User reviews

I just watched one of the best films of the year. The Athens festival nights have kicked off, and at the opening ceremony, we were lucky enough to catch Anora. And let me tell you, this film absolutely slays. From the very first scene, you're glued to the screen, and that feeling just doesn't let up. As the movie went on, I kept thinking, "Come on, it has to slow down at some point, right? Give us a breather." Nope, no breaks, no dips, not even a hint of slowdown. Anora has one of the best paces I've ever experienced in a movie.

Anora, a sex worker and a tough girl from Brooklyn, meets the son of a Russian oligarch and, in a whirlwind of madness, marries him. But her fairytale quickly turns into a nightmare when the news reaches Russia, and his parents do everything they can to annul their marriage. The lead actress, Mikey Madison, who plays Anora, is an absolute revelation. She effortlessly combines sexiness, femininity, childlike innocence, and toughness in a way that leaves you speechless. She's going to go very, very far, and don't be surprised if you see her nominated for an Oscar. Personally, I'd also give a Best Supporting Actor nomination to Mark Eidelshtein, who plays the Russian son. He's the most entertaining thing I've seen in a long time. Fantastic.

Anora is a punch to the face of the traditional fairytale concept. It's a realistic, violent, raw, funny, and ultimately sweet modern Cinderella story. Only, in the real world, no prince is going to come and save you-you've got to pick up the pieces and lift your head up high yourself.

Anora is an early career magnum opus for Sean Baker that continues to destigmatize sex workers and offer some thoughtful class commentary as the uber rich mess around with the lives of others for a good time with no thought about the consequences for them. It's great when it acts like Pretty Woman and only gets better when it shifts gears into Uncut Gems territory with a highly tense second half that's also really funny throughout.

Mikey Madison is everything in a film that's built around her star making performance which confirms she only deserves more leading roles. She's so confident and refuses to back down whilst being endlessly likeable. It makes everything incredibly investing because you just want her to get the fairytale ending she's been promised, making you hold onto the slightest shred of hope even as reality sets in at every turn.

There's a strong cast of supporting characters too. Mark Eydelshteyn makes Ivan seem nice in spite of his obvious flaws before sadly revealing that he is just a spineless spoiled brat. Yura Borisov, Vache Tovmasyan, and Karren Karagulian are a delightful trio who just spend the majority of their screen time dealing with an awful job which quickly morphs into a spectacular comedy of errors so you just feel really bad for them.

Sean Baker's direction is amazing thanks to an air tight grasp of the tone, allowing it to do the big shift gracefully and the striking opening scene set to Take That sets the scene beautifully. His editing is a standout since this is 139 minutes without feeling overly long. The home invasion sequence goes on for a while and it's only a good thing since it keeps escalating and it definitely helps that the middle chunk is an in the moment search across town for Ivan.

Watching this film at the Cannes Film Festival was such a unique experience that I completely lost track of things I usually pay attention to-direction, script, editing, acting, everything. That's when you know a film is truly exceptional!

Sean Baker takes us on another anti-stereotypical journey, one that makes you forget about everything else happening in your life.

I'm incredibly grateful to have had the privilege of watching this masterpiece at Cannes, in the iconic Grand Théâtre Lumière, sitting just a few rows away from the crew.

The 10-minute standing ovation was more than well-deserved-it was electric!

I am not really familiar with Sean Baker as a director. I know he directed a film called "Red Rocket" and another one called "The Florida Project" with Willem Dafoe but I have not seen either of them. This year he won the Palm D'or for the best film at the Cannes Film Festival for his new film "Anora". So I was looking forward to seeing it very much. I just saw it and I was not disappointed.

I loved this movie. Mikey Madison plays the title role of "Anora" who is a stripper and lap dancer in New York City who meets a rich Russian young man who pays her for sex and likes her so much that he pays her to spend a week with him.

Then he asks her to marry him. They go to Las Vegas and get married. Then his parents find out that he got married and try to get the marriage annulled.

The story is pretty simple but the film is very entertaining from beginning to end and the audience I saw it with found it very funny and laughed a lot.

The film is very emotionally involving and I really came to care about the character of Anora played by Mikey Madison. She gives the best performance of the year and I would really like to see her nominated for the Oscar for best actress next year.

Sean Baker is definitely a director to watch and I can't wait to see what he does next. Director Sean Baker and actress Mikey Madison are definitely a match made in movie heaven. This film is excellent.

The hype surrounding Anora is colossal, and it delivered.

