PLOT: Annie (Mikey Madison) is an exotic dancer with Russian ancestry. When Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian Oligarch, arrives at her club one night, she becomes a favourite of his due to her fluency in Russian. When they impulsively marry, she finds herself in conflict with his family’s minions, who are desperate to get the marriage annulled.
REVIEW: Sean Baker’s Anora is a movie that plays with audience expectations right from the get-go. Crime dramas have conditioned us to assume a story such as Annie’s, where this young exotic dancer ends up in conflict with shady Russian types, to take a dark turn ultimately. Instead, Baker’s Anora takes another route entirely, with it ultimately one of the funniest films of the year, being a modern (albeit gritty) variation on classic screwball comedies.
As the titular character (Anora is her Russian birth name), Mikey Madison is a firecracker. Best known as the Manson Family member Rick Dalton torches in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, this should make her one of the hottest up-and-coming actresses in town. Annie is a stripper at a club who doesn’t turn her nose up at the occasional escort job, although she hates being labelled that way. Unapologetically opportunistic, she’s eager to get what she can from young Vanya, the spoiled son of a shady Russian character with seemingly unlimited funds.
While some may tut-tut at the premise, Baker’s film never judges Annie, with her using Vanya the same way he’s using her for sex – it’s a transactional relationship where both parties are walking away satisfied. It’s only when it gets legitimized that there’s an issue. When confronted by his dad’s goons, Vanya takes off into the night, leaving Annie to deal with them. The movie ultimately becomes a hilarious chase movie, where Annie is forced into an unlikely partnership with three Russians: the boss, Toros (Karren Karagulian), who’s in trouble because the marriage happened on his watch, his brother Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan), who spends much of the film fried on pain pills (thanks to Annie breaking his nose), and the thoughtful thug Igor (Yura Borisov).
Anora is one of the best recent movies about New York, with Baker taking us on a neon-soaked tour of the grimier side of NYC and Brooklyn, giving us entree into a part of the city we don’t often see on film. Madison is clearly the star, but the supporting cast is spot-on. Karagulian’s Toros is a hilarious foil, with him walking out on his godson’s Christening and having to deal with angry calls from his relatives in order to deal with Vanya’s mess. Yura Borisov, a leading man in Russia, plays the most interesting character outside of Anora, initially coming off as a stereotypical thug, only for him to reveal an aversion to violence and a kind heart, and his chemistry with Madison is terrific.
Eydelshteyn also deserves praise as the often good-natured Vanya. Many say he’s like the Russian Timothee Chalamet, which is a good comparison. Vanya is hard to dislike despite being a ketamine-snorting, Vodka-swilling, Call of Duty-playing brat, and he finds a certain poignancy in his role as the movie progresses.
But it’s Madison who emerges from this as a full-on star. Many are saying Anora plays out like a more realistic Pretty Woman, and it’s not hard to imagine this movie making her a star if it breaks out beyond the arthouse circuit. Despite running close to 140 minutes, it’s fast-paced, breezy, and furiously entertaining. Even if the premise doesn’t immediately make this a must-see for you, give it a shot, as Baker’s turning into a modern master. This is his best movie to date, and the performances are too good to miss.
