Nora Review – Minor Hiccups Overshadow Excellent Story, Performances
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Tuesday, 20 May 2025 17:11
- Written by Janet Walker
Nora, from Blonde Dog Productions, presents a journey of rediscovery, as a singer-songwriter, after a falling out, decides to leave her successful career in LA and returns to her home town, where she is suddenly shellshocked by suburbia.
As the film opens, Nora, played by Anna Campbell, and their daughter, Sadie, played by Sophie Mara Baaden are saying goodbye to her tour manager husband, Leo, played by Max Lesser, as he is off touring with the band for six weeks, leaving Nora to manage her emotions, unpacking their new home, acclimate to suburbia, and prepare for her new role as suburban mom.
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Once Leo is gone, Nora, who was once the writing partner to a famous songstress, seems lost and if it weren't for her daughter, she would be stuck, unable to move past what she believes is a permanent, although, by choice loss of her songwriting career. So, they head over to Grandma's house, and we meet Nora's mom, played by Lesley Anne Warren.
As she tries to provide some gentle suggestions, like unpacking the house, to take her mind off the loss of life in Los Angeles, Nora just retreats to the bottle to take the edge off the depression.
Nora seems lost completing even the simplest tasks. Suddenly it is the day before the start of a new school year, and still no school supplies. After Sadie reminds her, she makes it into a happy trip, but truly we know she forgot. By the end of the day, Nora is drowning her sorrows and of course, she wakes up late the next day, the first day of school and the two of them are rushing, get to the school, and are lost in the maze of hallways and classrooms.
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Suddenly, Nora runs into her high school tormentors, the cool girls, who all recognize her, while she struggles to remember even their names. Although, the all know of her songwriting, and even sing a line, of a big hit, that stuns them all when she explains that she wrote it. By the end of the reunion, Nora is still lost and finally they arrive at Sadie's first grade classroom. We meet Teacher Adam, played by Nick Fink. He also recognizes her name, and begins to talk about his favorite song, which is the one she wrote.
As Nora is drawn more into the parental responsibilities that accompany a first grader, and desperate to leave the past and embark on this brave new journey, she joins the PTA, becomes the Room Mom, which pulls her slowly out of her depression.
Without daring to admit it, she is suddenly reevaluating her current circumstances and the dreams she left behind. One night she ends up at an open mic night she looked up on line, and she happens to meet Adam, and the two end up singing a duet. She realizes he is very good, and it is the first time we see her perform in live action, without the bizarre interludes.
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Nora, the directorial debut of Anne Campbell, is a rollercoaster with very good, tender, agonizing and expressive moments, and other moments, as she tries to merge two genres, the live action, and the musical trippy moments that occur in her head.
I wasn't sure if the intermittent musical mixes were to demonstrate the character's creative process, as it seemed like she was escaping for a moment and experiencing these explosive musical scenes. So, during these vibrant fantasy sequences which are set to an upbeat indie rock soundtrack, I wasn't sure if she was hallucinating from her LA music scene days, or the writer was attempting to present a glimpse into the creative process. I felt the film was better without these "breaks," from the live action into MTV music videos.
As it is always an accomplishment when a film is made and an even greater accomplishment when it secures a distributor, Anna Campbell's directorial debut merges a strong live action story, presenting a visceral portrait of a woman in rediscovery, with these bursts of musical interludes, that distract from the strength of the story. Minor hiccups overshadow excellent story.
Nora is available to stream May 24, 2025, on Live Nation's VEEP platform. See it.
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Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Release Date: May 24, 2025.
Runtime: 98 minutes.
Director: Anna Campbell
Producer: Anna Campbell, Sascha Fix, A.J. Gordon.
Writer: Anna Campbell.
Cast: Anna Campbell, Lesley Ann Warren, Sophie Mara Baaden, Nick Fink, Jay Walker, Max Lesser.
Nancy Hale, Nelson Cheng, Briana Lane, Mad Martin, Nancy Hale, Melissa Miller, Kate Miner, Weston Olivier, Sophia Phoenix, Nick Reedy, Quentin Stoyanoff, Kyle Vahan, Laura Welsh, Ted Pfeifer. Tiffany Fajen, Megan Brotherton, Kelli Bee.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.
