It took nearly 14 years after its release to finally happen but the much anticipated sequel to the 2006's smash hit titled Borat: The Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, finally arrives with the main difference being that the sequel premieres on Amazon Prime compared to being released theatrically like the original film due to the Covid-19. The first Borat was a surprise hit due to the creativity of both its main character and story in addition to the crude style of its humor. The film grossed over $262 million worldwide along with garnering a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Audiences were taken aback by the films persistence in being offensive in the most hilarious way possible with it working as being part satire and part shockumentary. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm aims to maintain the same brand of humor that the first film delivered, which made it a hit with audiences along with carrying a sense of urgency with its overall story exploring today's political climate. The sequel aims for the same level of shock value as its controversial yet cult-classic predecessor delivered, while presenting a narrative that manages to be surprisingly sentimental in certain areas. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm resurrects the whacky and eccentric character that the first film introduced to audiences, while giving him a new mission which proves to be just as outrageous, silly, and flat-out hilarious as the first while exposing specific sectors of the American population who come across as appearing misguided or repugnant. It wasn't a sequel that audiences were particularly clamoring for, but it's one that's surprisingly needed in a year that's mostly devoid of any type of genuine laughs, along with serving as somewhat of a motivational piece for people to take the initiative in regards to voting.
A sequel to the 2006 smash hit, the plot for Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm centers around the real-life adventures of fake television journalist Borat (Played by Sasha Baron Cohen) from the real nation of Kazakhstan. The newest film has Borat coming to the U.S. in an effort to present his daughter Irina Nowak (Played by Maria Bakalova) as a gift to Vice President Mike Pence with his actions consisting of taunting, trolling, and pranking both famous and regular individuals. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm aims to connect itself with the original as being the follow-up that audiences have been waiting for since the release of its original. The film even goes out of its way to give audiences a brief recap of the original with the films opening narration involving Borat's character. The sequel takes the character and moves him into a newer era with a different political climate, which gives the film a sense of urgency that's layered within the path of silliness that both the characters unleash during their time on American soil. In addition to the crazy antics that the character of Borat performs, the films shock value is enhanced with the characters ability to generate authentic reactions from those he interviews, with some cases having him expose the twisted nature of some of those individuals as well as their actions and way of thinking. The first Borat worked well with audiences because it gave them a character that was so over-the-top, they couldn't resist enjoying his hilarious antics as well as waiting in anticipation for what he was going to do next with the sequel retaining that feeling. The original was designed to appear specifically as being a satirical comedy on American culture, that was full of hilarious sketches and crude gags with the sequel carrying more of a storyline that exposes controversial taboos in America such as racism, sexism, and the denial that people have in regards to the Covid-19 Pandemic being as dangerous as it actually is. At the heart of tackling these serious issues and themes, is a bizarre yet heartwarming father and daughter storyline involving Borat preparing to hand off his daughter Irina to Mike Pence/Rudy Giuliani with Borat realizing that he will miss her once he does so. While the storyline comes across as being hilariously awkward and a bit disturbing, it's handled in a way that makes it entertaining to watch as the audience realizes that the Borat's are clueless in regards to how everyone else views their arrangement. As a sequel, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm works well in providing audiences with the same extreme and crude humor that they enjoyed about it's predecessor, while adding a extra layer to Borat's character. The film is just as shocking as the original in what it reveals about both the people and culture it explores, while further developing its main character. In a time where the political climate serves as being extremely divisive, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm aims to generate hard laughs while delivering an eye-opening observation about the environment surrounding the main characters as they interact with different sides of the American spectrum. It may not necessarily be a better film than the first but Subsequent Moviefilm attempts to regenerate much of what audiences loved about the original, while managing to be surprising with a reasonable amount of heart behind its father and daughter storyline.
The main element that makes both Borat films work, is the creativeness and charisma of its main stars. Sasha Baron Cohen once again demonstrates himself to be a brilliant master of disguise as he's able to fool highly influential people, as well as regular everyday individuals into believing he's a confused and totally clueless visitor from another country with a backwards mindset in regards to understanding American culture and customs. Cohen is brilliant here with his performance appearing not to miss a beat in comparison to his work on the original film. The film works because he's able to make his character both believable and funny, while serving as the eyes of the audience in seeing how he intentionally pushes people's buttons with saying something absurd in expecting them to respond back with a reply that's just as shocking as his initial comment. Cohen manages to both entertain the audience with his characters hilarious yet crazed antics while frustrating them simultaneously, ultimately making them forgive his actions due to his clueless way of thinking. Maria Bakalova delivers an equally impressive performance as Borat's teenage daughter Tutar Sagdiyev with her character often stealing the show from Cohen. Both actors showcase strong chemistry together with the audience understanding and becoming connected with their character arcs. Sagdiyev proves to be just as shocking and oblivious as Borat towards understanding American culture, along with being misled by far-right groups. Their performances are what makes the film as fun and watchable as it comes across as being with the audience finding themselves focused on not just Borat's antics, but Tutar's as well. The rest of the cast consist of cameos from polarizing political figures including Mike Pence, Rudy Guliani in the films shocking climactic sequence/prank, and regular individuals that the Borat's come into contact with such as Jeanise Jones playing herself as being Tutar's babysitter along with surprise cameos from Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson. Despite most of those appearing in Subsequent Moviefilm being regular people or those serving as extras, it's the performances of Cohen and Bakalova that make the film work as well as it does in regards to being fun and entertaining despite how shocking it comes across as times.
