The Palm d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, is a big deal. And it has become an even bigger Oscar bellwether in recent years, as the Academy has expanded, diversified, and, as a result, become more international. The winners have certainly been international, as American films have won only 13 times during the award’s 80+ year history. In fact, an American film has not won since 2011 when Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life took the prize (and, later, three Oscar nominations). That all changed this year when Sean Baker’s romantic dramedy (maybe rom-com-dram?), Anora, earned the distinction and immediately zoomed to the front of the Oscar race.

Anora or Annie is an erotic dancer living in Brighton Beach who becomes involved with Vanya, the playboy son of an obscenely wealthy Russian oligarch. Once his parents find out about their relationship, however, they threaten to fracture Anora’s fairytale romance. The film is playin in theaters now, and will eventually become available to stream on Hulu.

On this episode of The Long Take Review, Greg, P.T., Antonio, and I debate how far this film can really go at the Oscars, what this film has to say about sex work, money, class, and power, and share our reactions to the film’s unexpected ending. Also, if you were ever wondering what some of us sound like with a thick New York accent…

As a bonus, you’ll also find in this episode a shorter conversation I had with Greg about his experience seeing RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist before the rest of us. That conversation is spoiler free and takes place towards the beginning of the episode, before our Anora review. If you’d like more details to help you hop around the episode, see the time stamps below.

* Greg gives his spoiler-free reactions to Nickel Boys and The Brutalist. 3:58

* The Short Take and The Recommendation Algorithm for Anora (spoiler free) 37:16

* SPOILER MODE for Anora 50:12

* Oscar Watch for Anora 1:21:16

Image Credit: IndieWire

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