Anora was... alright. Well-crafted but a bit overrated. I wonder how different my opinion would’ve been if I wasn’t expecting a Best Picture™. I don’t believe it deserved it, but it seems the $18 million campaign (triple its budget) secured it.
Its Oscars sweep would be baffling, except this is a VERY Hollywood phenomenon: every generation gets its "sex worker with a golden heart who just needs a good man so she can stop using her body" movie. The actress is called "brave" (like a straight actor playing gay), and it becomes a critical or box office smash embodying its era. 1970’s Klute, in gritty NYC, won Jane Fonda an Oscar. 1990s’ Pretty Woman was a mid-AIDS fairytale that made Julia Roberts a star. Moulin Rougelaunched Nicole Kidman with Y2K pyrotechnics and pre-9/11 optimism.
Anora thinks it’s deeper than it is. Even with its statements on wealth and work, its Uncut Gems + Euphoria vibes, great acting, and striking locations, the final shot proves it’s not an inversion of the formula. I never bought Anora’s naïveté and found it patronizing—for audiences who don't know sex workers, by a straight white dude, and it shows.
2020’s Zola did this film so much better.
A weird thing about getting older is watching leading men from your childhood play creepy old villains. Hugh Grant was the British heartthrob in the ’90s and ’00s. In Heretic, he’s having a blast prancing the thin line between charm and menace. The film follows three characters trapped in a house, dissecting belief. I liked its big ideas about religion and culture. The monologues reminded me of Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass. Horror blends so effectively with existential questions. The two female leads are acting to pay their mortgage, mama, illustrating how women are taught to be “nice” even when it spells death. It’s a classic horror theme that I’d be so curious to see with younger and older Queer men. Imagine an Ed Buck horror film! Shudder.
Heretic borrows heavily from 2022’s Barbarian and falls into familiar territory at the end. But for a lazy weekend, it’s worth the stream.
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