MOVIE NEWS – It won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, and now most people are betting that Anora will receive the Oscar for the best film, but the director, Sean Baker, and the title character, Mikey Madison, will also take home a golden statue. . However, Baker is quick to clarify that, following his great success, his goal is not – like many in the industry – to finally be able to make Hollywood blockbusters or expensive TV series as a favorite of the big studios, after starting out as an independent director. He says this despite or precisely because, according to critics, he got a little closer to the mainstream with Anora.
Baker has always considered the Cannes festival to be the most important competition for him, but after the big win he had to think.
“This was my dream (I mean the Golden Palm – ed.),” he said in an interview. – But then you get into an existential crisis, you have to figure out how to continue. For me, it’s not about opening the doors to the big studios. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. This thing means: OK, now we can definitely continue what we’ve been doing.”
What has Baker done so far? He mainly made independent films about the lives of American subcultures, including sex workers, which won great professional recognition. The story of the drama Starlet (2012) takes place in the center of the world’s porn industry, Fernando Valley, California, about the struggling life of the workers there, after the director conducted extensive research in the field. Tangerine (2015) tells the story of two trans sex workers, in Florida Dream (2017) a housewife becomes a prostitute to support her family, Red Rocket (2021) and its hero is an aging porn star who returns to his hometown, which the locals do not welcome with bursting joy.
Anora also takes you to the world of sex workers, but with much more action and humor than Baker’s previous films. Anora (Mikey Madison) is a striptease dancer, but she does more than that if there is a need for her, and of course if she is paid well. She spontaneously marries one of her clients (Mark Eydelshteyn), who is the son of a Russian oligarch. When the boy’s parents find out what happened, they will stop at nothing to annul the marriage.
(Anora – domestic release: November 7, 2024.)