I had no idea what to expect going into it, aside from combining all three of Sean Baker's other movies in my head and thinking maybe it will be somewhere in the middle of all of them (The Florida Project, Red Rocket, and Tangerine - all great movies by the way, and all about sex workers). It had some similar tones and focuses, but otherwise Anora was a new beast of its own. I will say that towards the meat of the film, it got WAY more Safdie Brothers than I was expecting! A lot of people yelling over each other for a very long time! Very tense!

The movie sort of moves in three acts, as many great films do. I was getting the feeling towards the beginning it was going to feel a bit like Boogie Nights in structure, and I would say that that was pretty spot on. You have your party, your conflict, and your conclusion. Without saying too much about it, I will say that the ending made the entire movie for me, and my girlfriend agreed. You have a 2-hour experience that is mostly funny and mostly riveting, that all feels a little pulpy while still offering a lot of very on-point details on the sex work experience, but it all feels for-fun until you get to the ending. Rather than an ending that wraps things up nicely in a pretty little bow, it's an ending that unties the bow, and opens the box, and leaves you with the RAW reality of it all. I was a bit in awe taking in the very specific energy of the packed room as the silent credits hit and people very slowly began making their way (very quietly) out of the auditorium.

Mikey Madison is fantastic as Anora. Seeing the ads for the film, I expected a bubbly, sweet girl - but she plays a hard, sassy, hustler who is VERY New York City, and it was a pleasant surprise. Anora is a mostly likable character, but not always, and that only adds to her humanity and the overall realism and complexity of her functionality as a main character. You will experience a rollercoaster of ups and downs with her, and the depth feels very real. She is also extremely HOT and there's ALOT of SEX in this movie.

The whole cast is fantastic, but new faces Mark Eidelshtein and Yura Borisov make the strongest imprints as capable actors who deserve much more casting in the future. Eidelshtein stole the show as the most believable rich boy on a rampage ever, and Borisov's nuanced presence was loud AF without the need for many words.

I definitely think this is one of Baker's two finest films thus far, perhaps his best, and one of the best films of 2024. It's really great to see how well this movie is doing. The house was totally packed on a Monday night at 9:30 PM, and I hear it's opening weekend numbers were some of the highest this year. This is the kind of original, sincere, relevant filmmaking that needs to be seen, celebrated, and supported, and it's a joy to see it happening. I'm excited to see Mikey Madison's career bloom after this, and can't wait for more from Sean Baker.

Sean Baker returns to his wheelhouse of exploring the dingy edges of society. This is a story of tormented love, a fiery look at how a young woman, scraping by as a sex worker in Brooklyn, sees her hopes and dreams become insanely real when she meets her prince charming, the son of a Russian oligarch. Their chemistry is instant and spellbinding. Her life changes dramatically as they get married.

Mikey Madison is miraculous as the young woman whose fairy tale dream comes alive. But unlike Elizabeth Taylor in "Butterfield 8" or Elisabeth Shue in "Leaving Las Vegas", the female protagonist here never becomes the classic hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold. She remains tough as nails, chock full of rage and ready to throw her next punch until the very end. While she never becomes a savory person, her resolve never wanes. She knows how to stick up for herself and rejects with fury those who fail in this regard. It's one of the best performances of the year.

Just when you think you know where this is going, it upends your expectations and proves to be a much more challenging film with a sobering reality at its core. Many have referred to this as partly a comedy. In all honesty, that's a bit of a stretch, notwithstanding a dark sense of humor. Fair warning, this film is pretty taxing on the psyche. You might be exhausted in the end. But it's a memorable film that will leave you in devastated awe. Recommended to the highest degree.

The set-up is enticing. Mikey Madison plays the title role, a New York lap dancer. Then the story hooks us. She marries unwisely (a Russian oligarch's immature young son) and then finds herself in a terrible jam. There's a stand-out performance from Madison but all the performances are good. The glut of nudity and sex is unfashionable for a mainstream picture, but both this and the high drama - increasingly comic - have a rare vibrancy. Striking locations too - Las Vegas and out-of-season Coney Island are skilfully captured. At well over two hours, it's too long, but it just about holds our attention because we can't imagine how it's going to end. The conclusion is not a disappointment. London Film Festival screenings sold out and I'm not surprised. This is dynamic stuff from a fearless director.

