I finally watched it. I enjoyed the movie surprisingly; despite what I consider a lackluster beginning. The movie slowly gained momentum as it progressed, mostly due to its characters who felt very alive and energetic. The movie is about a prostitute that gets engaged to a man-child, but their union turns out to be very problematic for a handful of people. Mostly the boys, Ivan’s parents Who were the driving force behind this rejection. Despite being absent as characters for pretty much the whole movie, their presence and weight is heavily felt and expressed, a rejection born out of a sentiment of pride, as the parents reject Ani not for the person she is, but for an idea she represents. As she not only a prostitute but also American. Which brought shame to the Russian billionaire family, as the mother states “you made our family a national disgrace” to her rebellious, ungrateful, irresponsible son, Ivan. Going back a few steps before the parents get involved in the movie. The movie was taking an almost fairy tale approach. With the small hooker having the big billionaire’s son falling for her. The movie was very upbeat in this part through its music, events and colors, especially those the movie is very pretty to look at. I love the color graded done with it and the emphasis on the color red, the most prominent character throughout the movie is certainly Ani as we see here. Latching on the idea of Cinderella, that this is her marriage that she deserves and dreams of. It is obvious that this union is not based on any real feelings, from the get-go, the decision to get married was impulsively taken by a spoiled, irresponsible brat towards a girl that saw an opportunity to live a new life. However, as the movie approaches its ending, and Anora finally gets a reality check at the sight of her husband backing up on her, seeing that man for the Twink he is, The dream is shattered and she willingly divorces him despite spending the entirety of the movie hustling to maintain this union. Despite its very shaky foundations Ani clings to her idealist perception of the situation. It was honestly shameful. Even more so, where we as the viewers can tell from the from the get-go what kind of person Ivan is. He's selfish and just saw Ani as convenient way to satisfy his needs and run away from the frustration of his family. If anything is genuine about this guy, it's his hatred for his parents. So, when it all breaks away and things get messy and no longer convenient, he runs away. Leaving the house, the wife and his consequences all behind him, and on the other hand, Ani, ever so lost in her fairy tale she constructed. Still persists towards him, towards the magic he gave her. Despite everything I said about Ivan, Sean Baker still humanizes him with his dynamic with his mother. The few scenes they shared together are very telling about them. On one hand, we see how controlling his mother is and how emotionally distant she feels. In a later scene, we see how protective she is of her son, when Igor mentioned that Ivan should apologize for all the trouble he has caused. An apology that is well deserved by every single person there. His mother, instead of letting him at least acknowledge the weight of his actions, she instead gets defensive and affirms that Ivan has nothing to apologize for. With all this combined, we get a glimpse of what made Ivan the pussy he is. On another note, Igor has been very intriguing. He gets hired to do the dirty part of the job, but instead he's very nice and respectful, which you wouldn’t expect for such a profile, he is especially nice towards Anora, he's the only one looking after her despite her mean attitude towards him, and the director gives him a lot of room in the movie through his small scenes and interactions or the little camera pan-overs he does. It felt like he was not just a background, one-dimensional henchman, and these scenes lead up to the moment where he takes real action or power in the movie by asking Ivan to apologize. And since that, Igor went 100% to the forefront of the movie. For the remaining 20 minutes or so, the little bonding moment they had at the house where Annie still rejects him and blames him her for “assaulting her”. But once they were in the car, giving her that ring she ever so fought for, she closes the door, locking the space between them and jumped on him for a moment of intimacy. And as they do the deed, Ani breaks down crying and hitting him, only for Igor to hug her back. Perhaps when he gave her the ring, she so desired, the fabricated reality shatters for sure and she sees Igor for who he is. Not only Igor, but the whole situation, and thus the weight of her disillusion comes crashing down on her in that intimate moment, or perhaps this could be Annora’s first real moment of intimacy she ever had. For once, she gets on a man not for material reasons, It's not a t