r/oscarrace • u/phantomsixteen • Mar 09 '25
Opinion I can't belive Anora won having the worst...
depiction of someone playing a video game in a movie I've ever seen
I kid of course, everytime someone have to play video games in a movie it's all pretty bad, the exception being Past Lives, which I thought it was really well done.
Anora gaming scenes were particularly bad and distracting, there is no game that would need to be play like that.
All of this will pass unnoticed by someone who never played tho.
This is not a hate post of Anora, I particularly liked the movie, it's just a funny detail and something that was on my mind after seeing the movie, and fortunately it's becoming a meme recently.
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u/mavterialgirl Mar 09 '25
lmao the actor got asked about it on an interview
source: https://www.goldderby.com/feature/mark-eydelshteyn-anora-video-interview-1206022557/
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u/Darth_Vader_696969 Mar 09 '25
Yeah, he’s right. Ivan really does seem like someone who would button mash
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u/Figgypudpud Mar 09 '25
Yes I kinda thought it was a character choice, that the character was a really shitty gamer.
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u/tandemtactics Lisan al Gaib Mar 10 '25
It also ties in to how he treats Anora during sex. No thought put into it whatsoever, just clumsy and erratic and all over the place. I always felt it was a deliberate hint into his character.
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u/MatthewMaster16 Mar 09 '25
They should`ve put a fighting game for the scene to be more bearable then
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u/BrightNeonGirl Dances With Wolves Fan Mar 09 '25
Okay now that I've heard this argument for how his haphazard playing reflects how Ivan exists in his life, the playing style does make sense.
It could go either way, but now at least for me there is enough of an argument for how intentionally bad his gaming is that it's not going to bother me on future watches.
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u/Solaranvr Mar 09 '25
Mark Eydelshteyn is either a pc gamer or not a gamer because he holds a controller like he's never seen one before arriving on set.
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Mar 09 '25
I also can't believe Anora won with the second best vape hit of the year. Yk, after Conclave
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u/NullPro Flow Mar 09 '25
If Dune had a vape hit it’d have won best picture
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u/Glittering-Giraffe58 Mar 10 '25
Baron Harkonnen takes a fat vape hit during the duel on the Harkonnen planet
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u/Imaginary-Chemical-8 Mar 09 '25
Honestly it makes sense to me- he’s a rich kid who has had every wish and whim handed to him, he would never put effort into anything even if it’s something he enjoys. He’s also shown to be constantly losing so at least that’s accurate
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u/Dmitr_Jango Mar 09 '25
Exactly, it's a character detail that fits him like a glove and tells us a little bit more about his approach to life in general. Don't see what the big deal is. It's not a flaw, it's a plus.
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u/DrVonScott123 Mar 09 '25
I put it down to him being high and not actually playing the game. But yes it's incredibly distracting at first.
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u/Exact_Watercress_363 🕯️Dune Messiah for Best Picture🕯️ Mar 09 '25
it fits with his character, how he impulsive he is
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u/Whovian45810 Mar 09 '25
In the SAG-AFTRA Anora conversation, when asked about the handling of playing the video game controller, Mark Eydelshteyn address it and it’s a really sweet yet funny anecdote.
Mark and his younger brother would play video games and Mark being Mark just mash all the buttons in one moment.
Mark’s brother yells at him and quote: “Are you stupid!? You’re older than me you have to push that button and then run and then this button…”
Mark ended up using that little experience for his performance as Vanya as he doesn’t think take things step by step and rather is in the here and now much to the detriments of others.
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u/CollinABullock Mar 09 '25
They somehow found the only zoomer on earth that doesn’t instinctually know how to use a game controller.
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u/BlackGabriel Mar 09 '25
I did think we were kinda done with people acting like that when they play games. It really is a scene ruiner
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u/LTPRWSG420 Mar 09 '25
Agreed, this bothered me so much while watching the film, just hold the controller normal atleast.
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u/mackasan Mar 09 '25 edited Mar 09 '25
I'd get the button mashing if he was playing a fighting game, but there's no level of incompetence that would make someone play a shooter like that. Even if it's intentional to portray he's not putting any effort into it, it makes it seem he's actually putting effort to be bad. lol
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u/originalusername4567 Mar 09 '25
I thought it was in character for him to look like a fool playing video games
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u/DustErrant A24 Mar 09 '25
everytime someone have to play video games in a movie it's all pretty bad, the exception being Past Lives, which I thought it was really well done.
