From his debut with 2000’s Four Letter Words through 2021’s Red Rocket, director Sean Baker made films that critics praised but audiences didn’t see.

2024’s Anora lifted Baker to another level, however, if just because it took home the Best Picture Oscar. With a worldwide gross of $55 million, it didn’t set box offices ablaze, but given that this sum represents nearly five times as much money as his first six flicks combined, it represents massive growth.

And the Best Picture award – coupled with his Best Director and Best Original Screenplay trophies – grants Baker a form of cinematic immortality. Toss in a Best Actress prize for lead Mikey Madison and I found myself curious to give Anora a look.

Anora “Ani” Mikheeva (Madison) strips at a bar in the Russian-dominated New York domain of Brighton Beach. Because she speaks the language, she gets paired with wealthy and impulsive young Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn).

The son of ultra-rich Russian oligarch Nikolai Zakharov (Aleksey Serebryakov), Vanya immediately takes a shine to Ani and they quickly get married. This sets off a series of repercussions, most of which connect to the disapproval of Vanya’s family.

Of Baker’s first six movies, I only saw the two immediately prior to Anora: 2017’s The Florida Project and 2021’s aforementioned Red Rocket. Though both came with some charms, I thought they suffered from two issues.

For one, those films tended to ramble without much narrative clarity and lacked focus. Though they brought some interesting character elements at times, Baker let them meander too much.

For another, Project and Rocket used amateurs in prominent roles. That decision added some verisimilitude but that came with too many clumsy and unconvincing performances.

In a positive move, Baker largely avoids the latter issue with Anora. While some non-professional actors pop up in small parts, the most prominent parts feature established performers.

This gives Anora a quality too often absent from prior Baker flicks. Although some of the amateurs gave those efforts a sense of verisimilitude, their lack of chops damaged the movies.

That doesn’t become the case here, as Anora features solid acting. I can’t say Madison deserved an Oscar for her work as Ani, but she does fine in the part.

My issues stem from the general vagueness of the role. Ani never becomes an especially well-defined character, so while Madison portrays her well, I don’t see “Oscar-caliber work” just because the role never appears all that demanding.

Though Baker fixes the issues related to actors, he doesn’t alter his usual self-indulgence. Like his prior flicks, Anora comes with far too many scenes that run far too long with far too little payoff.

Baker seems to love segments in which characters just live their lives. I guess he thinks these add honesty, but here they slow down the already loose narrative.

Face it: Anora doesn’t offer a plot-heavy movie. The first act delivers a variation on the Pretty Woman theme before the film turns into a Coen Brothers comedy and then closer to a straight drama toward the end.

We don’t get a lot of story here, and the many sections in which Ani, Vanya and the rest just meander about don’t make the roles more three-dimensional. Instead, they simply force the pacing to drag and become both tedious and redundant.

The editing remains a problem, and I suspect some of this stems from Baker’s choice to cut the film himself. I think directors probably shouldn’t edit their own movies because they need an outside party to give them an objective take.

Because Baker runs the whole show, no one tells him what choices might make the film play better. This results in the 139-minute Anora, a movie that almost certainly would seem more effective at 100 minutes.

Anora still manages to deliver a mostly enjoyable mix of romance, comedy and drama. I also admit that my foreknowledge of the flick’s Oscar triumphs impacted my view, as those awards elevated expectations.

Does it seem fair to judge a movie differently because it receives tons of praise? Perhaps not, but I think it becomes close to unavoidable.

Remove those expectations and Anora presents a spin on Cinderella that runs much too long but still remains reasonably engaging. Maintain those expectations and Anora becomes a film that just doesn’t remotely deserve Oscar love.

Anora appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with an appealing presentation.

Overall delineation worked well. A few wider shots felt a but soft, but the majority of the flick gave us accurate material.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent and grain appeared light but natural.

Colors largely emphasized amber and teal, though prominent splashes of reds and purples cropped up as well. The hues seemed full and well-rendered.

Blacks felt deep and tight, while shadows boasted positive clarity. Ultimately, the image succeeded.

As a character drama, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack proved perfectly competent for the story at hand. This meant a mix heavy on ambience and music.

