Matt at the Movies: Low Budget, High Art
Matt looks at two movies - "Anora" and "A Real Pain" - that will be in the conversation this awards season. See which one gets the coveted 9.0 score below!
Studios don’t mind taking a chance on low-budget films.
If they fail, the financial downside is minimal. Maybe a limited release, an eventual tax write-off, and new content for streaming libraries.
The upside, however, can be tremendous. If released and marketed correctly, films with an indie or arthouse feel can become a minor box office hit and/or a major contender during awards season.
Outside of the horror genre, these films debut during the festival season, and see a fall or winter release after the Hollywood brass has an opportunity to get an audience temperature check. As we approach the holiday season, the studios begin to show their hand so that their best product hits critical mass at the right time during awards season.
Examples of low-budget films with great ROI for studios include Damien Chazelle’s 2014 debut Whiplash, which easily recouped a $3.3 million budget while winning three Academy Awards in the process. Chloé Zhao’s 2020 Nomadland was financed by Disney Studios for $5 million and eventually won Best Picture after debuting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps the best recent example was A24’s Moonlight, which cost between $1.5 and $4 million, grossed $65 million, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture (after one of the most infamous mixups in awards show history)
The low-budget ethos eschews the green screens and technological crutches of modern cinema, allowing directors to tell unique stories that are overlooked by major studios. Instead of paying top dollar for acting talent, A-listers take pay cuts or cede the screen to emerging talents (think Jennifer Lawrence in 2010’s Winter’s Bone) and late-career talents looking for a second chance (like then-washed up John Travolta in 1994’s Pulp Fiction).
Matt at the Movies will be looking at some true Oscar worthy bait today. Today’s films most likely won’t make or break the bank, or reach a wide audience (until they hit a streaming service), but they have all the makings of true low-budget awards winners.
Anora, a $6 million film directed by Sean Baker, won the coveted Palme d'Or jury prize after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival. Actor/director Jesse Eisenberg’s second movie, A Real Pain, premiered at Sundance and was bought by Searchlight Pictures for $10 million. Both films are incredibly funny, depressingly dark at times, and focus on the concept of making authentic bonds in an uncertain world.
Below, we’ll dive a little deeper into these films and their chances to win the top prizes at the 2025 Academy Awards.
If you’re looking for something to do on a full Thanksgiving stomach, you can see Anora and A Real Pain at our favorite Indie theater, The Independent Picture House.
“Anora” is much more than another “Pretty Woman”
In a Nutshell
Titular character Anora (Mikey Madison) is an Uzbek American stripper living in the Russian enclave of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. The mature, twenty-three year old Ani is savvy and seductive, with a hard outer shell to protect herself against the darker side of her chosen trade.
In walks a wealthy young patron named Vanya (Mark Eidelstein) who asks for an entertainer who can also speak Russian, and our meet cute is set, despite the power dynamics at play. Ani and party boy Vanya hit it off and he hires her to spend the week with him, which will entail partying, sex, lavish gifts, drugs, all to the tune of $15,000.
The two twenty-somethings' whirlwind week turns into romance and they head to Vegas with a motley crew to party oligarch style, eventually tying the knot in the famous Little White Wedding Chapel.
Vanya’s parents have other ideas when they get wind of the nuptials. From here, things fall apart when Vanya runs off as Russian gang members with ties to his parents arrive.
Time is money, why should I go?
Sean Baker has explored the worlds of lower-class society, as well as sex work, in all of his previous films including Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), and most recently with the wonderful Red Rocket (2021) starring former MTV VJ Simon Rex. Whether he’s filming in the sprawling Disney slums of Orlando or the seedy underbelly streets of Hollywood, Baker makes the setting an integral part of his stories.
In Anora, the overlooked neighborhood of Brighton Beach and the historic Coney Island boardwalk bring us into the immigrant world inside Brooklyn that few know exist. Rundown duplex houses sit blocks away from millionaire mansions and the socioeconomic stew gives a grainy view of America's largest metropolis.
The film was much more earnest and funny than I could have imagined. Ani is explosive in her interactions with problem-solver priest Toros along with his heavies Garnick and Igor. Her tête-à-tête throughout the film with Russian bruiser Igor leads to extremely funny conversations and somewhat scary, physical comedic scenes.
This film obviously draws a lot of parallels to the 90’s rom-com Pretty Woman, but instead of Richard Gere’s well-kept billionaire playboy we get a twenty-one year old spoiled, drug-addicted child who can’t run from his powerful parents. Pardon the cliche, but this film was a breath of fresh air with spectacular individual performances.
Star of the Show
Speaking of great performances, Mikey Madison is on fire from the first scene to its final frame. Her previous roles in the reboot of Scream, and as a Manson family cult member in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood showcased her energetic presence. In Anora, she performs with confidence and you never doubt her skills as a seasoned sex worker. Her character wrestles with her life choices, trust, and creating her own version of the American Dream.
Critics have praised her performances and this young ingénue has taken awards voters by storm. She is a frontrunner for Best Actress at this year's Academy Awards.
Breakdown
Pieces together the overall “vibe” this movie brings from other releases.
Don’t Sleep On
NEON pictures has been on an absolute tear with critically acclaimed films over the past five years. The independent production company has never had a problem thinking outside the box for domestic or foreign films to back, culminating in their banner 2019 year with Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Best Picture-winner Parasite, the last film many of us at Y’all saw at the old Manor Theater.
