Zephyr 

As a huge fan of Sean Baker’s Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket, I’ve wanted to watch Anora since before it even was released. But life got in the way, my watchlist grew, and honestly, the fact that it was marketed as a romantic comedy put me off. Even with all the critical praise and the five Academy Awards it won last year, I just kept postponing it indefinitely.

The story is a moving sentiment of letting go of the past and putting trust and faith into others. Though you come into this world alone, surrounding yourself with others that support you and want to help is the greatest gift life could ever give.

While subverting the conventions of Golden Age cinema with the characteristics of a slasher, Pearl studies the delusions of grandeur inspired by the movies.

Some people’s first introduction to Mira Nair might be as New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mom. But with her insightful direction of 1991’s Mississippi Masala, Nair shows how much she deserves to be known as an artist. Delivering a nuanced portrait of a romance between a Black man and an Indian woman living in the South, Nair explores the complications each character faces, giving both equal weight.

Our protagonists perform as the opposite gender while still preserving the parts of their personalities that makes themselves who they are.