The film’s score and songs used all five channels in a positive manner, and the atmosphere at clubs and other public locations brought a good sense of place. Nothing else stood out as memorable, though, as the film lacked whiz-bang sonic information.

Audio quality satisfied, with speech that remained natural and concise. Effects didn’t tax my system but those elements offered positive accuracy.

Music turned into the track’s most dynamic component, and those aspects of the mix showed fine range. Again, this didn’t turn into a memorable soundtrack but it seemed appropriate for the movie.

This set includes a slew of extras, and we get two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from writer/director Sean Baker, producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan and cinematographer Drew Daniels. All four sit together for a running, screen-specific look at music, casting, photography and editing, sets and locations, costumes, and related topics.

Expect a technical track, as we mainly learn about that side of the production. Though this comes with some good details, it also means the chat leans a bit dry.

For the second commentary, we hear from Baker and actors Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan. Baker, Madison and Karagulian sit together for a running, screen-specific chat into which individual interview remarks from the other three get editing.

The track gets into cast/performances, music, story and characters, sets and locations, makeup and costumes, and some connected domains.

This means occasional moments that repeat from the other commentary, though I should note that Baker recorded this one first. I admit I find it a bit annoying that Criterion listed the “technical track” at the top of the “Commentaries” screen, as I suspect I’m not the only one who’d like to listen in order of recording date.

Anyway, the actor track largely works fine despite some duplicated notes. We get enough about the performers’ experiences to make this a useful chat.

All the remaining extras appear on a separate Blu-ray Disc, and an Interview with Writer/Director Sean Baker comes first. This reel lasts nine minutes, 36 seconds.

Baker covers aspects of the movie’s roots and development as well as some influences and choices. Inevitably, some of this repeats from the commentaries but Baker nonetheless offers a good summary.

Sean Baker and Mikey Madison offers – surprise! – a chat between Baker and Madison. It goes for 12 minutes, 43 seconds.

They discuss the lead character and Madison’s take on the role. Again, this means some redundancy from the commentary, but we still find some useful notes.

A documentary called Stripped Down spans one hour, seven minutes, 31 seconds. It offers info from line producer/unit production manager Olivia Kavanaugh, film loader Gabriel Contreras, location manager Ross Brodar, driver/PA Ryan Henderson, third electric Jonas Hayes, and unit PA Jackson Griffin.

“Stripped” acts as a production diary that follows the shoot in chronological order, and all the comments come from various sets. I love this kind of “fly on the wall” material and “Stripped” delivers a lively program.

Next we get a May 2024 Cannes Press Conference. It lasts 41 minutes, 47 seconds and involves Baker, Madison, Borisov, Daniels. Eydelshteyn, Karagulian and Tovmasyan.

They cover a mix of production topics, many of which already appear elsewhere. That makes the panel somewhat redundant, but it’s good to see the cast and crew in this setting.

Mikey Madison and Lindsey Normington starts with a chat between the two actors on the way to a screening and then offers a post-movie panel with them. It goes for 35 minutes, 54 seconds.

Moderated by dancer Laura Arbios and staged in front of a crowd that consisted solely of strippers and sex workers, they discuss aspects of characters, performances and attempts at realism. I like the unusual perspective of the piece but the segment comes with way too much happy talk along the way.

10 Deleted Scenes occupy a total of seven minutes, 27 seconds. These tend to offer minor bits of character exposition.

We do see a little more of Ani’s family and a sliver of extra info about some supporting roles. Nonetheless, the clips largely feel superfluous.

In addition to three trailers, we conclude with 14 minutes, 54 seconds of Audition Footage. This compilation gives us tryouts from Darya Ekamasova, Vlad Mamai, Luna Sofia Miranda, Lindsey Normington, Vincent Radwinsky, Vache Tovmasyan and Ivy Wolk. We get a nice variety of snippets.

The package finishes with a booklet that includes credits, photos and essays from critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse. Presented as a mini-magazine called Continental Film Review, it finishes matters well.

Only time will tell how history judges the Oscar success of Anora, but I suspect “not well” will become the answer. Though it comes with some charms, this feels more like a six out of 10 flick than a classic. The Blu-ray generates largely positive picture and audio as well as a strong collection of bonus materials. Criterion delivers a fine release for an inconsistent film.