Surprise sequel Borat 2 arrived out of nowhere last month and instantly had the bumbling Kazakh reporter in the headlines all over again. Sacha Baron Cohen came very close to making the entire movie without anyone even realizing it was in production, but after the cat was let out the bag earlier this summer, the 49 year-old was forced to come clean and then sell the distribution rights to Amazon for a reported $80 million to ensure that Subsequent Moviefilm was released before the presidential election.
At the time, a lot of people wondered why, but then we saw the instantly infamous scene with Rudy Giuliani and immediately understood why Cohen wanted Borat’s return out there before the polls opened. The fact that the character became a global sensation was smartly worked into the narrative as well, adding another meta layer onto the proceedings as Cohen was disguised as Borat who was disguised as someone else.
The comedian showed he hadn’t lost a trick in donning the beige suit and bushy mustache of his most famous creation, but the real breakout star of Borat 2 was unknown Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova as daughter Tutar Sagdiyev. The 24 year-old is a revelation in the role, but in a recent interview, she revealed that her mother had watched the film twice and ended up crying for hours afterward.
“Her eyes were full of tears, she was crying for maybe two hours. Because she’s kind of a masochist, obviously, she watched it twice, and she was even more sad. She’s never seen something like Tutar, it’s so sad.”
Cohen won a Golden Globe for his performance in the first movie, and while he’ll no doubt be nominated again, Bakalova could also be in with a shout in the Supporting Actress category given the transformative nature of her performance. Borat 2 doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be destined for awards season glory, but at this point, we know better than to rule anything out in 2020.
