Thirty years ago, a novel about the untold story of Oz released to the masses. And less than a decade after that, the musical adaptation (loosely) based on it premiered on Broadway and became one of the most successful productions of all time. The movie adaptation has gone through a few iterations since 2010, but finally settled with this two part adaptation, and folks, it is off to a pretty great start.
There’s the common practice, or at least it really used to be common, of taking what worked in the original, copying it, and pasting it under a number two for your sequel. That process has subsided in some ways, but Gladiator II certainly feels like one of the more prominent recent examples. It’s slightly tweaked in its presentation, but the themes, action and characters take everything you already loved about the first and delivering on more of it.
America is an interesting tapestry of experiences, to say the least, and director Sean Baker has always found an audience by portraying the precarious nature of the economic uneasiness of everyday individuals. From a down on her luck single mother on the outskirts of Orlando in The Florida Project, to a retired adult film star trying to find his place back in his life in Red Rocket, there’s something about Baker’s films that just feel far more real than most other’s directorial efforts. With Anora, he may just strike awards glory with it as well.
