Anora (2024) was made for 6 million dollars, which is incredibly low for modern movie standards. But what they did with that money is truly incredible, and this is a film that will live on.
Anora (2024) is about a sex worker named Anora/Ani who works in New York. She meets the son of an oligarch-rich family, Ivan, and they get married within a week of meeting. It all seems like a fairytale story, but things start to go downhill once his family overseas hears about it.
Anora (2024) is perfectly sliced into three different sections. The classic three-act movie structure is done very well in this movie. Going into what the three-act structure is about would be somewhat of a spoiler, so I’m not going to go into it. But this is definitely one of the best modern examples of a perfect three-act structure.
I am very glad to hear of Anora’s (2024) Golden Globe nominations, and I hope that Mikey Madison, who plays Ani, gets a Golden Globe for her performance. I also hope Anora (2024) wins Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture and every other nomination it got. The Oscars have yet to be announced, so hopefully, it’ll get some of those as well.
Anora (2024) is a really special movie that comes along every now and then. The budget isn’t super high, but they end up making something truly brilliant. Anora (2024) took off in the indie film world and also on social media. This is probably one of the biggest films I’ve seen talked about on social media that’s not a major motion picture, in recent times.
Anora (2024) has been in theaters for nearly two months, which is also unprecedented for this film, given its budget. The budget was 6 million, but currently, it is sitting at 30 million worldwide, which is pretty crazy.
So the stats are in its favor, but what about the film itself? Well, the best way the film is described is that it’s a mix of Pretty Woman and Uncut Gems. It has a classic story but is told in a contemporary place and with contemporary film inspirations like Uncut Gems.
Anora (2024) is two hours and 20 minutes, which sounds long for a film, matching the description that I described. But this movie doesn’t drag at all, and it’s very entertaining the entire way through. There are some long scenes where it just takes place in one location with just a couple of people arguing and talking, but it’s brilliant in the way it’s filmed.
The cinematography, the music, and the acting are all top-notch in Anora (2024). You would think this movie had a bigger budget with the way it looks, but it might be one of the best uses of its budget I’ve seen in a long time for an under $10 million-budgeted film.
By the second half of Anora (2024), I was genuinely invested to the point of feeling emotionally attached to these characters in the same way you would to a television show that has hours to develop said characters. I was thinking halfway through the movie that I would love to see a sequel, even though this isn’t that kind of movie. But I love the character so much that I wanted to see more.
In my opinion, this might be the best film I’ve seen all year, and it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. A lot of that comes with the fact that I wasn’t expecting much, and it kind of blew me away. Movies like this aren’t my bread and butter. On paper, it’s technically a romantic comedy because of the comedic elements it has in the film. But for me, the realness of it is what makes it feel like this heart-pounding drama film.
The best thing you can ask for in a movie is for it to make you feel a lot of emotions. Makes you forget about your life for a couple of hours. Well, this movie gives you a roller coaster of emotions, and you feel almost every emotion you can think of by the end of it. And that’s a good thing.
I think that is the best compliment a film can receive: that it leaves a lasting impact on you. Leaving the theater and continuing to think about a movie and having it stay in your brain for a while is an incredible feeling. This is why I go see movies for the most part. This movie does that and more.
It’s a film that I’m going to purchase when it comes out on physical release. I will continue to watch it and catch more things, I’m sure. It seems like one of those movies where a lot is going on at once, and I miss some stuff the first time around.
It’s also one of the few movies that I’ve seen where I want to go back in theaters and see it again. I want to try to replicate that first experience I had watching it, but of course, nothing’s going to beat that first experience.
The premise might throw some people off, as they might not want to see a ton of sex scenes in a film. But I can say a couple of things: the sex scenes are mostly in the first hour or so of the film. There isn’t a ton of nudity, so to speak. There’s a strip club shown in Anora (2024), but it’s not as bad as some other films I’ve seen. It’s nowhere near a film like The Wolf of Wall Street or, in recent years, the television show Euphoria.
So, if you don’t like to see a lot of nudity in sex and film, don’t let this movie turn you off, no pun intended, as this is one of the few films where the sex scenes actually pertain to the story and are not there just to give horny moviegoers something to look at. They serve a purpose and are pretty well-shot and edited.
If you want to feel something in a film, you’ll feel it in this one. You’ll want to talk about this film with the people you went and saw it with, and I’ll continue to linger in your brain for a while. This is the kind of big-budget movie Hollywood would love to make. The kind of movie that makes waves on social media and in the film circuit. But Hollywood can’t seem to grasp what it’s like to make a super meaningful film.
Every year, there may be one or two, but this is something special. A film that touches on the working class, sex, relationships, what it means to be loved, and more. Something that you can’t just pump out in a film. A story that takes a lot of heart to make.
It’s also a film that a lot of people, I’m sure, will be able to relate to, especially those who have struggled in relationships. I hope this film wins some awards at the Golden Globes so people will hear about it and then watch it. Some films I liked this year got tossed aside, like Spaceman, so I am glad to see Anora (2024) do well.
Anora (2024) is something truly special, and for me, it’s probably the best film of the year. As a filmmaker myself, I learned a lot from this movie.
