"Anora" the big winner at the Oscars, including Best Picture

Trying to parse a narrative out of "Anora" being such a success, and winning Best Picture, is tricky in the moment. "Green Book" winning seemed to really rattle the film world, and the Academy. This paved the way for "Parasite," but then the pandemic through the world, and the movie landscape, into chaos. For a couple years, we got "Nice things are nice" Oscars. Last year, movies that people actually saw got back into the mix, and "Oppenheimer" steamrolled everybody. Where does "Anora" fit in?

It's comedic, though not a comedy. It is an easier hang than "The Brutalist," though "Anora" lacks any greater substance than the movie itself. "A Complete Unknown" would have been a bigger people pleaser as a winner, but the Academy voters didn't go that way. "Anora" is a low-budget film from the quasi-iconoclastic Sean Baker, but it isn't punishing, nor does it "make you think."

Maybe "Anora" winning reflects a year of film in which a narrative couldn't take purchase. Maybe it will prove anomalous. Maybe Oscar voters loved how much Baker was talking about the cinematic experience and indie film while on the circuit. Maybe they just though the cast had a lot of good-looking people in it. The "Anora" folks will just bask in the triumph. It's up to everybody else to try and figure things out beyond that. It's a big night for indie cinema, for Neon, and especially for Cannes as a taste maker. We'll all reconvene this time next year to assess the direction of film once more.