Movie Review: Anora

Genre: Dark Comedy
Directed by: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Weissman, Mark Eidelshtein
Release Date: October 18, 2024
Platform: Theater
Rating: 4/5

By Stephen Lackey

It’s all fun and games until it isn’t in Sean Baker’s superb new entry in his broken people franchise.

Director Sean Baker has quite a penchant for telling stories about deeply flawed characters . Anora is his latest entry in his “broken people” franchise that includes Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket . The film tells the story of Ani, an exotic dancer and sometimes sex worker struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck. Ani’s life is turned upside down when she takes Ivan into a private room at the club where she dances. Ivan comes from a very wealthy Russian family and doesn’t want to return to mother Russia.

On the surface, Anora is a funny film coated in visual overstimulation and two-dimensional characters that exist for transactions more than anything else. Interestingly, the real story is subtle and dialed back, completely against the visual experience. Anora speaks volumes about classism, sexism, and love without ever featuring a line of dialogue about any of this. The commentary and real relationship arc build in the background behind the outlandish events that happen across a week in the film. Anora will draw you in with the comedy but leave you gut-punched and crying with the drama.

The entire cast is good in Anora but the film is carried by the incredibly talented Mikey Madison. Her accent and over the top body language screams a more edgy Marisa Tomei from My Cousin Vinny. She’s both hilarious and subtly heartbreaking. She chews scenery taking ownership of the film, and she’s low-key, when necessary, only speaking through facial expressions. Her performance is one of the best of the year. Paul Weissman is quite good as well, portraying a socially awkward henchman often forced to do things he clearly does not want to do. There’s not a bad performance in the film but the rest of the cast is just chasing Madison’s tail.

Anora does feature some bulky bookends. The film feels like it takes a little too long to fully start the story. There’s a point to the madness of the first twenty minutes but the film could have gotten to the point a bit faster. Like Babylon, the wild first act could have been trimmed, but you just can’t take your eyes off it as it is. Anora is clearly a four act film. Once it gets to its conclusion, there’s a follow up scene that goes on far too long. The scene does lead to a very satisfying finale though.

Anora is Sean Baker’s most visually appealing film to date. Shot composition, lighting, and lens choices are fantastic and in a few notable cases truly enhance the storytelling. The story is engaging, funny, and emotional. That said, Baker takes an almost moment in time documentary approach to storytelling, so there isn’t a lot of depth or backstory for the characters. Since the film is truly a moment in time, a glimpse into a world most of us will never see, the minimalist storytelling is a positive. The cast is great with Mikey Madison delivering an award worthy performance. Anora represents a filmmaking evolution from The Florida Project and more so Red Rocket. It’s all fun and games, until it isn’t.