Anora went below the radar in Ireland but it flew high at an unpredictable Oscars
Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldana, and Kieran Culkin at the Oscars on Sunday. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
It was the low-budget movie that won huge on the biggest night in cinema. Costing an estimated $6m to make - a tiny amount by Hollywood standards - Anora staged a late charge to win five Oscars including Best Picture. It did so following one of the most chaotic and unpredictable awards seasons in recent memory.
Released in Irish cinemas last November (it’s now available to stream on various rental platforms including Apple TV and Sky Store), Anora is a dark comedy about a young stripper who impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch.
The movie was on the radar of awards-season watchers for some time, ever since it won the Palme D’Or at Cannes Film Festival last May. Festival wins don’t often translate to Oscar victories - but Anora has managed to pull off that remarkable feat. Only two previous films - 1955’s Marty and Parasite in 2019 - have won the Palme D’Or and carried momentum to the Oscars ten months later.
Sean Baker’s film ended up winning big on the night, with the director of previous films including Tangerine and The Florida Project making Oscar history. Winning Oscars for producing, directing, editing and writing the film’s screenplay, he became the first-ever person to win four Oscars for the same movie. The film’s lead star, 25-year-old Mikey Madison, beat the might of Hollywood icon Demi Moore and The Substance to win Best Actress. Madison’s Bafta win a couple of weeks ago hinted that she could potentially pull off the upset.
Anora’s victory could be regarded as a win for independent cinema. It could also be regarded as a sign of how reluctant big studios are to make the kinds of films that make an Oscars run.
The Oscars marked the ending of an unpredictable awards season, one where the fortunes of contenders including The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez rose and fell, and with no obvious emerging contender for Best Picture. An early frontrunner with 13 nominations, Emilia Pérez went home with two on the night - Best Supporting Actress for an emotional Zoe Saldana, and Best Song for the stomping El Mal.
Looking dapper in Yves St Laurent and returning to the stage of his memorable Best Actor win for Oppenheimer last year, Cillian Murphy presented the Best Actor Oscar to Adrien Brody. Backstage, Halle Berry playfully gave Brody a peck on the lips, as he had done to her when he won Best Actor for The Pianist more than two decades earlier.
Tellingly, one of the biggest cheers on the night was for Sebastian Stan, who played a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. His nomination - along with Jeremy Strong’s in support - marked a huge coup for Irish film producers Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde. Their Dublin-based production company Tailored Films was a driving force behind getting the Trump movie made.
In a city still reeling from the impact of the LA wildfires less than two months ago, The Oscars opened with a montage of films shot in The City of Angels, before turning to a special performance from the stars of Wicked.
Later, Conan O’Brien - presenting for the first time - would invite some of the city’s first responders to the stage.
In what was a big win for Brazil, Walter Salles’ powerful I’m Still Here, the story of a ‘disappeared’ politician and the impact on a family left behind, won Best International Feature in a highly competitive category.
A phenomenon in its native country, the film has also been a box-office hit in Ireland, buoyed by both Irish cinemagoers and our large Brazilian community.
