{"id":8183,"date":"2024-11-10T13:43:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-10T18:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8183"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T23:16:07","slug":"anora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/10\/anora\/","title":{"rendered":"Anora"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Anora<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neon\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 139 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Sean Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Sean Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Matthew Hearon-Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Drew Daniels\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 18, 2024 (US, limited)\/November 8, 2024 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karen Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov, Darya Ekamasova, Lindsey Normington, Ivy Wolk.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s that time of year, faithful readers. No, I don\u2019t mean the upcoming holiday season although it tends to come hand-in-hand with what I\u2019m actually talking about. It\u2019s time for the Oscar bait films! That\u2019s right, we\u2019re about to be deluged with films vying for top honors at this year\u2019s award shows. Here\u2019s hoping we get some good ones this year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The first real contender out of the gate is Anora<\/strong>, the new film from writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project). It\u2019s like a darkly funny version of Pretty Woman with its story of a sex worker who gets romantically involved with a rich guy. Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) plays Ani (short for Anora), a Russian-American exotic dancer in an upscale Manhattan strip club. She spends her nights hustling for the big bucks, entertaining clients with lap dances and making each one feel special. It\u2019s emotionally exhausting turning it on and off all night; she barely has anything left in the morning.<\/p>\n

One night, he boss introduces her to Vanya (Eydelshteyn, The Land of Sasha), the immature son of a Russian oligarch. He\u2019s ostensibly in America to study, but all he does is party, play video games and spend money. He takes a liking to Ani and becomes a regular customer. He then pays her $15,000 to be his girlfriend for a week. He takes her to Las Vegas where they whoop it up with his entourage. While there, Vanya proposes to Ani and she accepts. They get married in a Vegas wedding chapel and start their life together. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not a happily ever after situation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Word of Vanya\u2019s marriage to a prostitute gets back to his parents in Russia. Naturally, they\u2019re furious at him for dishonoring the family like that. The mother orders the boy\u2019s godfather, an Armenian priest named Toros (Karagulian), to arrange for an immediate annulment. He sends two henchmen, Garnick (Tovmasyan) and Igor (Borisov), to their house to detain them until he can get there. Naturally, it goes south and Vanya runs off leaving Ani to face the music alone. She tries to fight them off and let me tell you, this girl is a real tiger. In the end, Toros forces her to help them find Vanya before his parents arrive to take him back home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like what I\u2019ve seen of Baker\u2019s films- Starlet, Tangerine and The Florida Project. They\u2019re all great. Anora<\/strong> is another feather in the filmmaker\u2019s cap. Rarely have I seen a film as alive as this one. It absolutely pulsates with energy and joy, especially in the first half with Ani and Vanya\u2019s whirlwind relationship. It\u2019s positively dizzying at times, but not in a way that feels overwhelming. That\u2019s a feat in itself. Baker takes it to the next level with the underlying sense of sadness, something that comes through in the wintry settings. He keeps you acutely aware of the sorrow that\u2019s about to come to the surface. All of it is beautifully captured on film stock which gives Anora<\/strong> a distinctive 70s feel even though it takes place now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now I\u2019d like to make a prediction. I see Mikey Madison being nominated for a few Best Actress awards. Her performance in Anora<\/strong> is nothing short of astonishing. She is brilliant as Ani, a sex worker with a huge fighting spirit. She may be knocked down in life, but she\u2019s far from out. She wants the American dream and she\u2019ll fight to keep it. At the same time, there\u2019s this vulnerability about her. She sees Vanya as her Prince Charming; she believes in the fairy tale. She really loves the guy even though he proves time and time again he\u2019s not worthy. In short, he\u2019s a schmuck. When Ani finally cracks at the end, it\u2019s legitimately heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Russian actor Eydelshteyn turns in a convincing performance as Vanya, a selfish and impulsive sort who has zero understanding of the concept of responsibility. He doesn\u2019t mind playing the role of husband while it\u2019s fun and beneficial. Once it gets real, he\u2019s out of there. He\u2019s not very likable at the start and by the time he shows his true colors, he is detestable. A small part of me wanted to see him change and be the man Ani needs and deserves. Alas, I knew deep down that wasn\u2019t going to happen. This man-child, a little boy not even pretending to be an adult, is no Prince Charming.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Oddly enough, somebody does care for Ani. It\u2019s Igor. He physically restrains Ani when she fights back. The way he looks at her over the course of the night tells us he\u2019s intrigued by her. He also believes she deserves better. She thinks he\u2019s a \u201cfaggot ass bitch\u201d. Nonetheless, he\u2019s the only one who supports her through her ordeal with Toros and Vanya\u2019s awful parents. Not even her so-called husband does that. Igor might not be rich or particularly bright, but he\u2019s one of the good ones.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the things I admire most about Anora<\/strong> is Baker\u2019s deft handling of the tonal shift. Not many filmmakers can do it this successfully. He makes it feel organic as the dream becomes a nightmare. He also handles the heavy sexual content well. There is a lot of sex and nudity as well as a ton of profanity. Ani has a major case of potty mouth. Given her lifestyle and profession, it\u2019s completely natural. Not once does Anora<\/strong> feel gratuitous. It\u2019s NOT a dirty movie. It\u2019s a mature film about a sex worker. This is the life. Deal with it or see something else.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anora<\/strong> is easily one of the best films of the year. I realize it\u2019s early yet and I still have a ton of other Oscar hopefuls to review, but I can safely say Anora<\/strong> will be on my Top 10 list for 2024.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anora (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neon\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 139 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Sean Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Sean Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Matthew Hearon-Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Drew Daniels\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 18, 2024 (US, limited)\/November 8, 2024 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karen Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov, Darya […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-pictures","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Anora-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8183"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11304,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8183\/revisions\/11304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}