A+Z Movie Review Podcast · Alex Long and Zach Cavanagh

Episode 41 - Anora - 2025 Best Picture Nominee

·47 min·3 clips

Yura Borisov plays Igor as the voice of reason in the chaos around Anora.

1. A+Z Movie Review Podcast covers Anora, the Sean Baker film that they describe as a 2025 Best Picture nominee and a Palme d'Or winner at Cannes. 2. Alex and Zach host the review, and their roles matter because they frame the movie as both an awards contender and a crowd-pleasing comedy-drama. 3. The episode asks whether Anora is the movie to beat in the Oscar race, while also judging whether Sean Baker’s film works as a fun watch. 4. The hosts call the setup a modern-day Cinderella and Pretty Woman story, then note that it shifts into “a shred of the hangover” after the opening stretch. 5. They explain that Anora is a stripper with a Russian background who can understand Russian when wealthy young men come into the club. 6. Vanya, the oligarch’s son, pays Anora to be his girlfriend for the week, and the trip turns into a Vegas wedding. 7. The plot then widens into a Brooklyn search when Vanya disappears and his father’s people arrive to deal with the marriage. 8. Sean Baker gets singled out because the hosts say he wrote, directed, and edited the film himself, which they describe as a lot of control for one person. 9. They connect Baker’s work to The Florida Project and to his focus on marginalized people, especially immigrants and sex workers. 10. Alex says the screenplay seems difficult to imagine on the page because some scenes layer English, Russian, and Armenian conversations at the same time. 11. The hosts point to the tow-truck driver sequence as a moment where an improv background seems to show through in the casting. 12. Mikey Madison gets the clearest praise, with Alex calling her a force of nature and saying she does nearly 95% of the film’s physical work. 13. Zach emphasizes that Madison learned the strip-club routines and movements, which makes the performance feel convincing rather than generic. 14. Yura Borisov’s Igor is described as the strong, silent type who becomes a straight man against the film’s manic energy. 15. The 10-to-15-minute house-confrontation sequence is singled out as the hosts’ favorite stretch of the year, especially because it plays in real time. 16. They also notice the film’s sound design, including the use of “The Greatest Day” by Take That and the later silence of the car engine at the end. 17. The tone is conversational, with a lot of back-and-forth, interruptions, and awards-race sidebars woven into the review. 18. The style is a mix of immediate reactions, scene-specific breakdowns, and Oscar-category speculation rather than a formal critical essay. 19. Viewers who follow Best Picture races and performance talk would likely enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a spoiler-light, plot-heavy review may skip it.

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