November Film Reviews

Words by Harry Moore

Anora

The latest film from writer-director Sean Baker follows a young exotic dancer who elopes with a Russian oligarch’s son to the dismay of his parents. Over the course of his career, Sean Baker has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in American cinema and a true trailblazer in the independent film scene. With his films Baker has managed to give a voice and spotlight to many people who are often marginalized by society, let alone portrayed with any care in Hollywood. With each of his recent films, such as “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket,” Baker has shared stories from the forgotten corners of America, whether that be flyover counties in Texas or the drive-through neighborhoods of Orlando, humanizing the people, often sex workers and drug dealers who live and struggle in these communities. With “Anora,” Baker sets his eye on the strip clubs of New York City, where the haves are able to rent out the have-nots for their own pleasure.

Mikey Madison stars as Anora and has become the early and clear front-runner in this year’s awards season for leading actress. Madison has given some memorable performances in her burgeoning career burning up the screen in both “Scream 5” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” but as the eponymous Anora she reveals herself as an ingénue talent capable of bringing to life a complicated character that is both sympathetic and challenging in equal measure. There is barely a moment where Madison is on screen that she isn’t compelling for one reason or another, and her high-energy performance keeps Baker’s film moving through its manic pace and varied tonal shifts. Much in the way that Julia Roberts saw her star ascend dramatically after “Pretty Woman.” Following all the acclaim she has received for her work in “Anora,” Mikey Madison is almost certain to enjoy a stratospheric career elevation to becoming a household name and being placed at the top of many casting directors’ lists. Anora is another strong entry to the filmography of Sean Baker, a truly original filmmaker whose ability to capture the humanity of undervalued people and the disparate communities of this moment in the American experiment is unparalleled.

Joker 2

It’s by and large been a tough year for superhero movies. Sure, “Deadpool & Wolverine” was a box office behemoth, but it is comfortably the weakest of that series and was pretty much forgotten about entirely on the ride home from the theater. But a new nadir for the genre was reached with the release of Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the sequel to the 2019 cultural sensation. I was never a fan of Todd Phillips’ “Joker.” His take on The Clown Prince of Crime is a dull, unimpressive work with little to say on the subjects it so clearly wants to make a statement on. Charitably, it could be described as a pale imitation, or I guess homage, to Martin Scorsese’s films of the 1970s with “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy” serving as visual and narrative blueprints to little avail. And while Joaquin Phoenix’s freakout schtick may have won him a cumulatively deserved Oscar, it was done to much greater effect in “The Master.” With the sequel, Phillips seemed intent on ensuring that the rest of the audience shared in my disdain. Strangely, “Joker 2” (it hasn’t earned its pretentious subtitle) is part drab prison tale, part courtroom drama that relitigates the events of the first film, and part jukebox musical in which the numbers are mumbled and performed with uninspired choreography. It seems as though the director had as much interest in putting on these musical set pieces as fans of Batman had in watching them.

Phillips’ handling of people suffering with mental health is almost the inverse of how Sean Baker portrays sex workers; there’s no care or humanity toward those with mental illness on display in Phillips’ films. Instead, he utilizes cliched “freak show” imagery and ascertains that violence is an inherent side effect of mental illness. If having a poor handle on an issue as sensitive as mental health were the film’s greatest crime, then perhaps there would be room for it to at least be effective as a comic book thriller, but “Joker 2” is simply too boring to even successfully pull that off. It is a bleak and unpleasant viewing experience that has been understandably rejected en masse by moviegoers, hopefully sending a message to movie studios that not every hit movie justifies an automatic sequel. But I’m sure it will just hinder other directors from having carte blanche to do whatever they want in the future. Thanks for letting us into your twisted mind, Todd.