We're all familiar with the old adage that, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. It's a notion that applies not only to what can happen in everyday life, but also to what shows up on the big screen, as the latest feature from writer-director Sean Baker illustrates. This widely acclaimed indie offering follows the misadventures of a Brooklyn lap dancer/sex worker (Mikey Madison) who falls for the insanely rich, self-absorbed, wildly irresponsible son of a Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn). Together they take the plunge into an edgy, wacked-out fairy tale, a dark storybook romance strung out on steroids, quaaludes and crack. Their whirlwind affair soon lands them in Las Vegas, culminating in a green card wedding that junior's mobster parents (Darya Ekamasova, Aleksey Serebryakov) want annulled at any cost, even if it means calling on their oily, bumbling posse of cronies and heavies (Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Yura Borisov) to lean on the alleged lovebirds. But achieving that goal ultimately proves more difficult than imagined. As a cross-country chase ensues, a string of frenzied events leaves mom, dad and friends infuriated and the Gothamite Cinderella disillusioned, having erroneously thought she'd truly hit the jackpot this time. From this, one might easily think this premise has a solid foundation for an outrageous, uproarious comedy, but, sadly, the film lives up to its potential only some of the time. To be sure, there is some genuinely hysterical, wonderfully inventive material here, but it only hits the mark about half the time. What's more, much of the story (especially in the film's first half) is predictable, almost clichéd, with some bits dragging on needlessly long. Indeed, I'm somewhat mystified as to what all the critical fuss is about, something perhaps best evidenced by the picture's capture of the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the event's highest honor. I readily admit to being a fan of Baker's work, having immensely enjoyed his previous efforts "Red Rocket" (2021), "The Florida Project" (2017) and "Tangerine" (2015). But I'm genuinely at a loss to understand the level of praise that's been lavished on this release. It's a capable film in a number of respects, but the filmmaker clearly has done better, and those prior offerings make better viewing options in my opinion. Don't fall for all the hype here, as this really is one of those cases of something being too good to be true.

Sean Baker is right up there with Chloe Zhao as one of the most humanistic and empathetic directors of our generation. His eye for outcasts and his keen ability to show the limits of the American Dream solidify his place as an important, much-needed artistic voice.

With that being said, his latest film ANORA proves that he is much more of a character/atmosphere filmmaker than a plot one. What starts as a promising screwball comedy with trademark hints of poignancy devolves into a full-out slapstick farce in bad need of an editor, with some scenes just going in circle after circle to the point I wanted Paul Simon to pop out and sing, "I'm on my way/I don't know where I'm going/But I'm on my way..."

The work of Blake Edwards seems to be a subconscious influence here, which makes such excesses slightly more understandable; a movie like VICTOR/VICTORIA might be a masterpiece if it weren't for one too many bar fight. Still, the comedy often feels more contrived than a natural product of the characters' idiosyncrasies, and a poignant but sudden ending scene would have landed better if some of the antics had been traded for more moments fleshing out the protagonist beyond, well, her flesh.

Mikey Madison undoubtedly maximizes what she can maximize with an underwritten character (the added nuance perhaps provided by Baker's usual cowriter Chris Bergoch seems to be missing), and the supporting actors do the same, especially regular Baker collaborator Karren Karagulian. But after loving Baker's last two films, which were less plot-driven and more atmospheric, empathetic studies of overlooked American communities, this film came off as a huge disappointment.

There are a couple scenes in the film that feature a seemingly lonely and melancholic maid forced to clean up the excessive mess left by the spoiled rich person she works for. I think a film about her story ultimately would have been much more interesting.

Sean Baker, the director behind "The Florida Project" and "Tangerine," has a knack for finding humanity in unexpected places. With "Anora," he dives into the world of a young sex worker in Brooklyn who finds herself swept off her feet by the son of a Russian oligarch. What initially feels like a fairytale quickly turns into a chaotic clash of cultures as Anora navigates her new reality.

Mikey Madison delivers a captivating performance as Anora, portraying her with a mix of vulnerability and fierce determination. The film doesn't shy away from the realities of her life, but it also avoids sensationalism. Baker's signature neorealist style, with its use of non-professional actors and on-location shooting, gives the film a raw authenticity.

While the film's first act might test the patience of some viewers, it's crucial in establishing Anora's world and the circumstances that lead to her impulsive marriage. Once the Russian parents arrive on the scene, the film truly takes off, becoming a darkly comedic and often unpredictable exploration of family, love, and cultural clashes.

"Anora" is not your typical romantic comedy. It's a film that challenges expectations and offers a fresh perspective on the immigrant experience in America. While it may not be for everyone, those willing to take the journey will be rewarded with a thought-provoking and ultimately moving film.