Directed by Jason Woliner in his feature film debut, his overall work is reasonably decent though comes across as feeling standard with the film being filmed documentary style with its cinematography. Woliner keeps the story moving at a relatively quick pace, which feels in line with its predecessor while spreading out the films key set-pieces involving both Borat and Tutar. He gives the story enough time for development in between, particularly the latter's relationship which serves as the heart of the film before the next big comedic set-piece kicks in. The films moments of nudity and sexual content are both intended and utilized for shock value either with Borat's character doing something outrageously inappropriate or another character being caught doing something lucid in the act, which the audience becomes disgusted by. Those who've seen the first Borat film won't be shocked or surprised by its usage here once again. Woliner's directing for the most part remains steady with him following the main characters around as well as being the eyes and ears of the audience, while allowing Cohen and Sagdiyev enough freedom to let their characters run rampant. With a film like Subsequent Moviefilm, the story doesn't require any type of advanced nor skillful directing as the film itself relies on the performances of its main actors to carry it. Any impressive technical aspects of the story or craftsmanship that Woliner manages to bring to the film, serves as being an added plus with it ultimately not being required here. What Woliner does well is position the wild and outrageous scenarios that the main characters find themselves getting into in an order that gets increasingly more funny and intense, making the audience anticipate their next act of mayhem. Both Woliner and Cohen position this film as being essentially a tour through Trumps America with their findings becoming more shocking as the film progresses, while always ensuring that the moments of hilarity remains consistent without coming across as feeling preachy. Woliner films the scenes involving Cohen's character and the real-life individuals as appearing to look like interviews with their revealing of personal thoughts or approval of the outrageously offensive things that Borat says, serving as being shocking testimonials essentially. In terms of handling the film, Woliner and Cohen prove to be a natural duo in putting together a sequel that takes it's own form rather than relying on the previous film for comfort. Given that this is Woliner's feature film debut as director, he handles helming the project smoothly.
The writing by Cohen combined with the collaboration of other writers such as Peter Baynham, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja, and Dan Swimer with a story by Cohen, Swimer, Hines, and Nina Pedrad proves to be a solid effort with the sequel taking a more personal approach with showing Borat as being a father figure despite their scenario coming across as being hilariously backwards in regards to logic. The script for Subsequent Moviefilm covers topics pertaining to the Presidency of Donald Trump and the rise of Trumpism, Barack Obama and the disapproval far-right activists hold towards him, an exploration of the type of country and backwards leadership that Kazakhstan possesses, the Holocaust and deniers of it, feminism, Covid-19, abortion, the belief in conspiracy theories, and a shocking subplot involving Rudy Giuliani and underage sex that becomes the films signature shocking moment. The sequel also gives the audience more insight into Kazakhstan with them understanding Borat's old-fashioned views regarding women and the false assumption that Barack Obama is an enemy of Kazakhstan in comparison to his successor. One of the most interesting aspects of the first Borat film was its desire to expose the most disgusting and repulsive aspects of American culture with the sequel taking a much stronger and more aggressive approach in doing so. The film is written and designed specifically to give the audience a glimpse into the world of the far-right, and how misinformation can be spread and willfully supported regarding the opposite side including candidates within the political party in question. An example of this shown in the film is the character of Borat befriending a group of Trump supporters, who are believed to support the wildest conspiracy theories regarding Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama along with them considering Democrats in general to be far more dangerous than Covid-19, which they consider to be a hoax. Such an admission is presented as being shocking to the audience, because of the reality that the men truly believe the things they're telling Borat. The script also allows him the opportunity to take a backseat in allowing Tutar to become the main focus at central points with their relationship being the heart of the film. This aspect of the story is handled well and proves interesting with Borat slowly realizing the mistake he's about to make in handing his daughter off to a much older man. As bizarre of a subplot that comes across as appearing, it works within the realm of the story and how both characters think. The narrative for the most part remains straight-forward despite the film feeling as if it jumps around a bit with the subplot involving Borat attempting to deliver his daughter to Vice President Mike Pence, before switching over to him connecting with his daughter before going their separate ways with her experiencing her own independence without him around for the middle portion of the film before reverting back to the subplot involving her character attempting to hand herself off to Rudy Giuliani, and finally concluding with a cleverly far-fetched plot twist involving Borat discovering that his character is responsible for the worldwide spread of Covid-19. The script for Subsequent Moviefilm juggles all these subplots and does a solid job of doing so for