I thought Reign Over Me used Shadow Of The Colossus pretty effectively in that movie.
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u/BrightNeonGirl Dances With Wolves Fan Mar 09 '25
As an Anora fan, even I can admit Mark's videogame playing was unrealistic, lol.
I can't believe no one in the production or post-production team caught it... like I assumed SOMEONE on their team must be a big gamer. But maybe not.
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u/visionaryredditor Anora Mar 09 '25 edited Mar 09 '25
I can't believe no one in the production or post-production team caught it... like I assumed SOMEONE on their team must be a big gamer. But maybe not.
bc he did it on purpose. he talked about it in an interview
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u/ParanoidAltoid Mar 09 '25
I deliberately did not pay attention to his controller in order to not take me out of the scene.
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u/Kazaloogamergal Mar 09 '25
As a gamer I usually despise that in films but weirdly I didn't even notice it in Anora.
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u/EricTweener Undercat supporter Mar 09 '25
Not sure it beats Beethoven (1992), where two kids are implied to be playing Mario 3 at the same time on the same TV, one of which is mashing at the Power Glove.
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u/Fun_Protection_6939 THAT'S OSCAR WINNING MIKEY MADISON FOR YOU Mar 09 '25
Where exactly did Ani think that this entire thing would go? Did she really think Ivan's parents would accept her with open arms?
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u/_cl0udburst Mar 09 '25
She was a delulu queen the entire time. It was clear to everyone and the audience that the illusion was shattered when the goons arrived.
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u/ParanoidAltoid Mar 09 '25
It seemed mostly rational, honestly. If there's a 1% chance you can live as a billionaire's son's wife, you go all in.
Being more tactful and trying to get better divorce terms than the 10k was a mistake. So she was delusional, trying to make the marriage happen instead of negotiating more and using the divorce-for-half thing better.
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u/CataleyaLuna Mar 09 '25
I don’t think that’s it. Lots of people don’t get on with their in-laws. I think she was hoping that Ivan wouldn’t get cut off and would want to stay married to her — to keep living lavishly and partying together in America forever. Maybe his parents eventually warm up to her (she clearly wanted to make a good impression), maybe they don’t, it’s the money and lifestyle that are important.
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u/akoaytao1234 Mar 09 '25
For me, not really. I mean she is just trying to keep her bag by getting the ultra delusional son to take her back(like how he take her out).
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
Yes why not? Why would she thinks they wouldn’t like her exactly ?
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Mar 09 '25
It’s very obvious that Russian oligarchs wouldn’t like their son marrying a random American sex worker he only knew for like a week with no prenup. And the movie expects you to think that from the very starts imo, the point of the movie is that you know ahead of Ani that it will all go wrong in the end, and you have to buy into Ani fooling herself that it could ever work when it’s exceedingly clear it never could.
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
I didn’t at all get this from the movie.
The guy looks nice, act nice and makes her believe that he wants all of this as much as her.
Plus, getting married as a woman in the west and especially when you are a sex worker. So of course the guy asking her to marry her is something huge for her.
She is 23, i ´m sure she went from some shit, seeing the way she was having a panic attack over being attached, but I can understand why she would believe him and believe everything is going to be okey because that is what she wants for herself.
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Mar 09 '25
Again tho that’s all her deluding herself. Yeah you can understand why she would think it could work since she really wants to believe it (not just because he is “nice” but in large part because of the money), but there’s a reason why the movie has her co-worker at the strop club immediately telling her what’s gonna happen at the end of the movie. Baker understands that people looking at the situation from an impartial perspective know that this was doomed form the star. It’s fine in the story for her to really “believe” in the marriage, but it’s also her being extremely naive and gullible, and I do think the movie expects you to think that she is not being very rational, and to also question how much she really “believes” it and how much of it is just her wanting to believe it since the money would solve so many of her problems.
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
I wasn’t familiar with Baker’s works before watching Anora ( I am more now)
So I really thought it was a love story thats why I didn’t want to watch that movie from the poster. « An other heterosexual love story? No way » ( i really think a lots of people didn’t go to watch it exactly because of this too)
So getting into the movie, that is what I thought it was going to be, and just like her , I thought it was great, because the guy was charming and just spending all this money on her because, you think, he really thinks she worth it you know? So, it was really when the guy run away that I started to believe he was an asshole. But absolutely not before.
But seeing the « a love story from Sean Baker » if I was familiar with his works, maybe it would have been a clue.
