ANORA (Sean Baker, 2024)

Harkins, the local Southwestern theater chain, brought Sean Baker’s film Anora to town as part of their showcasing all of this year’s Best Picture nominees. I’m not sure if I was as excited by this as the academy was but it’s a tight enough film that picks up speed in its second half, and I was glad to see some of the wintry NYC locations supporting the gritty texture of the tale. The sex was integral to the plot and Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov display some serious acting chops along with their skin. Also interesting was the use of loads of club tracks being played but no soundtrack music per se.

“We knew it was going to be kind of overcast, gray skies. So where was the color going to come from? The color was going to come from objects. We started to lean into the reds and blues.” – Sean Baker