It sucks no matter how hard you scream, so just let go

I quite like Anora (2025) for how it touches on the pulse of the era, or rather, the mindsets of Gen Alpha. I know a lot of you see it as mediocore or at least not worthy of an Oscars, but here's my take on what might have led it to the honor.

Speaking of the mindsets of Gen Alpha, the film sums it up best in Toro's (the Godfather played by Karren Karagulian) complaints at the restaurant. He asks one by one about where Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn ) is, but no one knows anything. They just shrug and turn back to their tables. The long and fruitless search wears him down until he can't help but gripe on and on, all pointing to one question: why does this generation of people care about nothing?

I'm so sick of your generation, man. No respect for elders or authority. No ambition. No goals. The only goal you have is just to buy a pair of cool sneakers. That's all.

The film answers the question through the character Vanya. Does this playful trust fund baby really have a choice in how he lives? Does he have an actual say in anything, beyond where to go for a vacation and how to entertain himself? What does that kind of 'fun' mean compared to power, influence, or legacy? Do young people even have a shot at those things, or are they just told that they do only to find out it never pays off as promised?

Layoffs, budget cuts, inflation, wars, or even job opportunities, do they actually have a say in any of it?

Sure, life is full of choices, but how do you know if the ones in front of you are real or just pre-selected illusions? Does Vanya truly want to learn the family business, just because it's supposedly ‘best for him’ in the eyes of his parents and society?

And what if he doesn't? There you have it. Sex, alcohol, gambling, even marriage, all just to have fun, to numb himself and escape what he can't make any difference to. The young adult born with a silver spoon has surrendered to inertia.

Yet, some in the film are still fighting for possibilities. When you're truly struggling for something, you can't always stay decent and composed because life's bound to get messy. You have to claw to hold on to what you have and scrape together just a little more. Someone (Garnik, played by Vache Tovmasyan ) gets their nose broken and pukes in a car, while someone else (Toros) can do nothing but see his buddy vomit in his car. I bet many viewers find the long search for a playboy boring, but it's hilarious for me to see how they are fu*ked up by work and life. Their dialogues along the way really cracked me up.

The funniest part, of course, is when both try to network with Vanya's parents. It's just so ironic to see the two making all possible efforts to cut off Anora (Mikey Madison ) from Vanya's family are now doing pretty much the same thing as what they think Anora is doing (suck up to wealth and power), only to fail just as awkwardly. That's how people without power treat each other when there's even the faintest opportunity ahead, isn't it? Though I feel a bit of comfort when Garnik finally manages to empathize with Anora on the plane after being shut down by Galina (Darya Ekamasova). They are in the same boat.

So is the younger generation. They just don't play the game anymore. Because it doesn’t matter. Because the best they can hope for is a scrap thrown their way, and most of the time, not even that. Does Anora change anything as she fails—both physically and metaphorically—through life, forced to scream “RAPE” just to be heard? Does the Godfather get anything more than he had after all the chaos? If the ‘respectable’ life still means getting constantly screwed over, why not just let go? Why not just chill? Why care at all?

Maybe this is the truth in our times. Just look at your life. Just look around. That's the way the air smells now. Of course, some people refuse to take a whiff. I get it. But we still need something that tells it like it is, right?

And Anora? Her life is even worse. Beyond all the struggles, she has to sell her own body.

Wait—are you calling that a voluntary 'means of production'?

LOL f**k you.

[The highlighted part was edited on 31st Mar.]