On March 2nd, the 97th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, took place. The most coveted award of the night, Best Picture, went to Anora. The film won a total of 5 awards that night, including Best Actress and Best Director. The film has won many other accolades at the smaller award shows of the season, along with the Palme d’Or, the highest honor at the very prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The film has been soaking in loads of critical appeal, but let’s look inward to its audience appeal?

This is not a film many parents are going to be happy with. It has a strong R rating for excessive nudity and language. The film revolves around Anora, an exotic dancer in New York City, as she falls in love with a very wealthy, young, Russian man named Ivan. The two get married, to the dismay of his family, and hijinks ensue. The movie juggles a lot of tones, but does it well, at least in Senior Lylah Chavez’s opinion, who said, “I like how it balances really funny parts with more sad, dramatic stuff.”

A part of what makes these conflicting tones work so well with each other is the powerhouse performance at its center. Anora, played by the incomparable, Mikey Madison, is incredibly complex and the director, Sean Baker, made this role specifically for the young actress. Junior Marisol Garcia said in regards to the performance, “the character seems so much like a real person, the actress did an amazing job.” All of the supporting cast also did a great job, but Madison is what made the film what it was.

Along with the director Sean Baker, who broke a record with this film by becoming the 1st person to win four Oscars in one night, for Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture respectively. In the opinion of senior Molly Murdock-Schey, “the directing was really good.”

If anything written here about the film is intriguing, it’s available to rent or buy now and is surely worth the two hours.