the most part without it coming across as feeling messy or too forced. In comparison to the original, the sequel takes a more aggressive approach in both exploring as well as poking fun at the current political climate with Cohen showing a different sector of America that Americans have become increasingly alarmed with. Cohen presents scenes that can be both hilarious as well as uncomfortable to watch simultaneously such as Borat and Tutar dancing in front of a ball full of people with the scene ending with Tutar pulling her skirt up to reveal her blood-soaked underwear to a room full of people, who look on with horror. Another sequence shown in the film that's similar is a scene in which Borat appears at a conference where Mike Pence is speaking at dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The reactions he receives from those around him is shock and confusion with no one taking the initiative to speak up or kick him out, further adding to the surprise element the film is going for with the intended pranks. The script stays true to the formula of the original with Cohen's character pushing the buttons of those he interviews and comes into contact with in regards to seeing how far people will let him go with his crazed antics before he's called out on it. While the sequel carries a much deeper political undertone than the first, it never ceases to be funny and entertaining in doing so. It does experience trouble at times in regards to walking the fine line of being an eye-opener for the audience in the midst of its comedy, while flirting with fiction with the climactic twist involving Borat's character, Covid-19, and it's connection to Kazhastan. Whereas the twist is meant to poke fun at the numerous conspiracy theories regarding the spread of Covid-19, it comes across as being silly and a bit of a stretch despite it still managing to work within both the style and context of the film. In comparison to the first Borat's script, the sequel feels meatier in regards to the subplots and major topics it covers whereas the original was more well-balanced and focused narrative speaking.
The first Borat became a hit with audiences because of the creativity behind it, as well as the originality of the character. Sasha Baron Cohen conceived a way to explore the shady side of both American culture and politics in a fashion that not only contains clever gags and sketches, but manages to capture the authenticity of those Cohen interviews in disguise as his character. Whereas Michael Moore takes a more serious approach to exploring the shady aspects of American culture, Cohen does so in a way that makes the audience laugh while also making them pause and think about what they're witnessing on the screen. It can be argued that the sequel takes a more firm approach in diving into the current political climate in comparison to the original, but still maintains the energy and crude humor of the main characters previous outing while further exploring the Borat family tree. It may not necessarily be a better film than the first but it stands as being just as hilarious, fearless in its desire to push the boundaries of the audiences comfort zone in regards to its sketches (The Rudy Giuliani scene is genuinely unsettling and creepy to watch), and eye-opening in the revealing of a portion of the American population that's foolishly misguided and blatantly ignorant in regards to thinking. For those who enjoyed the previous Borat film, the sequel for the most part lives up to the original while providing a fresh new batch of hilarious gags and clever sketches. Both films further reemphasize the notion that Cohen is a master of disguise in fooling famous celebrities and politicians into conducting interviews with him as a form of a truth serum in revealing their true intentions and beliefs. Although his methods may come across as appearing a bit extreme and cruel for typical audiences, one can't help but admire Cohen's ambition in exposing the prejudice behind a certain group of political leaders and their followers. In a time where tensions are at an all time high given the recent Presidential election, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm feels like the ideal film that arrived at the perfect time in hopes of moving the needle in regards to motivating people to vote while providing hardcore laughter. The film also serves as a reversal of one's own way of thinking with Borat coming to his senses in the end with him abandoning his ridiculously old-fashioned mentality, and learning to appreciate that women have rights and opportunities too. The newest Borat film isn't just a culmination of absurd pranks and sketches, but aims to add an extra amount of depth to both the script and the character himself. Although he gets overshadowed at times by the character of Tutar, both characters set out to achieve that their characters were designed to do which is to both entertain and wake the audience up to their surroundings. For a sequel that didn't have much of a reason not justification to be made at first, it makes a solid case of doing so and ultimately surprises in how well it stacks up with the first while being its own film. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm rightfully stands as being one of 2020's surprise hits, as well as providing the much needed laughter in a year full of protests against as well as the rise of Covid-19. Subsequent Moviefilm both hilariously and unapologetically mocks everything shown that's wrong with today's politics, and does so with full conviction to entertain as well as stun it's audience.
Final Verdict: For fans of the first Borat and Sasha Baron Cohen's satirical body of work in general, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm serves as being a worthy follow-up to its 2006 counterpart that maintains the freshness, crude humor, and eye for seeking the political truth of the original.
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