https://www.dumptheguardian.com/film/2025/mar/03/anora-oscar-triumph-russian-state-propagandists-overjoyed

Russian state propagandists overjoyed at Anora’s Oscar triumph

The film’s five Academy Awards seen as act of normalisation by commentators in country still persecuting critics of its war on Ukraine

It was an unfamiliar sight for Russians watching state TV on Monday morning. For the first time since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, the Oscars made the news.

The state anchor devoted the tightly controlled news bulletin to Anora, the night’s runaway success, spotlighting its cast of Russian actors – chief among them best supporting actor nominee Yura Borisov, who earned global praise for his performance as a brutish yet unexpectedly sensitive Russian bodyguard.

“Borisov didn’t take home a personal Oscar,” the state anchor remarked, “but he earned praise for his talent and professionalism from none other than Robert Downey Jr,” referencing Downey’s speech from the stage in Los Angeles, which lauded Borisov.

Sean Baker’s Anora, a Cinderella-like fairytale of a lapdancer’s whirlwind romance with the free-spending, reckless son of a Russian oligarch, has achieved something few cultural works have managed in recent years: it has been embraced both in the west and in an increasingly nationalistic, militarised Russia.

Anora took home five Oscars on Sunday, and has won acclaim both in Hollywood and Moscow for its sharp, unflinching portrayal of power dynamics and class struggle, earning particular praise for its authentic Russian dialogue. But for some, Anora is a difficult film to celebrate.

At a time when Russian bombs continue to fall on Ukraine, a story steeped in Russian themes and set in a pre-pandemic world – untouched by the invasion – feels, to its critics, unwelcome, like a retreat into a reality where the war doesn’t exist.

“There’s a lot about this film that unsettles me … It’s the third year of full-scale war … And here … not a single word about the war. The feeling of discomfort never quite leaves,” wrote the Ukrainian film producer Alexander Rodnyansky in a post on Instagram.

And perhaps more than anything, it is Borisov’s Oscar nomination that has troubled Ukrainians, who see it as a symbol of cultural normalisation amid Moscow’s aggression.


Catherine Shoard join's the full-court press:

Anora has swept the Oscars. I can’t help feeling that shouldn’t have happened

https://www.dumptheguardian.com/film/2025/mar/03/anora-sean-baker-oscars-best-picture

Bleating propagandist twats.