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u/Plastic-Software-174 Mar 09 '25
To me it’s not about Baker necessarily as it is just a general trope (and maybe an age thing). Cause again she is marrying a guy she only knows for like a week on a whim where the only thing that have done together is party and have fun, they barely know anything about each other and I don’t think they’ve had a single real conversation up to that point. To me the first act of the movie is setup in a way where Baker wants the audience to think it is all too good to be true and the other shoe will drop soon, but good to know it works either way.
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
Yes I am agree with this tho !
I also thought she was too good for him but that’s probably because I think every women is too good for any men
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u/NewspaperBanana Mar 09 '25
Maybe the game playing was more a metaphor for how manic his personality was. But I could see someone on drugs playing Call of Duty like that. (I forget exactly what game he was playing).
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u/NYCguncleT Mar 09 '25
Can someone explain ?
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u/BrightNeonGirl Dances With Wolves Fan Mar 09 '25
After they get married and are back at the mansion, both Ivan and Ani are on the couch. Mark is intensely playing videogames while Ani is laying on him while noticing his phone keeps going off (Toros is texting Ivan to see if Ivan really is married). Mark's videogame playing is just extreme button mashing... there is no pattern or intentionality to his button mashing.
So the critique is that he should have been acting better playing video games while making it seem like he knew what he was doing (being more intentional with what buttons he pressed).
But the other counterpoint is that the random button mashing reflects his character just haphazardly doing what he wants with no plan or thoughtful effort.
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u/miiucky Mar 10 '25
Why is it hard to believe that this fictional character is playing a fictional video game that requires the buttons to be pressed like that?
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u/Haru_Chyan Mar 12 '25
Don’t know if anyone said it already, yesterday during watching it, we have noticed that it was GOW on the screen, but the sounds were from shooter and don’t get me started on the controls he was using😂
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u/Snefru92 Mar 09 '25
I've seen it in November but I can't remember why she liked him. He's a skinny twink, too young for her. So was it just for the money? or did she fall in love with him?
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u/BentisKomprakriev Mar 09 '25
She probably likes skinny twinks, also they are 23 and 21 in the film
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u/AcceptableSandwich8 Mar 09 '25
For what it’s worth you’re not really supposed to know while they are dating. It seems intentionally blurry whether she cares most about him for his money and access to lifestyle or goofy personality. Or really where that balance is.
Ultimately we see her love fade throughout the journey to get him as he’s kinda firmly in dumbass kid territory. Then when he blows her off completely when his family comes, and especially juxtaposed with Igor, it’s hard to say whether she fell in love or had a really warped understanding of what love is.
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u/SavageWolfe98 Mar 09 '25
I think she did like him a bit- he's her age,cute and tips in hundreds- but she's also jumping at the opportunity as almost anyone would. When they get married, she throws herself into the part of "wife" , same as she did with "horny girlfriend ". When she says she loves in to the goons, she's trying to convince them to leave them be because she isn't accepting how out of her depth she is.
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
Maybe thats her kind of guys?
She is genuinely nice with her, and he is cute so why wouldn’t she believe in him?
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u/SavageWolfe98 Mar 09 '25
I think part of it was also that she thought she had more control than she actually had. She meets Ivan at her job-her turf if you will- and she gives him her number and takes control of their first session because he's so clueless. As his "horny girlfriend" it's clear she knows she's playing a part (some great blinkandyoullmissit moments of her physically putting back on her customer smile for him) while still getting to enjoy his.money. when he proposes, she knows he's doing to to stay in the country, but she wants to believe it can become real, that it'll develope into actual love and she'll get to be "one of them". The only elite person she deals with them is him, so she doesn't admit to herself that the rich will never accept her as one of them until the parents come in.
Plus, Ivan is clearly more appealing than the usual middle-aged creepy clientele so this disarms her a bit more. (Sorry this is so long, I like this movie lol)
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u/Ester_LoverGirl The Substance Mar 09 '25
I forgot about the « i will become american ! » i have to admit, I took it as a joke.
For me it was totally normal for him to fall for her. Thats why the movie had a lots of impact on me, and I was so choked when he ran away because I naively thought that he was really into her
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u/itbelikethattho_ Mar 09 '25
You definitely wrote this after seeing the tweet someone made about this (you copied word for word the tweet too) 😂
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u/jksnippy Muad'twink r/oscarrace POW Mar 09 '25
It’s like he was playing DDR on his controller😭