Anora

Anora (Sean Baker, 2024)

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Rating: Q=7, P=6 / Can't Get Enough

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

Drama, Complex Relationships, Romance, Dark Comedy, Sex Industry

Sean Baker finds a way to blend sobering realism with ridiculous insanity in Anora, the Oscar Best Picture winner from last year. Mikey Madison is magnificent and inspiring in her role. I loved Ani from the start. Inside her escort world--where she has a chosen family and admirers and is good at her work--she is confident, brash, sassy, and funny. She is in charge. But outside of this world, she feels different and is supremely naïve. It makes sense: Ani has defined herself by her work. She is an escort. She uses her body for money. Society considers this vulgar or despicable or low... she must be those things, too. Once her make up and lingerie are off, she is riding the subway home to a shabby apartment she doesn't even own. So, when a ostentatiously rich boy walks into her work and offers her more, she can't resist. She desperately wants what she has been told she can't and never will have. She wants to wave it around and scream it in everyone's face. She needs recognition and validation that badly. Unfortunately, her needs overpower her reason and judgement in a really big way.

Profound story with so much between the lines and scenes. Beautiful film.

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Andor Season 2

Andor, Season 2 (Tony Gilroy, 2025)

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Rating: DSQ=12, SP=8 / Decadence

Scale A=4, Scale B=4, Scale C=4, Scale D=4, Scale E=4

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Star Wars Universe, Epic

I had high expectations for Season 2 of this amazing show. I knew what the ending would be (Rogue One) and anticipated a lot more tension and depressing moments. And I wasn't wrong. I was blown away and left ruminating about the series for days.

Tony Gilroy knows Star Wars and knows how to write suspense and tension. Andor brings the gritty realism and relevancy to the Star Wars universe that no other Star Wars movie or show has. At times, I felt like I was watching a true story. That happened yesterday. Here on Earth, not in a galaxy far far away. And I think that is the real success and power of Andor. This science "fiction" story feels real. The characters seem like people you know. The emotions are palpable. The urgency makes your heart pound and sets your thoughts whirling--How can I help? What can I do?

How everything from earlier Star Wars shows and movies ties together is very satisfying for a true Star Wars fan--for example, I immediately watched Rogue One after Andor Season 2 and so much changed. I cried in a different way. The viewing experience was entirely changed. But you also don't need to have any context or prior history to get something truly meaningful out of Andor. It stands alone and fits in the timeline. And this is because the writing is masterful. Andor is timeless and important. It tells a story we humans keep experiencing and keep allowing to happen again and again.

Click here to read my post about Season 1.

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