In Anora, Sean Baker continues to explore the darker corners of life, and their inhabitants, that we usually prefer to ignore. But this time, the scale has been blown up. In a wonderful parallel between director and subject matter, the big boost in production values (this is a Universal picture) goes hand-in-hand with the fortunes of his new protagonist. While Mikey, the central character of Baker's prior feature Red Rocket, rode around a decrepit rural neighbourhood on a bicycle, Anora gets to travel on private planes and stay in obscenely opulent penthouse apartments. Even her workplace is spacious and lavish, as strip clubs go. Such an increase in scale and budget comes with higher stakes and bigger risks, but it doesn't seem to trouble Baker. In fact, this is perhaps his most confident film yet.

In a lot of ways, Anora feels like a familiar modern archetype. She's a sex worker who's comfortable with it, and good at it. She knows what she wants and her clients all seem to get the deal. Even when wayward Russian playboy Vanya lands in her club, he seems to get it too. Sure, she'll come back to his place and provide a little extra service, but he's happy to pay. Yeah, she'll come back tomorrow too, but he's got the cash. Yeah, she'll be his girlfriend for a week but she'll haggle the price. But when he suddenly (but inevitably) takes it too far and proposes a Vegas wedding, we can see that she's in deep. What does she see in him? It's sometimes hard to understand. Perhaps simply the promise of a whole different life.

As in all Baker's films, there is unease and tension throughout. His characters are so vulnerable and yet so careless and wilful, you never get to relax. When scary Russian goons enter the picture to force an annulment to the marriage, Anora couldn't be less intimidated. The bulk of the movie is spent in this standoff - a battle of wills - and this act is a black comedy masterpiece. Again and again, tense and sometimes violent moments are punctured by a hilarious reaction, or quip, or cut to later. True, Anora's outbursts of fury, incessant trash talking and relentless screaming can wear on the ear. But always the empathy is with her, her behaviour completely understandable, her performance (from Mikey Madison) unforgettable.

While you might expect what is essentially a story of a doomed marriage to feel leaden, Anora is such a sensory film, gorgeous and vibrant to see and hear, unabashedly horny, full of energy and flashes of unexpected comedy. Rarely did I feel it losing momentum, in spite of its length. Always I was anticipating (and sometimes dreading) what the next scene would bring.

Oscar material here! What a movie! I 've never watched a Sean Baker movie before but now i have to watch all of his filmography. Comedy mixed with drama, a strip girl that finds an opportunity to live a luxurious life because of an immature young Russian guy. Everything seems fine until .... well no spoilers. Mikey Madison deserves an Oscar nomination. Her performance is outstanding, she shines in every scene.

And the ending, the finale, powerful and unforgettable. Closing credits started but noone in the theater stood up . We had to take a big breath first.

Anora deserves oscar nominations in many categories. Must see.

7.8/10

Visually stunning, thrilling, entertaining, funny and a little frustrating. A very good movie. Money and sex. Palme d'Or good? Not sure.

Definitely not what I expected from the winner of the Palme d'Or. It's basically an action/comedy flick, except it's a very good one.

It's worth seeing for the performance of Mikey Madison (Ani) alone. Pretty amazing. Mark Eidelshtein (Ivan) does a great job as the spoiled kid of an oligarch. Paul Weismann is really funny as Nick.

I missed some character depth. A lot of characters are a little flat and bring just levity. Ivan's mom (Darya Ekamasova) felt a little too stereotypical.

Would love to see it again with, as I've already seen it, my adjusted expectations.

Watching this film I was reminded of some of those screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s, with a touch of Tarantino thrown in, and a large dollop of raunchy non PC outrageousness. The story is in fact very modern. Beautiful escort girl in NYC gets mixed up with a Russian oligarch's son and marries him ...what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything. It's witty, outrageously non PC, explicit, and a lot of fun throughout. Yes, many of the characters are quite cartoonish and it is at times a bit of a pastiche, but Mikey Madison is brilliant in the lead, and it's all done with panache and terrific energy. Some might question its moral compass, but I loved this often crazy, funny, manic and very adult entertainment.

You never know quite what to expect when the subject of sex workers is handled in mainstream film. Some films end up nearer porn and others so sanitised that you have no understanding of the work or the effect on the individual. This film gets it right, for me. The sex work that you see on screen is relevant to the storyline and learning about the individuals that are participating in the act, this is not surprising as I understand star and producers have done their homework, spending time talking to sex workers and bringing on a former sex worker to advise during filming. The beauty of this film, and I suspect why Oscars are being mentioned, is how it transforms in the middle section. There are some scenes of outright slapstick comedy that is done so well (excellent timing) and also the comedy in the dialogue and the characters that enter the film at this stage. It seemed obvious to me that my fellow viewers in the cinema were also enjoying this transformation and the chatter on the way out was almost all positive. Mikey Madison is superb in the lead role and I understand that she had spent much time in preparation working with the husband and wife team of producers, it shows. I find this film rich and nuanced and thoroughly enjoyable viewing, most highly recommended.