From arthouse to horror to comedy they seem to push the envelope which has resorted in industry and international acclaim. Anora is their flagship film for the 2024 awards season as they hope to bring back the big prize from the Hollywood heavyweights.
Best Ten Minute Stretch
(Possible Spoilers)
Anora and the Russians finally chase down a completely wasted and strung out Vanya in Ani's own strip club after a full exhaustive night of searching. Ani blows her top and comes to the realization that the annulment is going to happen as they head to the NYC courtroom, only to find out that the process must take place in Clark County, Nevada.
Vanya provides hilarious physical comedy along with the priest Toros and Ani mouthing off in front of the judge. It was a great sequence that director Sean Baker knew would draw laughs, with a fun conclusion to set up the final thirty minutes.
Could Have Used More
Small editing decisions to potentially trim down the second act and keep the action going. We get amazing arguments and scenes in the search for Vanya through Brooklyn, but that propulsive energy takes a hit in the process.
While Anora is a dark comedy, it felt like the tone could have been either funnier or grittier depending on your personal view. Not much else to pick at for a truly unique film.
Matt at the Movies Score: Highly Recommend - 8.5
.A truly fun night out with a spectacular lead performance.
“A Real Pain” solidifies Kieran’s Culkin supremacy
In a Nutshell
A Real Pain follows cousins Benji and David Kaplan as they head to Poland to pay respects to their recently-deceased grandmother, who survived the Shoah.
Though they grew up as best friends in New York City, the two men now live separate lives with completely different responsibilities. Benji (Kieran Culkin) is a floundering, unemployed loose cannon who can light up (or burn down) any room he walks into. David (Jesse Eisenberg) plays your prototypical Woody Allen-type: successful, seemingly boring, and very neurotic. The two aren’t quite an odd couple, but rather a spectrum of lineage from a family born of strife.
When the cousins arrive in Warsaw, Benji’s charm has grown old to David as they meet the rest of their touring group. Benji has a combination of marxist anti-consumer aggression mixed with an inquiring social butterfly vibe that comes off as grating to his straight-laced, family-centered relative. They meet their mixed group of American Jewish tourists headed by an Oxford-educated gentile guide who is ready to show them the experiences of their ancestors.
As we make our way from tourist attractions to small towns to concentration camps, we see the cousins dealing with their grief over their grandmother as well as their bottled up personal histories with one another. Each man wrestles with their station in life, along with their love for one another. Resentment, happiness, and lost connections rekindle as the two men try to process the entire experience.
It’s a beautiful and deep story woven into a short ninety minute run time.
Time is money, why should I go?
If you have ever traveled abroad or it’s on your bucket list, you get a real insight into the highs and lows of international travel. For every minor annoyance or uncomfortable exchange you receive five times the gratitude in experiences. In this film you get to view the experience from an intimate level within a small eccentric tour group. We even get Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing) as one of the traveling group members. What a treat!
The real story, however, is the relationship between Benji and David as they process both their grandmother's death as well as their people's plight.
Like Jojo Rabbit or Life is Beautiful, this movie is not a serious downer despite the serious subject matter and some heavy plot lines. Eisenberg’s writing features myriad hilarious moments between Benji and David. Benji is a one man wrecking crew of unfiltered emotional verbal diarrhea who somehow comes off as both funny and annoyingly charming. Benji also has zero issue engaging with anyone at any time, much to the chagrin of an often-embarrassed David.
The end result is a nuanced film where the journey itself is as fulfilling as each biting conversation between kin.
Star of the Show
Kieran Culkin is already on the awards radar for his performance, and rightly so. He is a tour-de-force throughout the film as his abrasive and emotionally unstable character tries to work out his feelings with the world.
Culkin was praised for his work on HBO’s Succession, winning an Emmy Award for Best Actor. He plays the overly confident, smarmy pseudo-intellectual to perfection and it shines in this film. To be charismatic, annoying, caring, and a self-indulgent prick is a combination where Culkin is king. He is a front runner for Best Supporting Actor this year and he may get his flowers when awards season comes to a close.
Don’t Sleep On
Jesse Eisenberg.
The actor has been on the scene since breaking out in Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, and peaked with his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in one of the all-time great films, The Social Network. Since, he has remained steadily employed, bouncing from larger commercial films, to small indie roles, to streaming TV.
With A Real Pain, Eisenberg wrote, directed, and starred which can’t help but draw connections to auteurs like Woody Allen (albeit much less problematic).
The writing of this film and the depth he gives the two main characters in essentially a travel log romp was spectacular. He takes a straightforward concept to the next level making us laugh, draw unexpected emotions, and contemplate our own close connections which could end up earning him a best original screenplay this year at the Oscars.
Best Ten Minute Stretch
(Possible Spoilers)
The tour group makes their way to a concentration camp in one of the heavier scenes in the film. Each of the participants takes in their surroundings in silence. Benji is completely overcome with emotions on the way home, and you have a sense of empathy for people you didn’t know an hour before. It’s the most solemn portion of the film and breaks up the chaotic levity we’d seen up until this point.
Could Have Used More
I would have really loved another off the wall situation where Benji puts Dave in an incredibly awkward position, but it’s better off leaving things as they are.
Matt at the Movies Score: Highly Recommend - 9.0
A beautiful film that will stick with me for a while.
Well, movie fans, we are in the thick of it.
Get ready to be fully thrown into awards season. We have Gladiator II and Wicked coming up over the next few weeks. The Brutalist, my most anticipated film remaining, is slated for an early December release.
Charlotte FC’s season is over but I’m thankful for excellent cinema. See you next time at Matt at the Movies!