I Think the Stripper Likes Me

Film: Anora
Format: Streaming video from Hulu Plus on Fire!

My goal was to get through my set of Oscar films by the end of the year and to save the Best Picture winner, Anora, for last. I did save it for last, but circumstances prevented me from getting it watched until tonight. There was a part of me that didn’t really want to watch it (although I was far less enthused about The Apprentice). There are only a couple of ways for this story to go, and really only one interesting one, and on the surface, the characters didn’t appeal to me at all.

To give the elevator pitch, Anora is a far more realistic version of Pretty Woman. Exotic dancer/escort Anora “Ani” Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) dances at a club and for a fee frequently has sex with her clients. One night, a customer named Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) wants someone who will speak Russian with him, and Anora gets tapped. Vanya is in New York City from Russia alleged for school, but he spends most of his time playing video games and partying. How can he afford this? His father is a Russian oligarch and a billionaire.

An Indie's Indie

Film: Tangerine
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on The Nook.

I was in a unique position coming at the latest crop of films from the 1001 Movies list this year. I’d seen and reviewed seven of the 10 new films already, and had also seen the seven longest films of the ten. That meant for an easier completion this year, even if two of the films I hadn’t seen were foreign, and thus subtitled. My original goal was to save Tangerine for last, it being the shortest of the three remaining films. However, I had to return Son of Saul to the library before I had a chance to watch it, meaning that if I wanted to finish by the end of the month, I needed to watch Tangerine today.

This is nothing if not a unique film and vision. Famously, Tangerine was filmed on three iPhone 5s with an $8 app, not something typically thought of as being real cinema. I think that’s at least part of the point. If nothing else, it’s a solid reminder that there are options open to any of us. Someone with the will and the vision can make a movie anywhere and using just about anything. The success of Tangerine as a narrative, then, is almost secondary to its actual existence. Even if it fails completely, it’s still kind of a success.