Madison is totally present, totally committed, and gives a textured, transcendent performance as the titular Anora. She conveys all kinds of layers and contradictions- strength, desire, vulnerability, joy, calculation- the whole gambit but above all what shines through is a beautiful and delicate humanity. It's truly stunning. Yura Borisov as Igor is the only one that's able to really push up to her level offering a character that's interesting and with dimension. The supporting cast are all competent but they are either as-written or as a result of the script just not as engaging. Eydelshteyn for example serves the role but the character is a petulant, immature, Peter Pan, there is simply no depth to him, that seems to be intentional but it doesn't make it any easier to watch and he's onscreen quite a lot.
As with all of Sean Baker's work it looks incredible, shot on location, with evocative lighting, an effective thrumming soundtrack the production all works, its transportive. Where it stumbles is simply in the run time, in the pacing, the middle section languishes and unintentionally highlights the shallowness of the supporting cast. It picks up at the end but by that time it feels the film has already ended two or three times. The film is still great but it does not reach the heights of Baker's earlier work Tangerine or The Florida Project. Maybe that's an unfair comparison it's just a shame the film as a whole doesn't quite meet Madison's performance.
A must-see for Madison alone.
Currently in theaters.
Don't Miss It.
No comments:
Post a Comment