Best Pictures #117: The 2024 (97th) Academy Awards: My Choice

 by A.J.

The 2024 (97th) Academy Awards:

The 97th Academy Awards for films released in 2024 was held on March 2nd, 2025. Overall 2024 was not a strong year for movies, at least not when compared to the films and nominees of last year. Conan O’Brien hosted the ceremony which even though it finished only slightly after expected still felt very long. There was a musical dance and montage tribute to the James Bond films that felt unnecessary and inexplicable. The highlight of the night were Conan’s comedic bits which were neither too long nor mean spirited. Adrian Brody won his second Best Actor Oscar for playing another artist who survives the Holocaust. Zoe Saldaña won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez and Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain, though there is a strong argument that they are actually the leads of their respective films. 

The most nominated film of the night, Emilia Pérez, won only two awards (for Supporting Actress and Original Song for El Mal), a sign of how badly support for that film fell apart. In one of the night’s surprises Emilia Pérez lost the International Feature award to Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here, from Brazil, which is not only a better film than Emilia Pérez, but one of the best films of 2024. 

Another surprise was writer-director Sean Baker tying the record set by Walt Disney for most wins by a person in one night/ceremony. Though Disney’s awards were for four separate films, Baker’s awards were all for the same film, Anora, which he wrote, edited, directed and produced and won awards for doing each. By far the biggest and most shocking upset of the night also belonged to Anora when Mikey Madison won the Best Actress Oscar over frontrunner and favorite Demi Moore for The Substance. Moore winning award after award all season combined with her “comeback” narrative seemed enough to overcome the Academy’s aversion to the horror genre, but alas. Despite the loss, I feel confident that The Substance and Moore’s performance will stand the test of time and become influential in horror and other genres. 

Anora ended up becoming the most awarded film of the 97th Academy Awards, winning 5 of its 6 nominations. I liked Anora and think it is a fine and entertaining film, but if I had a vote to cast it would be for a different film.

My Choice for Best Picture of 2024: Conclave

Among its 8 Oscar nominations, Conclave did not receive a Best Director nomination for Edward Berger, a sign that it did not have strong chances to win Best Picture. I think this is also a sign that every aspect of the filmmaking works so well that the final film feels effortless. The Costume Design was rightfully nominated though I’m sure many grumbled that it’s just the same red robe again and again and don’t those robes and vestments already exist? Berger and costume designer Lisy Christl ignored the advice to simply rent costumes from The Young Pope and create their own. The robes in the film are thicker and heavier than the real cardinal robes, to the annoyance of Ralph Fiennes, but they are also from a richer fabric so instead of appearing orange on screen, their redness highlights each frame, especially in dark rooms and hallways. Christl used the crosses the cardinals wear to signal their personality or background. Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) wears a simple cross. The ambitious Cardinal Tremblay (Lithgow) wears an elaborate jeweled cross. In a masterful sequence we see a frontrunner’s chances for becoming pope collapse. When confronted by Cardinal Lawrence about a scandal, the other cardinal is not wearing his cross. The effect is that he seems naked, exposed, as his scandal is about to be exposed. Berger and editor Nick Emerson intercut this moment with scenes of the next day’s vote and a subjective shot of the fallen cardinal that shows his loss of support. From the striking and frantic opening image to the striking and peaceful closing image, Conclave is excellent filmmaking, impressive all the more for its great entertainment value.

Best Pictures #113: 2024 (97th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Anora

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #113: 2024 (97th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Anora

“It’s not Anora. It's Ani.”

Anora, the latest from acclaimed writer-director Sean Baker, won the prestigious Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, making it one of only a handful of American films to do so and ensuring it attention from the Academy Awards. It ended up earning 6 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay for Baker, and Actress for Mikey Madison), but I am happy to report that this is not a case of prestige chasing prestige. Anora is at different points funny, dramatic, stressful, tense, a lively romp, cathartic. At certain scenes I laughed out loud. At others I feared for the main character. Anora has drawn comparisons to Pretty Woman, and naturally to Baker's previous films, but this film stands on its own and is one of the stand outs of 2024.

