Anora

Anora, directed by Sean Baker (The Florida Project), is the first American film to win the Palme d'Or in over a decade. It is also on most lists of likely Best Picture award nominees and on all early top ten lists for the year.

I was initially excited to see what the famed director would do with a love story or perhaps discover how he'd merge his authentic storytelling with something more widely commercial. My reaction to the film in one word is — disappointment. My fault for reading headlines noting that this was a love story with screwball comedy thrown in. It has neither.

This "modern Cinderella story" revolves around the relationship between Brooklyn stripper Anora/Ani (Mikey Madison) and Vanya, the heir to a Russian fortune. I never felt any romantic connection or otherwise.

Baker has always excelled at portraying fully-developed characters on society’s margins, but here the story feels like a well-worn template. Anora’s journey—her relationship with the wealthy Vanya, her struggles and the eventual fallout—feels less like an exploration of the American Dream and more like a recycled version of narratives we've seen before. By making its titular character a stripper, everything is all too familiar. Swap Vanya's Russian parents with drug dealers and you've essentially got Hustlers or Zola.

I think what Baker is attempting to explore is the joy and despair of someone from the fringes who briefly tastes success only to lose it all. There’s an important theme about the fragility of dreaming big, but it doesn’t quite come through with the depth or nuance that Baker’s best work usually has. Unfortunately, I think he just made a raunchy and sad remake of Pretty Woman.

In a nutshell: Anora isn’t a bad film—it just doesn’t live up to the potential that its premise and director suggested and it's not a lot of fun so I can't recommend it.

Where to see it: In theaters now.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman: Wouldn't anything?

Award potential: I'm in the minority on this one, look for it in every major category. Mikey Madison's last scene is a heartbreaker.

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.