Real life can’t help but blend into my blog, so this week’s difficulties are from the people who can’t seem to plan ahead and schedule anything…property sellers, Fedex, etc.
But that’s why movies are crucial, they take us away to witness other people’s problems so we can forget about ours.
Let’s talk about Anora. Sean Baker is in my top 3 directors on the planet and I get why ‘this’ is the one that’s made a splash. We’re not pro men right now, so my personal favorite of his four films Red Rocket, automatically gets kicked out of the club by the majority who think manipulative men should be sent to the gallows. But I stick by my ranking of Sean’s four films:
4 Tangerine
3 Florida Project
2 Anora
1 Red Rocket
Anora was a marvel; especially the ending and the dynamics between Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov. Yura, if you have not seen Compartment Number 6 has a presence with a capital P. Rent that and see what I mean. I do crave a second viewing though so I may add more at a later date.
*Second viewing: I enjoyed the film more a second time, and discovered the other performances to be equally worthy of praise. I still think Red Rocket gave a more full spectrum approach and highlighted Houston’s underrepresented poor, but I also understand Sean needing to break through to the masses and appreciate him bringing sex back to the movie theater.
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point did what Zemeckis was trying to do with Here. Christmas parades filmed like you’re on an acid trip, vintage home movies, dark shots on winter nights, snippets of teens hooking up in all their awkward beauty. Old people trying to stay relevant. middle agers dealing with the sandwich of parenthood and parenting their parents…Beautifully done, but the film takes patience. Directed by Tyler Taormina and starring Michael Cera, you can tell this is the start of a great directing career. Part Clerks, part Neil Simon, this kid’s goin places.
