Anora
Director: Sean Baker
Writer: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Paul Weissman, Lindsey Normington, Emily Weider, Luna Sofía Miranda, Vincent Radwinsky, Brittney Rodriguez
Seen on: 9.11.2024

Plot:
Ani (Mikey Madison) is a stripper. Because she understands Russian, her boss asks her to entertain Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), Russian oligarch heir. A fateful meeting, as Ivan and Ani hit it off. Ivan asks her to stay with him for a while – in exchange for a large sum of money. But even more than that – he actually asks her to marry him. But their wedding doesn’t go unchallenged as Ivan’s parents have no interest in sharing their fortune with Ani.

I’ve come to expect much of Baker’s films, and thankfully, Anora lives up to expectations and more. It’s a funny, sad, touching, political film that shines with a warm love for its characters. It might be Baker’s best movie yet.

Anora is an absolutely vibrant movie. A lot of that vivid energy comes from the characters and the stellar performance by Mikey Madison who really nails the contrast between Ani’s tough exterior and the vulnerability she has to conceal. While the rest of the cast is also fantastic, she plays in a league of her own, only joined by Yura Borisov’s Igor who has breathtaking comedic timing and balances his own version of a thug-like exterior with a softer core.

The script gives them a lot to work with, allowing both for emotional and political complexities in a seemingly frivolous plot. And it really is the magic of Anora that it makes you laugh in one moment and choke up in the next. It makes you see Anora and cheer on her fight, while also being acutely aware that her situation is absolutely precarious, and that she won’t make it out unscathed.

Nevertheless, the film is never hopeless and it certainly isn’t cold or uncaring – quite the opposite. It is always interested in finding the people in this impossible situation and showing how real human connection is its own force to be reckoned with. It is not about winning or about becoming rich, but about finding a safe place, emotionally and physically, where your vulnerability can be seen and shared. (The film is never so naive that it tries to sell you on “money doesn’t matter”, but it is firm in “this much money doesn’t matter”.)

It is a film that will stay with me for a long time, I am sure. And one I will want to revisit soon. It is crafted with so much care for just about everything that I am sure I can discover more and more about it with each re-watch.

Summarizing: about as flawless as a film can be.