November 11, 2024 · Watch the official trailer
The best films take unlikely protagonists and make them central to a captivating, often emotional tale by developing rich, layered characters that have unique personalities irresistible to watch.
No matter how far off the fringes of society a character might be, when done authentically audiences can be transported into worlds they might not naturally find themselves.
One of the year’s best films and unquestionably a frontrunner for Best Picture at next year’s Oscars, “Anora” is an exceptionally unlikely tale focusing on a 23-year-old Russian-American woman working in high end escort services whose romance with a client leads to “Great Gatsby” like series of events that shape and transform her life in emotional and hysterical ways.
Director Sean Baker has made his career showcasing characters just outside polite society, most often in sex work with his Oscar nominated “The Florida Project” and the edgy “Tangerine” among his filmography. With “Anora,” however, this is Baker’s most crowd-pleasing and accessible movie to date, not just for the sometime dry, sometimes slapstick comedic hijinks at play but also in the very raw, human emotions that he’s able to draw out in his lead character Ani.
Mikey Madison is enthralling and transformative as Ani, a scrappy, feisty exotic dancer in the Brighton Beach area of New York City. The ways Madison is able to subtly balance the failed innocence of her youth with a streetwise attitude more than befitting her five-foot-nothing frame allows the actress to slowly reveal Ani’s desire for authentic love and the American dream, making her turn one of 2024’s most compelling and impactful in a role where audiences might not see it coming.
From the outset, Madison goes above and beyond to portray sex work on a very respectful, non-judgmental way that feels visceral and authentic to the genuine experiences young women find themselves in and the hustler attitude Ani displays provides Baker with a pop of vibrancy early in the film to keep audience engagement while setting up the narrative.
Over the course of “Anora,” her walls begin to soften as Ani falls for her client, Ivan, in much the same way that Julia Roberts once fell for Richard Gere in 1990’s “Pretty Woman” and though “Anora” isn’t quite the traditional rom-com, Madison easily draws viewers to her side to where they can’t help but root for this fledgling romance to thrive.
For his part, Mark Eydelshteyn bounds around “Anora” as Ivan with an outstanding glee that is two parts reckless wild child and one part earnest miscreant that has just enough of a soft side to make Ani’s burgeoning adoration for his potential seem plausible to the story.
The frantic nature of much of Baker’s film keeps things from feeling too lethargic and allows for viewers to perhaps miss some of the more subtle character work in glances Madison’s Ani lobs at Ivan as she begins to see him in a different light. Her physicality demonstrably changes to perfect effect when Ani is on or off the clock in their relationship, providing a far more complete picture into her character than one might expect from similar films.
The film’s ensemble cast provides a wonderful context to the larger world of Brighton Beach in “Anora” with Yura Borisov as an Armenian heavy with a genuine, pure heart serving as an unlikely sense of morality in a largely amoral world and the gradual warmth of his Igor becomes one of the film’s biggest strengths by the final act.
The visual spectacle of “Anora” keys off a bright, wide-eyed lens that pulls viewers into Ani’s POV as she’s whisked away on a thrill ride of high roller spending with an ever-changing color palette that highlights the unique qualities of each location from the darker hues of the club to the practically glowing pristine sheen of Ivan’s home.
Winner of the top prize Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Anora” is primed to be a major contender come awards season with the film seemingly a lock for top categories like picture, direction, lead actress and original screenplay. With its crowd-pleasing accessibility and unique take on a part of society not often highlighted in cinema, “Anora” could prove to build a coalition of newer, more diverse Oscar voters on its way to a Best Picture win.
Regardless, there’s such a brash vibrancy melding with subtle nuance in Baker’s dramedy that audiences should seek out “Anora” in a crowded screening theatrically to get the full effect of its uniquely funny yet emotional narrative.
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