What's going on with modern movie making auteurs? Have they lost the art of editing, or are they just too sacred to be told to "make it leaner" by those with the money? A fault of the recent Yourgos Lanthimos, Greta Gerwig offerings and now Sean Baker's Anora; a film with such a bloated middle act that the high-octane momentum of the start felt like a distant memory as we limped our way toward the finish line.

The problem in this case stems from the pressure to transition the story from one "love interest" to another in a way that's both timely and dramatically believable. In short we need to move from the extremely shaky conceit that a savvy New York lap dancer wouldn't spot her latest "sugar buddy" for the coke-fuelled rich kid that he is, and plausibly get to the point where she finds redemption on the lap of an Armenian heavy with a heart of gold and the eyes of...well let's leave that there shall we.

Let's start with Ivan. Sure there may be underlying parental issues driving him to seek more than just a different girl every night, but the setup is far from Pretty Woman. Ivan here is more Borat on Spring Break than Richard Gere as Prince Charming. The story makes it clear that he is never going to be Ani's long-term rescue package and this inevitability slows the story to a standstill. Ivan and Ani never connect in a meaningful way-he's either on a downer, an upper, drunk on vodka, or glued to Call of Duty. Even when he does propose through the haze of yet another hangover we know exactly where it will end. Vegas. Which tells us all we need to know about its likely longevity. This then leaves Baker with a dilemma; either forgo a "salvation figure" altogether (a braver choice, in my opinion) or shoehorn one in. Baker opts for the latter, introducing Igor in the final act (and to be fair a stupendous last scene) but the question is, is it enough?

Once Ivan is out of the picture (he simply disappears without any real showdown until his parents show up), we are left with what happens until Igor emerges. Sadly this means a sluggish "hostage" scene, an endless search for Ivan, (with too many unanswered phone calls- seriously, no one thinks to send a text?) and a group of Armenian heavies verging on caricature.

More crucially, Ani isn't given an environment that allows her character to develop. Instead she spends this portion of the film scratching, screaming, and biting her way through oddly prolonged bondage scenes, without ever getting a chance to barter with her captors, or go on the run. When we finally do leave the house we are subjected to a relentless cycle of middle-aged observations about the state of Gen Z and vomit gags from the Armenian Marx brothers.

You also have to take issue that this is somehow a meaningful depiction about sex work. Sure, Ani is demeaned and subjected to some name calling, but not in a way that feels morally accusative or reflective. Make no mistake this is a hostage movie not a riposte to the faux glamour of the adult industry. There might have been an opportunity for Ani and Ivan's mother to discuss what makes men like Ivan and his father tick, but instead the film opts for a tired demonstration of power dynamics and misguided maternal instincts.

In short, Anora is an imbalanced and unsatisfactory film. It showcases some excellent acting-Mikey Madison is particularly strong-but falls short of delivering the sharp slap in the face it could have been. Instead, it feels more like being bludgeoned extremely slowly with a blunt instrument in the hands of a yet another East European stereotype.

Significant amounts of sexuality, violence and profanity.

I don't think that any of it is out of context in terms of the story but it's still there.

Not a show for everyone, ABSOLUTELY NOT a show for children.

A well written story, exceptional acting from the top 5 cast members and an ending that makes sense in relation to the rest of the story.

The movie is probably 20 - 30 minutes too long (IMO). I think at least that much could have been cut with little or no impact on the story.

Mikey Madison's performance is beyond remarkable. She absolutely inhabits the character.

I never thought for a moment that I wasn't watching a real human being, living out their life.

Anora is an entertaining ride with impressive performances and sharp comedic writing. Each actor delivered flawlessly, primarily Mikey Madison, and there are no notes to give on the acting front.

Even though the plot is engaging and exciting, the story felt a bit shallow, especially in terms of character development. Ani didn't seem to evolve until the very end, when a small shift in her character was introduced almost too late to make an impact. Igor, on the other hand, stood out as a character I could actually root for, despite being more of a secondary character.

All in all, Anora may not break new ground, but it's still a great film backed by witty writing and top-tier performances.