I would not call Anora a romance, though that is what Ani (Mikey Madison) and Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), believe they have. She works at a strip club where she has friends and rivals and lives in a working class home in Brooklyn. One night, because she is the only dancer who speaks Russian, she is sent to entertain Ivan, a young Russian man with very deep pockets. He wants to keep seeing her and luckily for both of them Ani is also a part time a sex worker. A day turns into a night that turns into a New Year's party that turns into a whirlwind week and a trip to Vegas and, before either knows it, they are married. It is all very fast paced and frivolous fun. Their marriage goes well for a little while until Ivan's oligarch (billionaire) parents hear rumors about their son's marriage and send Toros (Karren Karagulian), a beleaguered Armenian employee, to solve this problem.

None of the reviews I read or podcasts I listened to mention that the bulk of Anora, beyond the first act, is a one-crazy-night movie, a favorite subgenre of mine. Once Toros and his henchmen show up at Ivan's house to force Ani and Ivan to get an annulment, Ivan literally runs away. Toros slips on ice chasing after him–a clue that this is ultimately a comedy. So Toros, his crew, and a very unhappy Ani set out to find Ivan but they have literally nothing to go on because it turns out, to Ani's surprise, not ours, that she doesn't know Ivan as well as she thought. That crazy night turns into a crazy morning and a crazy and morning after.

The brilliant thing Baker has done with his movie is allow the characters layers and nuance. Nearly every character is more than who they seem at first glance. Toros, the would-be villain, is actually a put-upon employee so fearful of his bosses that he abandons a baptism mid-ceremony. His rant against "young people" at a late night diner is hilarious, one of many unexpected but natural moments of humor. Igor (Yura Borisov) seems the typical henchman type: broad shouldered, stone faced, silent. He chases Ani around Ivan's house, pins her down, and gags her with a scarf. The rest of the movie slowly reveals his true gentler self. He'll later give her the scarf to stay warm on cold and windy Coney Island. His time alone with Ani in the final act is what brings the film to its low-key but affecting catharsis and is responsible for Borisov’s Supporting Actor nomination. Ivan is bursting with eager, excited energy that would put any puppy dog to shame, however, his character reveals more too. It may not be surprising for us but it is heartbreaking for Ani.

The revelation of the movie is Mikey Madison as Ani. There are many things Ani does that I would never do, but none of her actions or behavior never felt contrived or at the demand of the screenplay. Ani is just that kind of person (we've all met that kind of person haven't we?). She commands our sympathy even as our feelings for others change. One perspective is that she is a working class dancer and part time sex worker who is making the most of an opportunity; a perhaps cynical but justifiable standpoint. Another is that she really falls in love with Ivan, or at least thinks she does, and isn't it wonderful that he is from a billionaire family. Her willingness and readiness to explain herself to Ivan's family goes a long way. No matter if we want her and Ivan to stay together or are thinking "girl, you need to get out!", we are always rooting for her.

I don't think it is a spoiler to say that nothing especially bad happens in this movie but danger and harm never feel far away. In its final moments Anora leans towards drama but it is never dour, or dark, or cruel. The ending is may be unexpected though not indecipherable, at least not on an emotional level. Anora runs a bit long (2h 19m) but it makes the most of every minute. Sean Baker is a talent to be sure, but Mikey Madison is the miracle of the movie. She shows us what it is like to be somebody else.

Nominees: Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers

Director: Sean Baker

Screenplay: Sean Baker

Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian

Production Companies: FilmNation Entertainment, Cre Film

Distributor: Neon

Release Date: October 28th, 2024

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actress-Mikey Madison; Director-Sean Baker; Original Screenplay-Sean Baker; Supporting Actor-Yura Borisov; Editing-Sean Baker