On a personal note, this year was extremely hard for me. I went through a lot of things mentally and physically and at times it got in the way of my review writing. That being said, I would always find my way back to cinema; films have a way of transporting us away or to inspire us when we need it the most. When times got tough, I knew I could come back and lose myself in an incredible story and then to share my thoughts with all of you.
There have been some outstanding films this year. Incidentally my top five all came out towards the end of the year. There were also some that I wish I could forget.
Without further ado, here are my top five best and worst films of 2024. I look forward to seeing what 2025 will bring!
Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Anora tells the story of a sex worker named Ani (Mikey Madison) who meets Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein) one night at the club. He whisks her away into a world of glamor and when he asks Ani to marry him, she says yes. But Ivan is the son of a Russian oligarch and they aren’t happy with the newlywed’s nuptials.
I have been waiting a long time to see this film on the big screen and let me tell you it did not disappoint. This is everything that a film should be and twenty four hours later, I am still struggling to put my feelings about it into words.
This is hands down Madison’s film. Her portrayal of Ani is intriguing from the get go. With a combination of assurance and knowing her self worth mixed with a childlike innocence, she isn’t perfect, but you want her to succeed. You want her to get her happy ending. Her performance will surely garner multiple award nominations, all of which are completely earned. I cannot wait to see what she does next because I know it will be amazing.
I wasn’t familiar with Edelshtein, but I felt like he was great as Ivan. While the character ended up frustrating me more than anything, I figured that was the point and he did it well. I really liked the oligarch’s three cronies Toros (Karren Karagulian), Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) too. The tone changed when they entered the picture, but I think they added an extra something that was needed.
What I liked the most about this film is the fact that it gripped me from the very first shot and it didn’t let me go. It took the Cinderella trope and spun it on its head, giving it a cold, hard reality slap. The fact that I felt every single emotion throughout the run time was seriously impressive that when it was all over, I just sat there in complete disbelief to what I had witnessed.
Anora deserves every single praise that it has been receiving. Sean Baker has a hit on his hands. I was a bit worried because I had such high hopes for this film. Luckily it was better than I ever could have imagined.
Credits Rolling 