Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, or simply Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or Borat 2, is a 2020 mockumentary black comedy film directed by Jason Woliner. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen as the fictional Kazakh journalist and television personality Borat Sagdiyev, and Maria Bakalova as his daughter Tutar, who is to be offered as a bride to then–U.S. vice president Mike Pence during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. A co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, it is a sequel to 2006's Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
Although BaronCohen had said in 2007 that he had retired the Borat character, he was spotted in 2019 in the disguise, and was seen filming in mid-2020, leading to speculation of a second Borat film. The project was officially announced in September 2020, with Amazon Studios acquiring the distribution rights. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was released on October23, 2020, on Amazon Prime Video. It received praise from critics for BaronCohen's and Bakalova's performances, as well as for its commentary on American culture; former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's appearance, however, was polarizing.
The film received three nominations at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy. At the 93rd Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. In addition, Bakalova received BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations as Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The screenplay won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 73rd Writers Guild of America Awards.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm holds the Guinness World Record for the longest title of an Oscar–nominated film.
Plot
After 14 years of forced labor in a gulag for the dishonor inflicted on his country in his previous adventure, Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev is released by his country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, with a mission to deliver Kazakh Minister of Culture Johnny the Monkey to President Donald Trump in an attempt to redeem the nation. Unable to get close to Trump after defecating in the landscaping of Trump International Hotel and Tower in the previous film, Borat opts to give the monkey to Vice President Mike Pence. Before leaving, he discovers that his arch-nemesis neighbor, Nursultan Tulyakbay, has stolen his family and home and that he has a 15-year-old daughter, Tutar, who lives in his barn.Borat is transported across the world in a circuitous route by cargo ship and arrives in Galveston, Texas, where he finds he is a celebrity. Wanting to maintain a low profile, Borat purchases multiple disguises. He buys a cell phone and welcomes Johnny but finds that Tutar is in Johnny's shipping crate and has eaten him. Horrified, Borat faxes Nazarbayev, who tells him to find a way to satisfy Pence or he will be executed. Borat decides to give Tutar to Pence.
Tutar receives a makeover, and Borat introduces her at a debutante ball. Her menstrual blood is prominently displayed at the ball during a father and daughter dance. Discovering that Pence is nearby at CPAC, Borat disguises himself as Trump and attempts to give Tutar there, but security ejects him. Nazarbayev is enraged and tells him to return to Kazakhstan for execution. Realizing that he can still give Tutar to someone close to Trump, Tutar suggests giving her to Rudy Giuliani.
Because Giuliani had bragged about having an affair with a large-breasted woman, Borat brings Tutar to a cosmetic surgeon who advises breast implants. While Borat works in a barbershop to raise enough money to pay for breast surgery, he briefly leaves Tutar with a babysitter who is confused by Borat's sexist teachings. She informs Tutar that the things her culture has taught her are lies. After Tutar sees a woman driving a car and successfully masturbates for the first time, she decides not to get the surgery and lashes out at Borat for keeping her oppressed her whole life. Before leaving, she tells him that the Holocaust, their country’s "greatest accomplishment," is a lie by citing a Holocaust denial Facebook page.
Shaken, Borat decides to commit suicide by going to the nearest synagogue dressed as his version of a stereotypical Jew and waiting for the next mass shooting but is shocked to find Holocaust survivors there who treat him with kindness and to his anti-Semitic delight, reassure him that the Holocaust happened. Overjoyed, Borat looks for Tutar but finds the streets deserted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He quarantines with two QAnon conspiracy theorists who offer to help him reunite with Tutar. They find Tutar online, who has become a reporter and will be covering a March for Our Rights rally in Olympia, Washington.
At the rally, the men appeal to Tutar, telling her that her dad will be killed unless she helps. She accepts and arranges an interview to seduce Giuliani without her father's participation. Borat talks with her babysitter and has a change of heart, realizing that he loves Tutar. After the interview, Giuliani and Tutar proceed to a bedroom before Borat intervenes and tries to offer sexual favors to Giuliani personally. Borat decides to face execution in Kazakhstan, and Tutar promises to go with him.
Borat is shocked to find he will not be executed as he had instead been used as retaliation by Nazarbayev for making Kazakhstan a laughingstock. Before departing for the United States, Kazakhstan officials infected Borat with SARS-CoV-2 via an injection of "gypsy tears," making him patient zero of the COVID-19 pandemic. As he was sent around the world, he continued to spread the virus. Borat uses a recording made near the beginning of his trip to convince Nazarbayev that his admission has been recorded and sent to Brian, the man who sold Borat his phone and whom Borat claims is America's Minister of Technology.
Borat and Tutar blackmail Nazarbayev into giving him his job back and changing Kazakhstan's misogynistic laws. Three months later, Tutar and Borat are a reporting team, and Kazakhstan has a new tradition to replace the nation's antisemitic ones: the Running of the American. It features exaggerated caricatures of Trump supporters and "Karens" pretending to spread COVID-19 and killing an effigy of Anthony Fauci. The film ends with a message encouraging viewers to vote in the then-upcoming presidential election.
Cast
- Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat Margaret Sagdiyev, a Kazakh news reporter who has achieved international fame and notoriety after the release of his "documentary", and who has been imprisoned in Kazakhstan for the past 14 years for being perceived to have brought shame to the country.
- Maria Bakalova as Tutar Sagdiyev, Borat's teenage daughter. Bakalova was initially credited as Irina Nowak but later reports revealed Bakalova's involvement.
- Dani Popescu as Premier Nursultan Nazarbayev, a fictionalized version of Kazakhstan's leader of the same name.
- Tom Hanks as himself
- Manuel Vieru as Dr. Yamak, who injеcts Borat with COVID-19, making him patient zero in the pandemic
- Miroslav Tolj as Nursultan Tulyakbay, Borat's hated neighbor who steals his family and property while Borat is in prison
- Alin Popa as Hueylewis / Jeffrey Epstein Sagdiyev, Borat's son. Popa replaced Stonie from the first film.
- Ion Gheorghe as Bilak Sagdiyev, Borat's son
- Nicolae Gheorghe as Biram Sagdiyev, Borat's son
- Marcela Codrea as a Kuczek villager
- Luca Nelu as a Kuczek villager
- Nicoleta Ciobanu as Babuska
- Rita Wilson as herself
- Jason Woliner as a bystander in Australia
Sid Miller, Donald Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. were originally in the film, but their scenes were cut. Comedian Luenell was filmed as the character Luenell, the prostitute who marries Borat at the end of the first film, but her scenes were also cut.
Production
Development
announced in early February 2007 that BaronCohen had signed on to do another Borat film with 20th Century Fox, distributor of the first film. BaronCohen later claimed that Borat was to be discontinued, as he was now too well known to avoid detection as he did in the film and on Da Ali G Show. A spokesman for Fox later stated that it was too early to begin planning such a film, although they were open to the idea. In 2014, he brought back Borat for the FXX series AliG: Rezurection, a compilation of the sketches from Da AliG Show with new footage. He also briefly appeared as Borat in December2015 on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote the film Grimsby and again in November2018 to encourage Americans to vote in that year's midterm elections. In the two years leading up to the release, the film's star became more concerned about being politically active, giving speeches and interviews in-person to combat racism; he insisted on releasing the film immediately before the 2020 presidential election to provoke alarm among Americans about a slide into illiberal democracy.Like several of Sacha BaronCohen's films, the score is composed by his brother Erran Baron Cohen, in addition to other original recordings by Romanian Balkan band Fanfare Ciocărlia and their version of "Just the Two of Us"; Canadian roots musician Adrian Raso performing "Urn St.Tavern".