Anora is officially film of the year, crowned supreme at the Oscars, just as it was at Cannes when it was anointed with the Palme d’Or last May. That’s a long path to glory, and a fairly untrodden one. Parasite made it five years ago; the previous film to do so was Marty in 1955. (In fact, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend achieved a similar feat 10 years before that, but then the top prize at Cannes was the Grand Prix, and it was shared.)
Anyway: a small number. Acquired by Neon for the US before Cannes, Anora opened there last October in an effective rollout. Half of its earnings were made stateside, with the rest predominantly in Europe, and France – which takes Cannes seriously – proving the major market. It has also done brisk trade in Russia ($3m so far), which can’t be said for a lot of the other nominees, and says something interesting about the accuracy and flattery of film-maker Sean Baker’s take on Little Odessa in New York, where Anora is set.
